myomect/lap vs hysterectomy

Has anyone had a myomectomy/laparatomy, then some years down the road a hysterectomy. I am scheduled for a hyst on April 1 - and had the m/l back in 1994. I know I had a 6-8 week recoup time and from your descriptions the healing process is virtually identical.

I must say, I am not nervous at all. Am looking forward to some time off to think and enjoy my critters (although they will demand a lot of my attention!). I have always enjoyed wonderful care by nurses, etc., so I kinda look forward to being taken care of!

Hi Caroline,

So glad you found us

I had a laparoscopic myomectomy in June last year for removal of two large fibroids. Unfortunately, my gyn found stage 4 endo during that surgery. It turns out the endo was causing most of my pain and problems, rather than the fibroids. I ultimately had a TAH/BSO at the end of November last year.

There really is no comparison between these two surgeries in my case ... with the lap myomectomy, the surgery was done on an outpatient basis and I only missed one week of work. With the TAH/BSO, I was in the hospital 2 days and off work for almost 7 weeks.

It sounds like you had an "open" myomectomy with a large abdominal incision. While the two surgeries would seem to be comparable considering the incision, with a hyst a lot more internal stitching is involved. It's just my opinion, but you may find the hyst recovery to be a little tougher due to all the internal changes. Hopefully some other ladies will post who have had open myomectomies and later a hyst. They can tell you what their experiences have been.

Best of luck!

Beth

Howdy! I had an abdominal myomectomy and a TAH/BSO. In my case, the recovery from the myo was much harder than the recovery from the hyster.

I don't know, but I think it's pretty traumatizing for our bodies to have the uterus sort of plucked out, scalpeled and lasered and and sutured, and then put back in and reattached and realigned. The removal of the uterus and the reattachment of the ligaments is actually less traumatic. My surgeon explained that with the removal, the arteries can be cut and cauterized, where for a myo, blood supply and everything else needs to be maintained.

I found I had much less pain, could move around much easier, and generally felt less awful this time. One thing I did very differently this time was to be extremely careful about not doing much physcially. I had severe adhesions from the myo, and I was determined not to jeopardize this recovery by jumping back to normal activites too fast and straining the healing areas to create more scarring.

Let us know what your experience is after your hyster...this is really interesting stuff.

Karen

Thanks for the info. I was thinking, too, that a hyst would be easier than the abdominal myomect. of course, I was in MUCH better shape in those days, teaching aerobics, etc. - I remember getting the OK to rip down wallpaper and start painting after 3-4 weeks!

Called my doctor to make sure they are on top of all the darn paperwork involved with employers, disability, short term disability, yak yak yak. They are "all over it." I am feeling good about this!