Doing stairs when I get home

I've been given "advice" from a couple of friends that I should not attempt to get into my bedroom on the second floor of my home when I come home. There really is no where for me to be on the first floor though.....

They say I can create scar tissue and not to chance it. I said I'd have the hubby carry me and they said what if he drops me!

Your thoughts....?

I have a two story house and did the stairs from day one. I had a lavh so not sure if you have abdominal, if it different. I just made a bed on the couch and went upstairs to bed at night so was lo,iring the amount of times I went up and down. Hope this helps.

I also had a LAVH/BSO and went upstairs to my bedroom same night as the day of my surgery. For the first couple of days I only went up and down once a day, which is what my doc recommended, and now I can go up and down several times each day.

I'd ask your doctor. But for me, with my TAH/BSO, my doctor told me to try to go up and down stairs no more than once a day for the first week. Which meant I could sleep in my bed at night and rest on the sofa during the day. That worked out fine.

I am having an abdominal hysterectomy (not sure what the abbreviations mean quite yet)....Thanks you guys

My apartment is upstairs and my Dr said to go slowly and not be going up and down all day

	Quote:
Originally Posted by jbkvern I've been given "advice" from a couple of friends that I should not attempt to get into my bedroom on the second floor of my home when I come home. There really is no where for me to be on the first floor though..... They say I can create scar tissue and not to chance it. I said I'd have the hubby carry me and they said what if he drops me! Your thoughts....?

my room is on the second floor too, I did the stairs when i got home, very slowly.....my fiance' right behind me going up. Though once up there I stayed there. What I did was pack a tote bag and carried it down each day so I did not need to go up for anything. Just take it slowly and you should be fine.

I had a total abdominal on 1/11/11 and since our house has a wide, curving staircase to the second floor, I also did stairs from the first day home. We have a huge open floor plan on the first floor, but unfortunately no bathroom on that floor, so my intentions were to stay on the second floor once I got up there. By day 2 though, I realized that staying upstairs was just not going to work for me. I could not get comfortable in any of the beds, and with all the drop-in company I was constantly being disturbed anyway. Plus I felt isolated and claustrophobic in my bedroom.

I put on some good anti-skid socks and decided I was camping out on the couch from there on out. I will mention that I have a heavy-duty wrought iron railing on our stairs (my husband makes these for a living), so I had plenty of sturdy grab area on my way up and down. My son or husband stayed with me on the first few attempts, but by day 3 I was doing okay.

A good thing to try is to walk up and down backwards - as long as you have something to hang onto while attempting it. I was told this is way less stress on your incision. I held a pillow against my incision and went very slowly up and down. I tried to limit my trips to as few a day as I could, depending upon how many times I had to use the bathroom.

My doctor remarked at how remarkably well my incision healed, so I don't think this worked against me in any way.

Good luck!

I was surprised that the stairs were manageable from the day I got home.

The difficult bit was getting in and out of bed once I got there - so painful. Have lots of cushions and pillows ready, plus water, painkillers, book and anything else you need by your bed, so as to limit how often you have to move from horizontal to vertical and back.

But stairs? No problem at all taking it steadily, and it gets easier every day.

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Originally Posted by somanybooks A good thing to try is to walk up and down backwards - as long as you have something to hang onto while attempting it. I was told this is way less stress on your incision. I held a pillow against my incision and went very slowly up and down. I tried to limit my trips to as few a day as I could, depending upon how many times I had to use the bathroom. Good luck!

That makes sense and seems like great advice! Thanks to all of you who posted a reply!