Post Hysterectomy Recovery and thoughts.
Hello everyone! I am happy to be on the other side of this surgery! My surgery was on February 25th, 2015, so I am now 2 weeks + Post-op, and for the most part I feel pretty good! I will take you through my surgery and recovery so far.
The morning of my surgery was interesting, I really thought that I would be a nervous wreck, but I wasn't. I am not sure if it was due to lack of sleep the night before, or that I had finally made peace with my decision, but I felt pretty confident that morning.
My husband and I woke up at 4 a.m. and I had to scrub with Antibacterial soap before heading to the hospital. Once there, I was signed in, given 3 arm bands and assigned a nurse who did my prep. She was very nice and informative about how the morning would go and what I could expect. I get some really fancy compression stockings and they also put some other things on my legs that simulates movement to keep my blood flowing and avoid clots. She started my IV and gave me some info to read about the procedure.
I waited a good 30 minutes before it was time to go to up to post-op waiting. We went up and it was a completely different atmosphere, I was in a room with a few other patients, also waiting to go into surgery, there were nurses, techs and anesthesiologists there talking with each patient. I was assigned a surgical team, who were all very upbeat and chipper! My surgeon came in and was also very upbeat and she was also very reassuring about everything. I signed a lot of paperwork, spoke with the anesthesiologist, once again reminded of how the procedure would go, I was then given a shot of something that made me giggle, LOL, and then I was wheeled into the operating room, I was still pretty calm at that point, they showed me the robot that would be used for my surgery, it wasn't really as intimidating as I thought it would be. The anesthesiologist started up a conversation with me and the next thing I knew, I was waking up, as soon as they asked how I was feeling i screamed, because the pain after was awful, apparently they gave me something to help with that because all I remember was waking up in my own room with my nurse and husband by my side.
Once they got the pain under control, I felt a little better, about 2 hours after waking up, my nurse removed my catheter and got me up to walk a little, my pain was more like pressure, which from what I understand is from the gas they use to expand the belly during surgery, the gas pains are awful....lets be honest!
I was able to eat a little, they had me on a liquid diet for the first day, which was good, because not too long after eating, the nausea started, they were able to get it under control with some meds, and once I started going to the restroom on my own, I was feeling a little better. My day nurse was completely awesome, she helped me get up and down, was very helpful in answering questions and she was just a really great nurse, my husband was also extremely helpful. There's something very raw and intimate about having your spouse see you at your most vulnerable and help you through it.
My night nurse....well, she was the opposite of my day nurse. She wasn't sure what medications I was supposed to have, she almost took my IV out too soon because she didn't read my chart. I didn't get much help from her at all. My husband had to learn how to turn off my leg pumps and take them off and on so that he could help me back and forth to the bathroom, since my night nurse rarely responded when I called for help, she also filled my IV with air instead of meds once because she wasn't paying attention to what she was doing and had to quickly pull the large air pocket out before it reached my vein....pretty scary. I was ready to just get up and leave the hospital! But I made it through the night and my doc came in the next morning and released me.
It felt good to be home, and to shower! The first few days were a little rough, especially trying to get up and down on my own, but everyday I started to feel a little better. I did have moments where all I wanted to do was cry, it is a lot to get used to, the finality of never becoming pregnant again, never having another
baby. It is a tough thing for a woman to be faced with. It sounds silly, considering we never planned to have more kids, but you never know what the future may hold, so it is still emotional.
By the beginning of week 2 I was sooooo tired of being stuck in the house with nothing to do! All of my restrictions pretty much tell me I am not allowed to do any household chores, cook or be on my feet for too long. Ugh, this is boring. I tried Netflix binging, but I jut cannot seem to find a show I like, I also have a bunch of books I need to read, but my attention span just isn't there. I am so used to being on the go, it really sucks to not be able to do much.
On Wednesday I will be 3 weeks post-op, I am able to drive now, so that helps with the boredom. I am still having twinges of pain and my pain gets worse the longer I am up and walking. I am trying my best to avoid doing household chores, but there is so much to do!!
My pathology report came back and they did find adenomyosis of the uterus, as well as cysts and other abnormalities, no malignancies though, thank goodness!
