Lots of things to plan...

Hi

My vaginal hysterectomy is booked for 20th of Feb next year (2006).

I'm also having a heap of "repair" work done including a major renovation of my poor old bladder which apparently is collapsing rather severely.

I have a lot of trouble with stress incontinence and I've had a life long problem with urge incontinence which has gotten much worse these past 11 years.

I've always been very conscientous about doing my pelvic floor exercises but alas, these past 11 years has basically been a "waste of effort" according to the two gyne's I've seen as I need so much repair done on all the ligaments, bladder, perineum, rectoceles, cystoceles etc etc etc.... that whole pelvic floor thing is a lost cause at the moment.

I'm sure it's only going to get better once I've recovered though .

My gynecologist has actually said that because my bladder is going to be a pretty major job, I'll be catherised for up to 10 days!!!!! I've heard the average is around 3 days so I will actually have to wear a bag home for a few days which seems rather drastic at this side of things but come what may I suppose!

Even though, I'm nervous about this surgery - and that's to be understood of course - I'm going to be jolly relieved to be rid of my heavy flow! Ugh!

I'm keeping my ovaries so I'm hoping I don't go into menopause just too quickly after surgery. I'm pretty ditzy now without having hot flushes on top of it! LOL

Anyway, I'd love to hear from those of you in a similar situation. I'd especially love to hear from those of you who've BTDT and hear your experiences.

God speed
Mitch

Hi!! Mitch, you should feel so much better after your recovery, that does seem like a lot to undergo.

I had to have the catheter bag for a week after I went home too. I had a leg bad fir the day so I could walk and a bigger bag for bedtime so I didn't have to get up and empty. I wasn't supposed to, just a minor complication in that my bladder didn't want to come out of the anestesia. Finally did and all is well now, it wasn't that big of a deal, I just needed to borrow a long flowy skirt or two so when I had to go to Dr. appts I had something presentable to wear. I wore my nightgown home from the hospital because pants and that tube just were not going to work for me!! This site is a huge help and you can learn a ton, have a question just ask chances are someone will have an answer that has BTDT or know where you can go to get information. Good luck with your surgery and your time as a lady in waiting!!

Hugs,
Aimee

Hi Mitch

I had my hyst in December 2000 and that included a Rectocele repair. I can't she any light on the bladder repairs, as my surgery didn't involve this, however, I can share regarding the repairs I had.

I too had stress incontinence prior to surgery. The repairs involved extra stitches on the perineum in order to prevent further prolapses. It's also meant that, for a while, the stress incontinence was much less of an issue. One thing I would recommend would be to look into the feasibility of having a referral to Pelvic Therapy specialist. This therapy involves using biofeedback technology to both stimulate pelvic floor contractions and monitor the efficacity your own contractions. My therapist told me that if more doctors referred their hyst patients immediately following surgery (gotta wait until the "nothing in the vagina" rule is lifted), problems at a later would be avoided.

One thing to be aware of is that, if the repairs are performed vaginally, an episitomy-like incision is performed. For me, this meant that I had a lot of pain, immediately following my surgery and for about two weeks thereafter. Thankfully, the pain was easily managed with Tylenol 3 from the third day post op and with spraying the area of the incision with a peri-bottle filled with warm water. Others have known relief from using a sitz bath. Being aware of this will ensure that you will ask for those supplies before you leave the castle.

I also kept my ovaries after the surgery. I was 44 at the time. I'm now 48 and, even though I'm now going into peri-menopause, my ovaries are still functionning. That's wonderful as the ovaries continue to release minute amounts of hormones, even after menopause.

Hope this helps. Best of luck with you upcoming surgery: you're lucky, since you have time to effectively prepare before your castle date.

Had my uterus and cervix removed vaginally,and bladder and bowel prolapses repaired using the pelvic sling technique (the kind where they use your own muscles and tack everything to your pubic bone) This was back in 1991, and the procedure was still relatively new at that time, so I was lucky in that the gynecologist I consulted at the time had a lot of experience doing it. I was 33 at the time, and kept my ovaries until a couple years ago: in 2003 I had to have the left ovary/tube removed and the right resected for a serous cystadenoma via laparoscopy, and I JUST (age 47) had (7/18) an open laparoscopy for removal of the remainder of the right ovary due to another mass (turned out to be an endometrioma this time) and repair of an umbilical hernia at the old lap site.

I stayed in the hospital for 4 days. Didn't have to come home with a bag, they were able to remove the catheter in the morning of the 4th day and when I was able to void without difficulty on my own I was able to come home that same afternoon. (My rectocele was obviously way worse than the bladder prolapse.) Postop, you feel kinda like you had an episiotomy, so having Tucks, and a donut to sit on to pamper your tender bottom helps a LOT. I had epidural anesthesia and and epidural for pain the first couple days postop; after that I switched to extrastrength Tylenol and that worked just fine for me. Everything's worked well postop, up until this year when I entered menopause.....that seems to be contributing towards the development of a small rectocele again. But I'll tell ya, if the problems get bad like they did before, I would not hesitate to have the same operation all over again!

Oh thanks a heap ladies for sharing your stories!

I'm already gaining lots of new insight and information as to what I may expect in my own journey.

Question: What is a Tucks? I know about the donut cushion - already have that on my preparations list but I have no clue on the other sorry!

I do hope I don't have to have the bag thing for as long as the Dr first suggested! Will put some knee time into that I think LOL

I've also got - "Get skirts" on my planning list. I'd better start on this one straight away actually as I think I'll try and organise some wrap-around skirts which should make it really easy to get them on and off.

Because it will be summer/spring during my convalescence next year (I'm from Australia so have a hot February to look forward to), I'm thinking that getting the "right" fabric for my skirts will be challenging. Not too hot but not too see-through either! LOL LOL Such dilemma's eh?

That's actually the part I'm dreading most - wearing skirts in summer! I have thunder thighs prone to chaffing so am NOT looking forward to that but I have rationalised it by thinking I'll be mostly resting under air-con in buildings so I won't be going far enough for any chaffing to happen. Am I right?

Anyway - thanks again for your support and info.

Mitch

soaked in witch hazel. Very cool and comforting for cleaning tender areas postop instead of regular old toilet paper, LOL. I'm sure you have them in Australia, they're probably just called something else. My cousin in Norway can never find things by their brand names that she can here in the States, but she can usually find an equivalent.

February IS hot there, isn't it? My oldest did a semester abroad there last year and loved it though.

Good luck!

Ahhhh! I'll ask our pharmacy about them! thankyou!

Mitch