Question For A Dear Friend

Sisters,

I have recommended this site to a very dear friend of mine who is having an LAVH/BSO and bladder tack done 20 December 02.

I am looking for some information for her; she is very busy with college right now to get here to read the site at the present time.

Info I am looking for:

1) Average recovery time.

2) Pain and or discomfort; how long will it last? Average.

3) How long should she stay out of college after hyster? Your opinions; I'm sure doc will answer this for her at her pre-op on 12 December 02. Oh yeah.. I am going with her to her Pre-Op appt.

4) She wants to know what bladder tack entails.

Thanks sisters!

Amy


P.S. I know each person is different and that recoveries are different for everyone; just looking for a general idea so I can let her know. She is in her late 30's, has completed her family and is very nervous. Of course I will be there for her through this whole thing and will probably even end up buying her a princess package

How lucky she is to have you as a friend!

1) Average recovery time.

4-8 weeks, roughly. With the bladder tack, maybe 6-8 weeks?

2) Pain and or discomfort; how long will it last? Average.

It depends, of course. I had some short-lived pains and cramps for 6 weeks, lessening as it got closer to 6 weeks. Still feeling the odd twinge even at 12 weeks, but feeling very good and strong. But I got the OK to get back to living at 4 weeks, and after that point I never had any pain that compared to a period, and didn't have anything bad enough to keep me from doing whatever I wanted to do (carefully, at first, of course). The biggest effect, more than pain, was just plain weakness and being tired. I'd feel great for 20 minutes of puttering about, then suddenly be in need of a nap.

3) How long should she stay out of college after hyster? Your opinions; I'm sure doc will answer this for her at her pre-op on 12 December 02. Oh yeah.. I am going with her to her Pre-Op appt.

Hmmm... One of my biggest problems was brain fog and tiredness. I started back to doing work for my clients at 4 weeks, from home (where I could still rest and take breaks), but there were times they'd call me about something, and I'd *completely* forget about it until they called again. There was no way I had the attention span to read a book. Depending on how she does, and how hard her courses are, I'd say a minimum of 4 weeks. In a perfect world, take the semester off - especially if good grades are important to her (or remembering the material!). That would be tough, but I can't imagine studying very soon afterward. Maybe other sisters will report different experiences. In any case, I would tell her not to count on spending her recovery studying from the couch and trying to keep up - just not enough working brain cells at that point.

4) She wants to know what bladder tack entails.
Dunno... Somebody will tell you.

Hi Amy,

I can't answer your questions about a LAVH from personal experience, but I did want to remind you that if you do a search here, you will find lots of threads discussing each of those issues, and you could print some of them out for her to read, too.

She is very lucky to have such a concerned friend. I hope that she will be able to find some time to come here, too.

's

Karen

I have printed off some of the information from the homepage on this site for my friend. Just wish she would hurry up and get on over here so she could get the fantastic support that me and other women get.


Amy

since it is all individual. Other things your college student friend should be thinking of is:

1) getting a backpack on wheels. When I was in college, getting a parking space near a classroom was near impossible but the parking division would provide temporary disability parking stickers with a doc's note. My university also had a transit service that would pick up disabled students at their door and delivery them to the classroom building of their choice. And those books, lap tops etc are too heavy for a post-op princess to lug across campus every day. I would also want to have someone with me to help with that textbook shopping. Also, how long is her commute to campus? Might check with disabled student services for ideas on this issue.

2) Potty frequency increased for me immediately post op. With the bladder repair, I saw improvement on what I could hold increase in a few weeks, but the bowel was very active with all the stool softners and repairs there. Gotta think about having to sit thru a 50 minute lecture, right?

3) the brain fog mentioned, that is going to take some extra steps to accomodate. Even lists and calendars aren't much help right now since I forget to look at them LOL! First weeks of recovery, I tried to read some novels but who killed who, who had sex with who, who was related to who, who can keep track! Not something I would take a whole semester off for, but I would sure take careful notes each lecture, highlight like crazy, maybe even tape certain lectures.

4) I would also scope out student lounges in advance so I knew where the quiet spots were for a nap. I never had a class schedule where my classes were back-to-back. Often, had two-three hours between classes and lived too far from campus to make a trip home worthwhile, factoring in having to hike a half-mile to my car with all those books.

5) Nutrition is important post-op. Healthy snacks to have in the back pack saves big bucks and walking around to find a cafeteria. Water is a biggie with a bladder repair of any type. Dehydration isn't good for the bladder, the bowels or getting the drugs out of the system, any way you look at it.

Okay, maybe I didn't answer your specific questions, but I hope what I had to offer helped in some way.

MeDHanddaDog,

Thanks for your input.. appreciate it. She currently is a full time college student (pursuing a business degree). She attends classes M-F from 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and sometimes not getting home till after 6 or 6:30 after using the library to study or having a session with her tutor. The commute to college is 20-25 minutes each way for her.

She already has a handicap sticker for her vehicle due to the fact her husband is disabled.

I dont think anything about the surgery is making her scared, or will scare her in the future. She is having such aweful periods (last one she bled for 33 days straight) that she is so looking forward to this surgery (and I can't blame her one bit).

Thanks again, sisters!

Amy

Hi Amy,

Just a note of caution for your friend - in Florida, only the disabled person to whom the disabled parking permit is issued is permitted to park in a disabled space. In other words, even though we also have a disabled sticker, because my DH is disabled, if I am driving the car and he is not with me, I CANNOT park in a disabled space without being in violation of the law. I forget how much the fine is, but it's pretty steep. It may be different for on-campus parking spots, but she might want to call DMV there and ask what the law is. Maybe her doctor could write up something that would work temporarily so she could get a sticker in her own name for on-campus use.

's

Karen

Karen,

Good idea.. didn't even think about that issue. Will have to bring that up to her. Right now she is away on vacation. Will talk to her about it when she returns.


Amy