It gets better ...

...Hello everyone. I had my surgery on August 24, TAH (kept ovaries) and I am almost back to normal now. Just a few notes for ya:

immdiately post surgery
*The best sleep I ever had I got when they knocked me out before surgery. I remember them wheeling me into the operating room, asking me if I could move onto the table. I said, "sure"...I laid down at 7:30am and next thing I knew it was after noon and I was in my room.

* I didn't drive for a couple of weeks and drove with a pillow thereafter.

* I started off taking short walks to the corner and back and branched off to 'around the block' etc over time

*I had no appetite while in- and for a week after I got out of the hospital. I lost 5 lbs. but have since gone back to my normal weight. I'm a small person so the weight loss was not a blessing.

*Vicodin made me constipated...but knocked me out with a quickness.

* I was constipated for 3 days after the hospital. After that, having a bowel movement felt like giving birth to a small child, it was so painful. lol funny now, but not then

*The iron pills they gave me (I'm anemic and had to have a tranfusion after my surgery) are doing absolutely nothing for my energy level. I'm still taking them out of habit, however.

*I had a ritual of eating a mini-bag of popcorn and juice daily when I came home from work...I don't have a taste for it anymore.

*I lost hair the first two weeks after the surgery, it was so dry. I pulled out clumps in the shower. I heard that the anesthesia was the probably cause.

*My speech was off and I had trouble remembering things for a few weeks...again, several people say the anesthesia was the probable cause.

*That morphine button was a beautiful thing. lol Everytime I woke up, it was 'click, click, zzzzzzzzzzzzz'.
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now
*Currently, I feel like I'm hormonally off although I kept my ovaries. I need more estrogen.

*I'm fit to do absolutely nothing after work but prepare for work, bed, eat, shower, watch tv and piddle on the computer.

*I have to watch my temper. I have developed an absolute zero-tolerance attitude toward kids' b.s. at work (I'm a teacher btw). They are insane this year

*After 2 months I still can't sleep on my stomach without feeling like I'm stretching something

*My appetite is voracious now...sometimes I'm too tired to eat but do it anyway

*I haven't cooked much since the surgery. I just don't have the strength to do anything that takes longer than about 20-30 minutes.

*I still have my incision scars but not much swelling

*My clothes aren't falling off of me like they were a couple of months ago

Give yourselves time ladies and pamper yourselves without apology. I am single with no kids so I had to deal with alot of this alone (I had help the first couple of weeks but people have lives). If you have a hubby or kids to help, I say take full advantage.

Take it easy, things will get better with time. Treat it like a mini vacation.

ule

Thank you for checking in to let us know how you're doing! Full recovery takes anything from 3 months to a year so, hopefully, you'll find things will continue to improve.

Wishing you all the very best and take care!

Thank you for a great post. I'm glad to hear things are improving for you.

Continued success!

Thank you soo much for sharing with us.
Being alone in this situation is very difficult. Even I with a husband and a teenage daughter sometimes feel that there are so much to be done, and if I could get some help from others it would be a blessing. But as you said, everyone has their own lives!
I'm glad you're doing better, don't stress yourself too much.
Blessings.