30/01/2012 tvh

I went in to see my OB/Gynae in the middle of January for a prolapse which had gotten bigger quite quickly. After checking me thoroughly he advised that the only option for repair was vaginal hysterectomy. Advising that it should be done sooner rather than later as "my uterus could have easily been pulled right out" surgery was scheduled for 30 January.The next few weeks were therefore quite emotional but surgery day soon rolled around.

I have a metabolic condition which means that I am not good with general anaesthetics, so they (the doctor and anaesthetist) decided to do the operation via a spinal block, but with me being doped up enough to fall asleep during it.

So I arrived at the hospital at 7:00am and after going through all the pre-op stuff was wheeled into the theatre at 8:00am. I was then put into the sitting up position for the spinal block, which was not too painful. I was then laid back down again and must have fallen asleep soon after.

I then woke up during the operation once the hysterectomy had finished and when they were about to start the repair work required (I heard the doctor tell everyone this). I felt relatively calm and spent my awake time looking at the clock and at the faces of the theatre staff while trying to listen to what was going on "down there" before drifting off to sleep again.

The next thing I remember was voices saying to each other that my blood pressure was very low, too low and that I would have to stay in recovery for a bit longer. I don't remember any pain or discomfort but I was still on an epidural for pain relief. They continued to try to increase my blood pressure to no avail and decided to put me back in the ward regardless.

I remember being wheeled into the ward where my partner was waiting for me. He was very worried about me because apparently I looked dead with sunken eyes, blue lips and pale skin. Having said that I was feeling fine though and desperately wanted to get out of bed...lol

After I'd had a bit more of a snooze the realisation of the surgery hit me and I started to analyse the situation more. Although still on an epidural, I could feel the padding that they had put into my vagina and the catheter. It was extremely uncomfortable, but there was still no pain at all.

I was still desperate to get out of bed but the nurses wouldn't let me because my blood pressure was still well below 100 and they were worried that I'd feint, so I laid there in my uncomfortable state, very restless and lacking in appetite.

Through the night I accidentally broke my epidural line, so that had to come out and then I lasted with the padding until 3:15am when I begged the nurse to take it out as my bottom kept on thinking that I needed to do a BM and as I say I was extremely uncomfortable. Once the padding was out, the nurse let me get up for a bit and I walked to sit on the toilet (which of course was not necessary as I couldn't go...lol)

The following morning the catheter came out, which was a relief however I couldn't empty my bladder properly so the catheter went back in until the following day. This made me slightly depressed at the time, but given the fact that I then had issues with my metabolic disorder that day (because I couldn't eat as I had absolutely no appetite) I ended up being quite relieved at not having to get up to go to the toilet.

On Day 3 I started to turn the corner. I started eating and weeing on my own and it all got better from there. I think I even had my first BM that day too. It was slow and painful, but I was extremely proud of myself and my achievement and had to ring my partner to tell him what an incredible woman I was...lol

Overall I was extremely happy with the way that it all went and the care and support provided by my caregivers and family. The pain was minimal at most, but the uncomfortable factor was up there with the worst that I have ever experienced. I think this was mostly due to the repair work, rather than the hysterectomy though.

I got to leave hospital on Day 5 and have had very minimal trouble since then, and have even forgotten that I had the operation at times (I'm currently 3 weeks out). I have not needed any pain killers since leaving the hospital but I have had a lot of discharge judging by what the ladies are saying on the forums, but I'm ok with that as its easily controlled through the use of pantyliners.

I know my experience may sound a bit scary, to those of you who are just about to go through the process, but I must say that I wasn't scared at all during it. I was frustrated, but kept on being blown away by the fact that I wasn't in any pain.

Now that it's over, it is so nice knowing that my insides are not going to fall out any time soon and as an added bonus I can now do BMs much more easily because there is no uterus in the way. LOL