Hysterectomy dates Feb 18-Feb 25,2008

Hello everyone. I had my surgery on the 18th and feel great. I'm tender in my belly just a tad but otherwise am going stir crazy. My husband has been wonderful but I just want to go back to normal. I'm taking my time and not pushing the 2 weeks of nothing.

I am cross stitching to avoid the temptations of housework and cooking. Hope everyone else is doing well!!

LAVH 2/18/08
Kept Ovaries

I'm home My surgery lasted 4 hrs (doctor expected ONE hr). Turns out I had some secret large fibroids hidden by my organs AND I had widespread endo. I lost alot of blood while the doc was separating my colon and intestines - I wasn't anemic before surgery but I am now. I'll be building myself up over the next couple of weeks.
I was in the hospital 3 days. The nurses were great. My doctor was fantastic, calling to check on me and answer my questions.
I woke up from surgery in alot of pain (but I don't remember it LOL) - the nurses in the recovery ward told me about it -- apparently my waking was quite memorable to them.
I'm so glad to be home. I still stare at my swelly belly - I can't believe that's MY body ! LOL. And I've never been prouder of burping and farting in my life

Wow I'm wiped out now - I'll be back ...

First of all I want to thank everyone on this site, your posts and comments helped me so much!

Arrived at hospital 2/21 at 6am for 8am procedure. Got checked in and met with Dr. residents and anesthisiologist(don't think I spelled this right!). Taken to surgery at 7:40 met nurses, etc. I remember laying my arm with the iv out to the side then waking up in recovery hearing the nurse say "its done, wake up". Dr. said I'd had a partial Hyst, because the cervix was left , we'd agreed to leave the ovaries if they were ok. I've had really low blood counts due to heavy bleeding and she said the cervix was healthy and the potential blood loss was not worth the risk. I struggled to become clear headed, but by the time I was taken to my room I was feeling pretty clear, just having periods of time where I would fall asleep in the middle of a sentence and once with a spoonful of jello in my hand! Had a morphine pump which I tried not to use much and only used twice during the first night. Dr. came by and checked incision, all was fine. Nurses and hospital staff were awesome. My daughter, son and boyfriend visited, but when they saw how sleepy I was, they left. Slept ok, but up every hour.

Next morning Dr. came by, said I was doing great. Took away iv's and cath. I washed, put on my own gown and robe, panties and pad (thank you for saying bring your own pads!!!!) Diet upgraded to regular, but food too heavy so nurse got me saltines and I drank juice and ginger ale daughter bought. Dr. said I was doing so well I could go home but I'd not passed gas yet so I waited. Of course once she left I passed gas! Restless night, up every hour.

This morning Dr. came in, checked incision and gave me final instructions. Waited 2 hrs. for nurse to give me discharge papers because of an emergency but finally got out. Kids went to get prescriptions (mortrin 600, Darvocet, iron tabs and stool softner). Ate a little and watched a movie. Trying to stay up so that I can sleep all night.

Thanks again for this site and the get well card! You all are awesome!

Sylvia, 51 - Chicago, IL TAH 2 days post-op

To my fellow Pearl Jam Fan,

I hope you are recovering well and are being properly pampered.

Wow - its so nice to hear from sisters who are doing so well. I have a little more energy, so I'll try to write out my entire story now.

Surgery was at 10am on Wed Feb 20. I had no pre-op prepping to do except to try and eat dinner before 9pm and no food, liquids or water after midnight. Arrived at the hospital at 8am. Talked to two or three nurses, my doctor and the anesthesiologists (I can't spell that when my mind is clear - forget it on pain meds ! LOL). I told the anes guy that I don't remember talking to so many people when I had another (minor) surgery last year. He said one of the drugs they use to relax you in the IV gives you retrograde amensia. Well - it didn't work this time !! I remember every conversation and every minute of pre-op. I remember being wheeled into the OR and I remember being masked. I don't remember ANY of this from my other surgery. Thankfully the drugs made it so I wasn't nervous. I don't remember waking up in post-op but apparently I should be thankful. The nurse in post-op and my husband said I was in ALOT of pain. I kept screaming "why did I do this to myself ?????" I have to admit - I still have that thought 5 days post-op but not as vehemently.
I wasn't given a morphine pump I had to ask for pain meds every time I needed them. And boy did I need them !!! The first night I think I asked for something every 90 minutes. I can last 4 hours now - I tried to wait 5 and couldn't do it - the pain set in an was unbearable.