So I will just have to wait until my 6 week check up to find out if I can get back to my normal routine. Until then, hopefully I can find something productive to do to pass the time!
The morning of my surgery was interesting, I really thought that I would be a nervous wreck, but I wasn't. I am not sure if it was due to lack of sleep the night before, or that I had finally made peace with my decision, but I felt pretty confident that morning.
My husband and I woke up at 4 a.m. and I had to scrub with Antibacterial soap before heading to the hospital. Once there, I was signed in, given 3 arm bands and assigned a nurse who did my prep. She was very nice and informative about how the morning would go and what I could expect. I get some really fancy compression stockings and they also put some other things on my legs that simulates movement to keep my blood flowing and avoid clots. She started my IV and gave me some info to read about the procedure.
I waited a good 30 minutes before it was time to go to up to post-op waiting. We went up and it was a completely different atmosphere, I was in a room with a few other patients, also waiting to go into surgery, there were nurses, techs and anesthesiologists there talking with each patient. I was assigned a surgical team, who were all very upbeat and chipper! My surgeon came in and was also very upbeat and she was also very reassuring about everything. I signed a lot of paperwork, spoke with the anesthesiologist, once again reminded of how the procedure would go, I was then given a shot of something that made me giggle, LOL, and then I was wheeled into the operating room, I was still pretty calm at that point, they showed me the robot that would be used for my surgery, it wasn't really as intimidating as I thought it would be. The anesthesiologist started up a conversation with me and the next thing I knew, I was waking up, as soon as they asked how I was feeling i screamed, because the pain after was awful, apparently they gave me something to help with that because all I remember was waking up in my own room with my nurse and husband by my side.
Once they got the pain under control, I felt a little better, about 2 hours after waking up, my nurse removed my catheter and got me up to walk a little, my pain was more like pressure, which from what I understand is from the gas they use to expand the belly during surgery, the gas pains are awful....lets be honest!
I was able to eat a little, they had me on a liquid diet for the first day, which was good, because not too long after eating, the nausea started, they were able to get it under control with some meds, and once I started going to the restroom on my own, I was feeling a little better. My day nurse was completely awesome, she helped me get up and down, was very helpful in answering questions and she was just a really great nurse, my husband was also extremely helpful. There's something very raw and intimate about having your spouse see you at your most vulnerable and help you through it.
My night nurse....well, she was the opposite of my day nurse. She wasn't sure what medications I was supposed to have, she almost took my IV out too soon because she didn't read my chart. I didn't get much help from her at all. My husband had to learn how to turn off my leg pumps and take them off and on so that he could help me back and forth to the bathroom, since my night nurse rarely responded when I called for help, she also filled my IV with air instead of meds once because she wasn't paying attention to what she was doing and had to quickly pull the large air pocket out before it reached my vein....pretty scary. I was ready to just get up and leave the hospital! But I made it through the night and my doc came in the next morning and released me.
It felt good to be home, and to shower! The first few days were a little rough, especially trying to get up and down on my own, but everyday I started to feel a little better. I did have moments where all I wanted to do was cry, it is a lot to get used to, the finality of never becoming pregnant again, never having another
baby. It is a tough thing for a woman to be faced with. It sounds silly, considering we never planned to have more kids, but you never know what the future may hold, so it is still emotional.
By the beginning of week 2 I was sooooo tired of being stuck in the house with nothing to do! All of my restrictions pretty much tell me I am not allowed to do any household chores, cook or be on my feet for too long. Ugh, this is boring. I tried Netflix binging, but I jut cannot seem to find a show I like, I also have a bunch of books I need to read, but my attention span just isn't there. I am so used to being on the go, it really sucks to not be able to do much.
On Wednesday I will be 3 weeks post-op, I am able to drive now, so that helps with the boredom. I am still having twinges of pain and my pain gets worse the longer I am up and walking. I am trying my best to avoid doing household chores, but there is so much to do!!
My pathology report came back and they did find adenomyosis of the uterus, as well as cysts and other abnormalities, no malignancies though, thank goodness!
So I will just have to wait until my 6 week check up to find out if I can get back to my normal routine. Until then, hopefully I can find something productive to do to pass the time!
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