Recovery Progress Reports for Hysterectomy dates Mar 26-Apr 01,2012

Week 3 is over now on to week 4. I am still getting very tired but virtually have no pain. I can now run a few errands a day but definitely need to rest after. My body seems to signal to me when "enough is enough" with terrible back pain. Need to build my core but afraid to incorporate some exercise. I see the Dr on the 18 th so I will see what she says. For those of you who have had your surgery more recently, hang in there. It does get better. 😉

I have done nothing but read for 3 weeks now. The Hunger Games series was great. I read the Sookie Stackhouse (True Blood) series by Charlaine Harris. I like the 2001 Space Oddesy series by Arthur Clarke. Andy McDermott writes great archeological mysteries, Thomas Greanias is excellent!

HI LADIES!! My laptop went nuts so I couldn't get on! Thank god that's fixed!
Post op went well. Doc says I am healing very well, but says I gotta still lay down for 3 more weeks. I'm SOOO ready to be normal again!! I'm feeling great, and able to move around some now without bleeding. That's a positive! lol One thing my doc told me to tell you ladies in here. He said so many women don't take the "nothing in the vagina for 6 weeks" instructions seriously, so he told me to share this story.

A woman came in the E.R. over this past weekend and her bowels had come through the vaginal cuff. He said he KNEW she had sex but she would NOT admit it. They repaired her and while doing his rounds last Monday morning, she admitted having sex and said she couldn't tell him in the E.R. because she was cheating on her husband!! Dumb girl! NOTHING IN THE VAGINA MY FRIENDS!!

I personally don't know HOW she did this? My doc had to check my inside stitches and OMG that hurt. I actually reminded him of the nothing in the vagina rule! lol He just said "I'm glad you understand, hahahaha". My doc is awesome though. He hi fives me when he sees me and calls me "girlfriend". I've missed you all, and I have some reading on here to catch up on!

Keep on keepin on!!!!

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Originally Posted by melissahudson HI LADIES!! My laptop went nuts so I couldn't get on! Thank god that's fixed! Post op went well. Doc says I am healing very well, but says I gotta still lay down for 3 more weeks. I'm SOOO ready to be normal again!! I'm feeling great, and able to move around some now without bleeding. That's a positive! lol One thing my doc told me to tell you ladies in here. He said so many women don't take the "nothing in the vagina for 6 weeks" instructions seriously, so he told me to share this story. A woman came in the E.R. over this past weekend and her bowels had come through the vaginal cuff. He said he KNEW she had sex but she would NOT admit it. They repaired her and while doing his rounds last Monday morning, she admitted having sex and said she couldn't tell him in the E.R. because she was cheating on her husband!! Dumb girl! NOTHING IN THE VAGINA MY FRIENDS!! I personally don't know HOW she did this? My doc had to check my inside stitches and OMG that hurt. I actually reminded him of the nothing in the vagina rule! lol He just said "I'm glad you understand, hahahaha". My doc is awesome though. He hi fives me when he sees me and calls me "girlfriend". I've missed you all, and I have some reading on here to catch up on! Keep on keepin on!!!!

OMG - what a story!!! Your doctor sounds great, you are so lucky! Glad to hear you are recovering nicely. Hope you made it safely through the bad weather we heard about this weekend. Take care!

Yep! Just some scary thunder here. Thank goodness! I thought you guys would like that story. lol Karma

The night before my surgery I walked to a playground that is two blocks from my house. No one was there so it was quiet. There was a light rain falling which made everything seem that much more sacred, like the Universe was giving little ol' me a space for what I needed to do. I sat on some plastic kiddie steps and imagined what a little me would have looked like playing among the toys and equipment and I cried. I cried for the little me that would never be and never was. I cried for having such an aggressive case of "lady problems" that rendered me basically infertile in the first place. I cried from that prehistoric place that yearns to pass a part of my self and my family on for future renderings. Though I never really cared much for breeding, it still hurt my heart in a deep way that I never really had the chance. I would never see my own face in that of my child's and I had to mourn that. Though I'm sure there is more sadness around that issue in my body, I had to take a moment to grieve a dream, even if it never was one I longed for that much.

Fibromyalgia and surgery don't mix well. I found out after the surgery that folks with Fibromyalgia typically need more and stronger pain medicine for surgery than those who don't. Due to my IBS, which I'll discuss in the next point, we got behind my pain, not ahead. The result was an extra day and a half in the hospital. I had to be given Dilaudid which is some seriously yucky stuff, because when I was given morphine, nothing happened at all.

My IBS flared while I was recovering from surgery because the Toradol injection given to me is an NSAID. Though apparently most folks with stomach issues can handle Toradol, my IBS is severe enough that even Toradol sent my colon into spasms of pain, along with the surgical pain. Acetaminophen bothers my asthma, so this is why when I'm in severe pain, Diladud is used. As pain improves I then switch to Oxycodone.

