To think I will be ok 4 weeks after a Hysterectomy??

[Allthefoodandwine]

Hello!

Was due to have an abdominal total Hysterectomy, including ovaries tomorrow.
Caught Covid, so it has had to be delayed.
New date 29th November.

We are hosting Christmas for 12, including family over from Australia.
DH is a great cook, but, cannot cope with more than one thing on the hob and one thing in the oven at a time.
The normal rule in our house, is he in on drinks/canapé/hosting duties, and leaves me to the oven & hob.

This works well.

However, this year, I will have had a Hysterectomy 3.5 weeks before Christmas Day.

Yes I have read all of the various guidelines with what you can, and cannot do - they are confusing.
I am not planning on lifting the turkey, or heavy pans etc....

But from those who have had a Hysterectomy, what will I be able to do?

Just trying to get my head around it all!

Thanks!

Unless you are a doctor you cannot say this for certain.

Everyone is different. Some of the posts on here are scaremongering and silly.

I have had a hysterectomy and would have been fine cooking a Christmas dinner especially with help from DH. I certainly would not be going out to eat on Christmas Day.

The only women I know that have had any problems after a hysterectomy have either been much older (60's or older) or ones that did absolutely nothing for weeks after. A work colleague literally stayed in bed for 4 weeks because she says her surgeon told her to. It took her months to get over it and she was only 2 years older than me when she had the op

I had abdominal hysterectomy in May. It took 3 months to feel normal again and regain strength. Honestly, just have a quiet Christmas and do as little as possible. It's too soon

I think it's unreasonable of them to even suggest coming.

Could you buy it all in and do a buffet?

Can't you tag team in the kitchen, you can direct him what to do, especially heavier tasks plus cheat, buy in ready made food.

Everyone heals differently. I was out meeting friends for coffee less than a week after total abdominal hysterectomy. Went back to work (physical job) after 7 weeks.

Hello I had a full hysterectomy over two years ago. The following Saturday I had a short walk around the park to the cafe. I was feeling fine but very tired (kept falling asleep). I think you should get all pre prepared food. M&S is nice and ask your guests to help as much as possible

I wouldn't have been able too, took me a good couple of months to feel up to normal most days, the tired and the soreness wiped me out

I've been told I need a total hysterectomy (abdominal not keyhole) and my consultant was going to book it for January but when I mentioned we have a holiday booked for April (long haul, will involve lots of walking) he said best wait til after as he was worried I wouldn't be sufficiently recovered by then if I had the op in January.

Sorry also from my experience definitely isn't a good idea, too soon, I was tired for ages afterwards and physically took longer than I'd imagined too.

My mum had an abdominal total hysterectomy on 14December, she did all prep for Christmas Dinner sat down & my dad did all the lifting of pans & the turkey. She also went back to work on 7 January as my auntie who she worked with passed away suddenly the day before.

I had a surgical cut for a bowel perforation and went to the theatre (I don’t live near it so travelling too) 3 weeks after for my birthday, it was iffy but I managed. If he could do the heavy lifting I think it would be okay but you will likely be very tired so best to pace. I would have a backup in case of any issues though

What are the other options? I assume since family are coming from Australia it's not as simple as find another family member to host.

If it were me, I would direct things from the kitchen but not physically do the work, so use dh as a dogsbody. This requires both that your relationship would be ok with that dynamic and that the guests can entertain themselves/serve drinks and canapés whilst both of you are in the kitchen, although a lot of the prep for a Christms dinner can be done in advance.

In our family, Christmas dinner isn't the responsibility of one person. We decide a time it needs to be ready for and different people are responsible for meat & gravy, veg, potatoes, sauces, laying the table, drinks, puddings, cheeseboard, starters, canapés etc. If you have a lot of family coming, could you give them a job each and you be in charge of timings?

You might also consider hosting at your house but with someone else doing the cooking. Or the more radical options of booking a restaurant, getting a meal delivered, or going to someone else's house.

I haven't had a hysterectomy, but had a hysteroscopy under general anaesthetic recently and even that knocked me for 6. You'll need to rest.

I was thinking a bit more about this and I wonder if there would be a way of sort of half way house-ing it.

I don't know how much stuff you normally make from scratch, but you could buy pigs in blankets, gravy, all the sauces, even Yorkshire puds if you're a Yorkshire pudding family, buy a Christmas pudding/cheese cake or something, buying custard as well.

Then it's just a turkey, potatoes and veg really. It's cold enough in December that potatoes and vegetables could be prepped as early as 23rd and shoved in the shed in big bowls of cold water.

That, done sitting down, with then your DH/a relative of choice following instructions while you act as kitchen general from a chair might be doable if there's no one else to host and an entirely marks and Spencer dinner would be too expensive/not feel right.

I know someone who had a keyhole hysterectomy, didn’t rest properly for the 12 weeks she was told to and ended up back in hospital with a twisted bowel (she was vomiting faeces 🤮)! She was very poorly and had to have a part of her bowel removed as it has died. I didn’t know at the time but apparently you have to be very careful when recovering due to possible complications like this with your bowel. Please be very careful and do as your surgeon tells you! 💐

Always worth remembering it’s not a race, there are no prizes to be gained by rushing (infact a lot of potential problems)

listen to the advice from your medical team. My mum was given very specific exercise and diet instructions to help aid recovery.

Even if it were keyhole, you need to protect the area to avoid the possibility of a hernia on the site. As it's not, you definitely need to protect the area and not strain it or exhaust yourself.
Best you book a restaurant for dinner.

Yep, wildly optimistic. If you MUST do it yourself could you do things like prep and freeze bits pre op and then it's just a case of bunging in the oven at the right time? Ready though I'd throw money at the problem and order a few meals from cook or m+s and bung in a few extra for immediately post op too. Pretty much all the women in my family have had a hysterectomy and, despite being total battle-axes, not one of them would have been really ok doing that.

I was weak and exhausted for 6 weeks and felt nowhere near back to normal until 4 months and mine wasn't an abdominal cut. Whilst a few people feel good quickly, it's not worth risking. Just cancel hosting.

No you'll be shuffling around still.

No I don't think you will be fit enough op. I've worked on a gynae surgical ward and have seen that things don't always go as planned. Sometimes patients need to stay in longer for a variety of reasons. Recovery time is different for everyone. Unless your Dh is happy to do absolutely everything and I mean everything for 6 weeks after your op then I wouldn't host Xmas this year.

M&S/Waitrose and a written schedule for DH.

Honestly, no, you can’t. Either buy everything ready to go in the oven (M&S or Cook) and get him to write out a timeline of what order to put it all in, or relocate to another family member’s house. You probably won’t be up to a full day of socialising either, so build in time to go and rest/sleep.

Friend had this about 8 weeks ago and she's still not right - some days she is just exhausted. Have them over if you must, but book a big pub dinner out to minimise the running about

I had a hysterectomy (open not keyhole) three weeks before Christmas, and I remember shuffling around and not being able to stand upright properly. It's not just about how you are feeling - there will be a lot of internal stitches that need to heal too. You must put yourself first.