Dvh 3 days out

Last year I began having really heavy periods and horrible cramps during my periods. Eventually that escalated to having pain/pressure most of the month. I saw my doctor in December and was diagnosed with uterine fibroids. She went through a range of treatment options for me. Since I had had a procedure a few years prior for permanent birth control, I opted for the hysterectomy as it was the only option that could guarantee I would not be facing the fibroids returning. I scheduled my surgery in January, but chose to have the surgery this past week. (I am a competitive bowler and I chose a time that would happen during a break in competition for me.)

The afternoon before surgery was bowel prep which was one of the worst parts of all of this. I couldn't get through the entire jug of prep solution; it made me sick, which defeated the purpose of the medication! I maybe got through half of it.

I showed up at the hospital at 5:30am Wednesday morning. I had preregistered the week before, so they sent me up to same day services and got me set up. I went to the restroom one last time, got into my gown, got my IV in, talked to the anesthesiologist and my doctor, and then went into surgery right around 7am. My husband indicated I was in surgery for 2 hours. I have "flashes" of awareness after that; I could hear them talking, but couldn't quite yet open my eyes. I was in recovery for probably 3 hours as they waited for a room to be available. I woke up fully later in the afternoon, but got sick pretty quickly thereafter; anesthesia and I have never gotten along! The put me on a liquid diet so I tried to eat some ice cream but of course that made me sick. (I felt so bad for my husband enduring all of this!). I ended up just sucking on ice chips. They got me up to pee in the late afternoon, but it was mostly blood. I peed A LOT that first night; I was probably awake every 1-2 hours pushing the call light to go pee. The bleeding subsided over the night and was gone before I left the hospital on Thursday. My doctor was suprised to find out I had been put on a liquid diet and quickly changed that. Before they would let me leave, they wanted me to walk, eat a solid meal, and pass gas. Most of my pain the day after was gas pain. I finally did all 3 and was allowed to go home. I got home about 1pm on Thursday.

Since then I have been spending most of my time on my couch, watching TV, hanging out on the computer, reading, etc. I get up every so often and wander around the house. It really hasn't been warm enough for me to walk outside. I have very little pain - most of which seems to be from gas. The incision in my belly button is also pretty tender (and pretty bruised) so it hurts too. Beyond that, sneezing and coughing are painful. (I find it somewhat ironic that I went into the hospital w/o a cough and because of the breathing tube, I now have a cough that hurts my abdomen!). The biggest challenge has been finding something to wear that doesn't bother my incisions. For the first couple of days, I wore sweats and granny panties, but even the granny panties kept hitting the incisions in my waistline. I finally opted to run around the house in a nightshirt sans underwear!

I see the doctor again on 5/1; with luck I'll be released to go back to work on 5/3. It's hard to believe I had major surgery just 3 days ago! I'm glad I opted for the DaVinci procedure.