Because my brain got all scrambled with the different pain meds I took, I was unable to pee. My surgery was Monday and on Thursday just after midnight we had to go to the emergency room because I had over 700 milliliters of honkerblonk stored in my ever-so-unhappy bladder. Happily we had to only wait about two minutes before we were called back and I was given a straight catheter, and then a Foley catheter. I had the Foley between my legs for six days and I must admit it was interesting to empty a bag of my own urine, rather than get up and go to the bathroom every time I felt the urge.

I was low on oxygen at one point when I got home and my dog could tell because she kept licking my face to keep me awake.

There is NO SUCH THING AS MINOR SURGERY! I had the least invasive kind of hysterectomy called a da Vinci or robot assisted surgery. Four of five little arms were "manned" by my gynecologist sitting about five feet away at a console. One arm was moved by a human, which of course makes the healing of that particular incision, all the more serious (robot less movement, human more movement and trauma). I'm not going to get into all the specifics of what was and was not removed from my body, but let's just say that I can tell my uterus is gone and it feels weird. The stitches inside me feel weird. My whole belly feels just strange. And even though the type of hysterectomy I had is considered the least invasive, I certainly feel like I've been invaded.

I didn't poop for eight days.

Somehow I got an upper respiratory infection. This may be related to my RA because the RA meds I take lower my immune system and I was in a hospital

The first thing I felt when I awoke from surgery was excitement. I felt ready to have less pain, no periods, and, did I say less pain? I've put in twenty three years of dutiful, pain filled periods and days of pain when I didn't bleed at all. When I saw my surgeon I hugged her with glee.

My spouse is truly a rock star. She has been with me every step of the way while taking care of my meds, the house, and our pets. All this she has done without complaint or additional help. We certainly have people who love us and even a friend or two that offered help, but there was no family nearby to lend a hand, or give my wife even an hour of respite. And she get's no break. Back to work right away she must go, when she has her own aches and pains too. Truly I am blessed for having her as my wife, to see me though the surgery, complications, and healing

When I was presented with photos in the hospital that documented my surgery I was amazed to see that there was visibly something wrong with my uterus. It was all puffy looking. My uterus actually looked tired and sad. Turns out the name for this is Adenomyosis, which is a thickening of the uterus due to Endometriosis. Also interesting to see was how quickly Endometriosis grew inside me, despite the laparoscopy I had only two years ago and the serious hormone therapy I had been under since that procedure. Seeing the photos showed me that my "lady problems" are serious as hell and that the hysterectomy will not only be helpful, but was necessary for dealing with this disease.

Endometriosis affects over six million women in just the U.S. Why do so few know about it, including other women? Endometriosis is a disease that is internal, which is why perhaps other externalized diseases like breast cancer get far more attention. But we are fooling ourselves by not taking it seriously. Endometriosis has put me under the knife three times in less than ten years, and despite my hysterectomy, it is likely to not be my last surgery. Despite all the pain, today I'm so grateful for health insurance, friends, my wife, and medical technology. I'll keep updating on my healing process.

You have been thru the ringer!! I hope that all calms down now and that you can rest well and heal well!!! You've been thru the worst of it all, and now you can just rest and heal and be cared for!!! Hugs to you - and wishes for a speedy and complete recovery!!!

Just wanted to check in and let everyone know that my recovery is going great. My 2 week appointment went great and my doctor told me to slowly work my way back into my everyday life. Still no sex and no strenuous activity of course. I worked about 20 hours last week and it felt good just to get out. I work for my dad so of course I didn't over do it. Matter of fact he run me off every day and told me to rest. I have had no bleeding or pain really in a week. I also went and bought me some new clothes since I have lost 10 lbs. I actually bought white bermuda shorts for the first time in my life. I am loving the outcome of this surgery.

Frantasm, I wish you well in your recovery.

I have Psoriatic Arthritis, which luckily is well controlled by medication at the moment. I have had a few more arthritic twinges since my surgery, and funnily enough have lost about 4kg in the last 3 weeks since surgery, even though I am doing pretty much nothing! maybe a large bulky fibroid uterus weighs a lot haha (I usually lose weight when the arthritis if flaring) but overall I am feeling well.

As you will probably already know, endometriosis is thought to be linked to other autoimmune conditions. My 21 year daughter has already had two surgeries to remove endometriosis, and possibly has adenomyosis, and I was found to have quite extensive endometriosis during my surgery, although I did not have the same painful symptoms as my daughter so had been unaware of it.

There is another forum on this site for endometriosis which is interesting and also quite a lot of information from other people with autoimmune conditions.

Hugs to you Frantasm! I hope things start to improve rapidly for you! You certainly deserve for things to brighten up!

That's quiet the warning story re: sex. I must admit that has been a frustrating part of this for me. It's so hard to restrain! I swear I am counting down days in my head! Tomorrow will be the 3 week post-op mark for me. We've been good at avoiding actual intercourse but man oh man I feel like a teenager just fooling around all the time. Your story certainly makes me think twice about ignoring my Dr's orders! Thanks for sharing it.