Nannyfor3's Laparoscopic Hysterectomy Story

Nannyfor3's Laparoscopic Hysterectomy Story

Laparoscopic Hysterectomy
Age at Surgery 40
Location: Danville, IL 61834

I was diagnosed with endometriosis at 30. The last ten years were filled with 5 laps for that, removal of right ovary for constant painful cysts. After my last lap three years ago I started having near constant heavy bleeding. Couldn't take any hormonal birth control except depo provera. But this didn't even work. I keep heavy bleeding through that. In May 2017 I had an endometrial ablation. It was a horribly painful procedure for me though it's not suppose to be. After healing I had a couple months of feeling pretty good, no bleeding. But by the end of summer I was starting to have a lot of pain. Starting in Oct that pain was excruciating and constant, I could barely function. I had an ultrasound in Nov that showed blood trapped in my uterus..... Failed ablation. My options were to drain it (but it would probably keep happening) or have a hysterectomy. I couldn't imagine having to keep experiencing that pain so I opted for the hysterectomy. I didn't get a second opinion because I did some of my own research and determined the options she gave me were the only options.

Because I'd already met my deductible for the year I was desperate to have it done before the end of the year. She was booked up on her last day of surgeries for the year but they managed to squeeze me in at the end of the day. So I had my surgery on Dec 19, 2017. I was scheduled for surgery at 3:30pm had to report at 1:30. Spent time in my room getting an iv, answering questions, being visited by the nurses, anesthesiologist, and eventually my Dr. They rolled me into my OR at 3:15 and I was under in less than 3 minutes. My nurses were singing Xmas music. LOL. I woke up in the main recovery room around 4:30. I was asked how I was feeling and was given some morphine through my IV. Thirty minutes later I was still in a lot of pain so I was given a small dose of fentanyl which made me start to feel better. Around 5:30 I was taken to my own recovery room where I was given something to drink and eat. I ate a little bit of a muffin but I didn't have much appetite. Around 6:15 they took out my IV, have me some pain meds orally, let me go use the bathroom and get dressed. I was on my way home by 6:30. I had a45 minute ride gone which was not fun.

The first night was really tough (having had 5 laps previously I expected this). I was in a lot of pain by around midnight. I was using ice packs on my belly, heating pad on my back, sleeping in a recliner. I didn't sleep at all that first night. I got up about every hour to walk to the kitchen and back just to move the gas, get fresh ice packs. I was feeling really Miserables by day 4 and later that evening I had a very low fever. It went away by morning but kept coming back in the evenings. On Xmas day, 6 days after my surgery, I was so sick. Nauseous, 100 degree temp. I went to my Dr on day 8. She was gone for the holidays so I saw her PA. She very careful looked at my cuff incision to make sure it wasn't infected. It was healing nicely. She gave me an antibiotic. But my fever then got up to 101.5 so I went back on day 10. She didn't look in there again.... Blood work that they did on day 8 showed elevated white blood count.... Infection. So she gave me two more antibiotics. Later that night I ended up in the ER as I had an episode of gushing blood, a lot of blood! Turned out I had a large hematoma on the inside of my cuff incision and it was infected. Most of it had likely come out in that gushing but I continued to have bleeding for two weeks after. This set me back about a week on my recovery. I was back to just resting a lot.
I was released for most things around week 7. But I still had a small area of cuff that wasn't healed so I was given the go ahead for external sexual stimulation but nothing internal for two more weeks.
I returned to work after 3 full weeks off work. I have a physical job cating for small children so I could only work 5 hours a day for two weeks then I went back full time at well 6.

My pelvic health has been great. It's amazing how much better I feel. It took me awhile to heal completely. By 4 months after surgery I was about 80% back to myself.... By 5 months around 90%. That least ten% took another two months to get to.... So by month 7 I was feeling normal. Though I feel like my immune system isn't back up to par. I never get sick and in August I got hand foot and mouth disease from my kids. It was a very severe case... Nearly three months later my fingernails are falling off! It took me about 8 weeks to recovery from the exhaustion of that. But the rest of my health stuff had improved. I am dealing with a bit of scar tissue issues on my bowel but so far making sure I'm not constipated has helped with that pain. Sex is amazing now. I'm absolutely glad I had the surgery!

I would encourage them to ask questions, take to other women while had the surgery and find out what you need to talk to your Dr about beforehand. I would tell them this is a major surgery even done laparoscopicly. Recovery for most people is a long slow progress.... As long as you are seeing little improvements consistently don't be discouraged. Listen to your body and do not try to push through any pain as you would when you exercise. Rest rest rest!!