My surgery was more complicated then my doc thought it would be. Turns out that the three large fibroids we saw on the sonogram weren't all that big compared to the ones that were hiding. One was behind my cervix the other was behind my bladder. Those fibroids caused him to convert from a TVH to a TAH. When he opened me he had the REAL surprise - I was loaded with endo. Everything was attached to everything else. He said it was the worst he's ever seen. When he tried to remove it from my bowels I started "oozing" all over - he ordered up blood from the blood bank because of the rate I was loosing blood at. He ended up not using it - he only likes to transfuse when thinks approach critical stages. I'm anemic now but should rebuild my stores of blood over the next couple of weeks (its a good thing I LOVE snacking on chicken livers !). He said my tubes were quite diseased with the endo and had to be removed. He also couldn't dislodge my right ovary from one of my fibroids. He said that some doctors would have removed both ovaries anyway because the endo can recur, but that he preferred to not send me into menopause and that we'll treat any recurrance of the endo if / when we have to.

I never knew I had endo ! all my syptoms were so classically fibroid related, especially given the size and position of the fibroids we could see on the sonogram. So while normally when we hear hooves its most likely horses, if had continued to look we would have seen there were zebras in the stampede also.

My DH is being so incredibly wonderful taking care of me. He brought me my favorite Starbucks drink every morning I was in the hospital. He has my recovery area all rearranged so thats it easier for me to reach the things I need. He set up my recovery sofa much better than I had it. I think he's disappointed that I'm not too hungry - he's got menus all ready to go that he wants to cook for me. My sister has been invaluable to both DH and I.

My co-workers have also been so supportive. Everyone at work takes turns calling me and catching the rest of them up on my progress. This way I get to talk to each person on a regular basis and everyone gets to hear from me 3 or 4 times a day, either directly or "through the grapevine".

So far the love that I can literally FEEL from the people around me at home and at work is by far the best outcome of the surgery. I knew they liked me but this is beyond my imagination ... thinking about it brings tears of joy to my eyes.

Well, I didn't mean to write a book I since I had the energy I just kept going and going LOL

I'm going to go take a nap (only the 3rd today - and its only 11am LOL) right after I check out my swelly belly again and pass some more gas

I had my radical hysterectomy on Tuesday 18. It went well, but they took everything plus extra tissue laterally around my uterus, I'm told cervical cancer spreads sideways. Anyway, I feel like i'VE BEEN GUTTED LIKE A FISH. i DON'T REALLY REMEMBER Tuesday. Wed. I was in a lot of pain and nausea. They kept trying different drugs delivered different ways, to make me comfortable.Finally on Friday they got it right and sent me home! I managed to sneak out of there without self-catheterizing myself. I have zero desire to do so unless absolutely necessary. The pain is very irritating. Thanks to all the women who answered my questions and shared their stories. It was a big help.

I'm feeling pretty good today. I am a bit sorer today than yesterday, probably due to all the work it takes to get out of the recliner or off the couch. I am just staying out of bed as that was nearly impossible! I have been taking 600 mg. of Motrin about every 6 hours and that seems to be OK for me. I am still having problems with my IV site. My hand was swollen to about 3X it's normal size due to infiltration of the IV. Did anyone else have this problem? They first gave me a heat pack and then ice in the hospital, I did ice at home for one day and tried to move my fingers as much as possible, but my motion was very difficult. It was hard enough to move around, but with my hand swollen and hurting, it made it even harder. The swelling has gone done a lot today and movement is easier. I am actually typing almost normally. Hopefully the swelling and stiffness in my hand will go away completely today. Glad to hear everyone is doing relatively well. We all made it which is hard to believe considering how nervous most of were!

HI

I had TAH on the 19/02/08 at 1pm. I was in deep pain after the op,but I was fine the following day. I could walk and the pain was gone.

I left the hospital on the 22/02/08. I get pain from my left abdomen every now and then but allis OK. It went better than I thought.

All the best to all recovering sister

Had LAVH on 2/20. All went well. Waiting for pathology report. Dr. did say had endo on bladder so he scraped that off. Haven't been in too much pain. Stomach is bloated and that is kinda uncomfortable. Hoping to take a short walk outside soon to get some fresh air. DH has been awesome about helping out and pampering me. Drs. used dermabond instead of staples or stitches. It looks really neat! And I'm happy that I don't have to have staples or stitches removed.

A funny thing happened...I know some say they don't remember anything from the OR. Here is what I remember...there was country music and a lot of drs./nurses. They were dancing and I said I didn't like country music so they changed it to rock music. I told them that I like rock 'n roll and they danced to that. Then I said that there were a lot of people in there. After that I don't remember anything. I chalked this all up to hallucinating but my doctor's nurse said that he does like country music so maybe some of it (minus the dancing) did happen! Now I'm wondering what I said to them!

Praying that you all heal quickly.

Had my LSH on Friday. Things went very smoothly and although the doctor's partner thought I would stay until Sunday, I came home yesterday. Very bloaty and my incisions in my tushy from the mesh implantation are what are giving me the most pain, believe it or not.