A Question About TVH

I am due to have TVH done 4/23 and have a question to ask. I know I will be very uncomfortable (I don't have a high pain tolerance). I am looking for something to sort of "compare" the surgery to. Is the pain and all that anything like a woman feels after giving birth vaginally? I will be asking my doc this very same question when I go see her for my pre-op appointment, but was wondering if any ladies who had TVH done can comment on this. I have one ovary left (left side) and doc is leaving it there. My right one was removed in Dec 01 if it makes a difference. I say this cause I have seen posts about women having it all taken vaginally (which I am sure would cause more pain then just uterus being removed). Thanks in advance. Have a great weekend!

I had a LAVH so it`s not exactly the same but everyone is different. I only had bad pain the few hours post-op . I didn`t think it was as bad as delivery. After about 5 hours post-op i halved my meds and took none after about 48 hours not even Tylenol. You might be better or worse you can`t really know till it happens. Most doc are real good about pain management . Don`t wait till pain is bad get meds as soon as it starts at first then see how you feel. hope this helps.
Paula

Hi. I am 5 days post op from having a total vaginal hyst with fal. tubes and ovaries removed also. I am feeling really good. My hospital stay was great. This is my personal experience and I know everyone is different, but I don't think the hyst was any worse than the vaginal childbirths I had (3 out of 4 were natural). Actually , I never received much pain meds from childbirth so in that aspect , the hyst was better because my pain was very controlled. ( To me the labor pains were much much worse)The waiting really is the worse part ,I can honestly say that now. When they wheeled me to the OR, they gave me a very warm blanket and the "A" man said that he was going to give me something to relax. Then I woke up in recovery. Everything was done after I went to sleep so I don't remember anything. The catheter , etc. were all in place when I got back. I was on a pump that I could give myself meds when I needed , but was not able to OD on it. By the next morning, I got off the pump , which by the way I never rated my pain over a 5 at the very worse . got the catheter, and IV out and started oral meds 2 every 4 hours. I am now taking 1 occassionally and one at bedtime. It was much much better than I had ever imagined.
Again , I know everyone is different , and I had a very good surgery and am recovering very good, but I hope this helps you . Since childbirth was the worse pain that I had experienced, I used that as my scale of 10 so you can see that my experience was better. Best wishes to you and if you need extra support , feel free to e mail me at kett@hsonline.net.
Since I have been home , the recovery is a little different. I am more tired and rest a lot more but I don't have a baby to care for.
If your experience is similiar to mine, then comparing it to childbirth would definately work .
Best Wishes !!! Terri

Hello!

I have to agree with the other ladies...I think child birth was much more painful then my LAVH. I thought the surgery was going to be much worse then it really was. The worst part for me was the nausea from the anesthesia. Good luck to you!

Best Wishes~

I had LAVH and was amazed at how little pain I had when I woke up in recovery, probably a 1 on a scale of 1-10. My menstrual cramps are (were! ) usually a 2-3. Sneezing and coughing hurt, but only very briefly. I'm 10 days post-op and stopped taking pain meds yesterday, even ibuprofen -- and I've been sneezing & coughing a lot from a cold.

Everyone's experience is different, but you really might do just fine. I was scared of the pain too. They really do control it well at the castle, much better than any pain relief I ever got for cramps.

Good luck!

Melissa

Hi Amy, I had a TVH on 2-22-02. I have a very low tolerance for pain and a high tolerance for pain meds (Can't figure that one out). They gave me Tylox and Tordol(SP?) in the hospitol, it totally controlled my pain. I went home on 2-23-02. I was given tylox to take at home.It controlled my pain without turning me into a zombie. I think it's alot less painful having a TVH verse cutting through the abdomen. I had natural childbirth with my first child. Their is, NO!!!! comparing a TVH to natural childbirth. Post TVH I didn't have a lot of vaginal area pain. Did have, severe Gas pain, swelly belly, constipation and my upper thighs hurt. I think they were using my thighs as a table tray. My opinion from what i've read, give me a TVH , recovery seems to be so much easier. Good Luck, Happy Thoughts... Lucky Marie

I had a TVH on 2/12 it was much easier than having a child. I stayed 2 days in the hospital. The gave me morophine the first day via IV and after that I didnt take any pain medication. I didnt need it. The only problems that I had was a severe gas problem and it also hurt to urinate for about 3 days. Overall the experience has not been a bad one. I feel great and will be returning to work 4/1. Good luck to you




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2/12/02 - Adeno, fibroids, severe bleeding, servere back problems from pinched nerves caused by large fibroids

Thanks for the replies ladies. It sounds like this won't be very bad for me after all.


I guess I am just having "flashbacks" to when I had my 1st vaginal delivery in 92. I was in so much pain afterwards. Sitting up, I felt like a stuffed turkey waiting to be carved. I had problems after delivery that required emergency surgery and a blood transfusion. Because of the hemmoraging I had, my vagina was packed full of gauze (hence why I felt like a stuffed bird). I just keep thinking that after the tvh I will feel like that again.

Is there any gauze packed into the vagina after tvh? Or is that a case by case basis type of thing?

Again, thanks for the replies.

I didn't have any packing and I believe it goes on a case by case. I also agree that it was not as bad as childbirth. I didn't even feel the stitches inside at the top where the cervix used to be (which is why they say nothing in the vagina till dr clears you usually at six weeks) and that suprised me because I was very sore after my first child. I loved my post-op epidural that stayed in for the first 24 hours. I had no pain whatsoever (except for some lower backpain associated with the epidural or laying on the hard O.R. table) Although I was awake for the TVH you can let your anesthesiologist know how aware you want to be. There is sedation that can be offered with a spinal or epidural which is different from general that basically lets you sleep but not so strong that you have to be intubated (tube in trachea) and overall this was the best surgical experience I had. You can read my story at this link. https://www.hystersisters.com/vb2/sho...threadid=41676

By the way the recovery is a lot different than having a baby. You can't get up and take care of things like after having a baby. You need to rest rest and rest some more. I didn't feel sore like I did after childbirth but since it's a major organ removed and I had tons of stitches, I spent the first couple weeks in bed or laying on the couch. I was able to recline if I wasn't in bed as sitting early on should be limited to 30 min. I sat up to eat and digest food. As I moved around a bit more I was able to feel better. Don't do to much the first week and you may want to have your husband with you the first time or two you shower in case you drop the soap. Good luck.

Hello from Tennessee,

I had a LAVH on 3-12-2002 and it may be considered TVH as tubes were removed too. I felt bad the first day as I had a bad reaction to the Morphine. After that I was sore but it was not like after childbirth. No stitches to heal in the perineal area. The pain I felt was very comparable to the excrutiating cramps I suffered for the last six years so I was used to it. Everyone is different but I will have to say that it was not as bad as I thought. I am up and around and feeling so much better already.

Best wishes,
Moe