Recovery Progress Reports for Hysterectomy dates Aug 27-Sep 02,2012

I am 36yrs old, and I had a Da Vinci assisted hysterectomy on 8/28/12. I have suffered with extreme menorrhagia for years, as a result, severe anemia, loss of energy, and weight gain. I had tried other means of controlling my issue but nothing worked. Finally, after missing work for the upteenth time, I decided to see my ARNP about a hysterectomy, who referred me to our resident expert with the Da Vinci assisted hysterectomys.
After speaking to him I decided to "fix" my problem permanently. At first I was extremely nervous because my anesthesiologist was very thorough in letting me know just what exactly would happen. But after talking to my doctor again at my pre-op, I was fine. I have to admit though, I didn't sleep very well the night before. I had to do a bowel prep...not very pleasant, but not unbearable. But it did have me up and down the whole night.
My surgery was scheduled as first of the day, so I was at the hospital at 6:30am. I was taken back immediately and a nurse prepped me. First I was covered in warm blankets after donning the lovely gown. Then, one I.V. were inserted in each arm (Lovely lidocaine made it painless). In the I.V. I was given something to relax me...and my anesthesiologist came in to review my medications. An anti-nausea patch was placed behind my ear, and because I don't react well to anesthesia, they also put some in my I.V.. I have to admit I was STILL feeling nervous when my doctor came in to see me. Soon I was taken back to the operating room. After that all I remember was them saying don't worry, everyone is here to take care of you. Next thing I remember was waking up in recovery and someone asking me how my pain was. I was surprised to realize I had no pain, nor nausea and relayed that to the recovery team. After a while I was taken up to my room.
I had a personal room, so that made things a lot more comfortable. My doctor came in sometime in the late morning to let me know I was able to keep both my ovaries and the surgery went very well. He also fixed my old scar that I had from a past tubal ligation so it was smaller. I slept all day, and around 4pm I was able to keep my eyes open for more than 5mins at a time. Until then, I still had hardly any pain. The most pain I felt was the bloating or gas, which felt more like moderate menstrual cramps. Around 6pm, I noticed that the gas pain increased so I let my nurse know. My doctor had prescribed me Vicodin, but Vicodin is too strong for me, so the nurse paged the doctor and asked him what to give me. 10mins later my doctor came in and asked me how I reacted to Tramadol, and prescribed me that. I was also given stool softeners. I was also able to get up and walk around a little; the catheter made it feel weird and was the only uncomfortable part. This did help with the gas though. At midnight I was able to have the catheter removed. Since I had never had one before, I was very nervous. My nurse was honest with me and said it might hurt a little, but it wasn’t that bad. After, my nurse told me that they would have to do a bladder scan to make sure I’m able to empty my bladder. She advised me not to bear down, but to wait a little bit after voiding to assure there was nothing left. I followed her advice, and after two bladder scans I was given the thumbs up.
The next morning I felt a lot better, a little stiff, but better. Gas pain was less since walking around. My doctor came in around 9ish to exam me, and said everything looked good and that I could go home. Yay!!

I asked my doctor before I left the hospital, he said give it at least a week, and that I have to remember I had major surgery, so I have to take things slowly.

@ Thifty Angel and Danni3ll3 - Thank you for the explanation. I was worried that I might have a hernia or something, since I have a tendancy to self diagnose myself, when I get freaked out. I read somewhere that a gal went to the doctor and he told her that she had a hernia, so of course, then I figured I did too :-)

@ Lostitinak - My doctor originally thought that I would go back to work on Monday and I can't even imagine it. When I went to the doctor on Wednesday, she told me that I was extremely dehydrated and had a UTI, so I'm also on Anti-biotics. Doing the little that I do during the day, wipes me out. I manage to take a shower, but I don't wash my hair everyday, but when I do, I need to sit down for a bit.

