Hi Shabbycat,
I had a vertical cut on 9/19/05 for a very large fibroid uterus.
It was really not so bad. I was up and out of bed the next morning in the hospital and walking in the halls that very day.
I had a PCA Morpnine pump the first 24 hours and then took one Darvocet for pain on night 2 and have taken nothing stronger for pain than Motrin since.
I was able to drive short distances @ 2 weeks and rode the mobile cart @ the grocery store when I knew someone was going to be around to carry my groceries in for me. I am single and live alone. But had wonderful support from my family and so many wonderful friends.
I was able to walk around the block after 2 weeks and am now up to 2 plus miles a day.
I will return to work on Monday after 8 weeks off and can honestly say that I am glad I took the whole 8 off because I was not nearly ready to go back @ 6 due to energy levels-I became anemic during surgery- and I still had enough soreness that it would have been hard for me to wear zip up pants. I hear that the vertical cuts are a little slower to heal than the bikini cuts.
Today, one side of my incision looks great with minimal swelling, the left side is still pretty tender and swollen-which gets worse by the end of the day-this may have been the dominant side where the surgeon worked from.
I will say that NONE of the pain here even came close to what I suffered with every month with my periods over the last couple of years. Bextra helped with the pain-but they took it off the market-so I knew it was time to take care of it.
Best advice I can give you is-take gas-x and a stool softners to the hospital with you and take them as soon as you can. Drink all the fluids you can. And walk, walk, walk.
Waiting is the hardest part. I was scared to death. I pray all goes well for you with your pathology report and if you have anymore questions, send them to my private email. I'll be more than happy to help you in any way I can
Sweet Pea
TAH w/BSO on 9/19/05 for giant fibroid uterus weighing 1238 gms. Endo and adhesions found resulting in unplanned BSO. On Vivelle Dot.