@ CassMoffet - Yah, when my doctor told me to "bear down on it", I must have had that deer in the headlights look on my face and thought she was having a mini stroke. Are you kidding me - BEAR DOWN ON IT? I guess I should call the handiman and tell him I'll need to replace my toilet roll holder in a few weeks and just get that lined up now. If it's as bad as it sounds, I might just passout. I may be on stool softners and prune juice for the remainder of my life.

DISCHARGED!!

My doc discharged me yesterday to return to my "normal" routine. Guess I'll be heading out to water ski this weekend! Just kidding. Feeling about 80% back to my old self. I still get tired if I try to do too much, and I still have awful upper abdominal bloating at times that puts pressure on my diaphragm and makes it quite uncomfortable, but other than that I am making progress every day. So far I am extremely happy that I made the decision to have the operation. I am comfortable knowing that I will never have to go through what my mom did. As a bonus, the hormone replacement medication seems to be doing its job, and I even feel more calm and less moody since starting the treatment.

Here's hoping that everyone continues to get better day by day and returns to "normal" as soon as possible!

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Originally Posted by mmklinemm I took your advice and called. I spoke to the nurse. She said it sounded like a collection of fluid at my vaginal cuff that "spilled." She said it doesn't happen to everyone, but it's not uncommon. She said not to worry, as long as there was/is no pain, odor, fever, or bright red blood. Thanks for the support and the worries - you guys help so much!!

I am glad to hear that hun. I didn't want anything to happen and it be a weekend. The ER is terrible on the weekends. Like you i am breathing a sigh of relief.

Im breathing much better now. Although my surgery was 8/29/13 I just had my first BM. It had totally change color. My incision from the da vinci are healing the glue is peeling. I had a few gloomy days with kids starting back to school realizing im made only 2 . But my husband tells me everyday how beautiful I am and I felt better. I am moving slowly still because I can sense the stitches inside.
So I have order myself back to bed.

Day 11 for me now. I'm pretty much done with being lazy. But, unfortunately, all I want to do is sleep. I called my doctor this week to move my post op appt up. I wasnt suppose to go back until 5th week. That really concerned me. I only have four small incisions and they really don't bother. I just don't like the idea of not knowing what's going on inside. Is there someway of knowing that the stitches in inside are okay. That worries me. I haven't been doing anything other than washing dishes around here. I have walked ten minutes a day this week.
The gas seems like it kinda comes and goes. But it's so much better now. I am back and forth with bm. I tried to lay down and nap at noon today. My thighs were sore and aching just like they would normally be on the first day of my period. I had to get up and take some motrin. I refuse to take anymore pain pills. I just went to the restroom and I have started to spot. I sure hope I am not going to start my period. I will freak out! Is that even possible now.
I go to doc on 18th. Hopefully everything will be fine and I can return to work, even if it's light duty! I live an hour and a half away from my family, friends, job, everything. If I had to do this all over again, I would have booked a hotel on the beach for my recovery. I have never been so bored in my life. I can't stand much more.
I hope everyone else is doing well!

Day 8 for me today. Feeling better every day. I think I did too much and my abdomen is sore today because of it. I wore jeans for the first time since surgery yesterday! I'm sure that didn't help my abdomen. I've been living in yoga pants but decided it was time to put on a pair of real clothes! I'm back in yoga pants today!

Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!

Missbutterbeam2 - I hear ya on the boredom. Recovering at the beach would be awesome.

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Originally Posted by Dolphin1971 My doctor just said no driving while I was still on pain meds

My doc said two weeks, no driving. I have surprised myself. I have been pretty much home bound the whole time. Today, day 10, I was bad! I drove ten minutes to nail spa. I got a spa pedi. They knew I had surgery last week. My pedi lasted an hour. I was in heaven. Then I got my nails and eyebrows done. I thought about driving to civilization, as I call it! But was afraid of the drive, too long. I came back home. But I did okay. It was easy. My hubby is home until Tuesday, so I have my driver back to get me through the rest of the two weeks.