Hysterectomies - it's gotta be done but over here for hand holding PART 3

[LackaDAISYcal]

New Thread...
Over here for the hand holding

One in five women in the uk will have to have a hysterectomy at some point in their lives

Come and join us if you are waiting, pre-op, bleery eyed on the ward or recovering afterwards or just need a bit of advice.

I will call winny. You are right that not knowing is probably making me feel worse.

I'm not scared of the op particularly, it's more afterwards I am terrified of.

winny. I'm having the uterus and cervix removed but have signed a waiver authorizing my surgeon to remove anything he feels necessary. He doesn't think he will need to remove anything further, but won't know for sure until he has a camera inserted and is able to assess better.

Do call and ask about afterwards. Mine was fine, I came up from theatre at 8 pm and by 10 am next day I was walking up and down the wards for 20 minute slots. It would have been sooner except I had a migraine that wouldn't shift. I started walking round the park in week 2 IIRC and I had six weeks off at home mainly on my sofa < gets up to go to work now, weeps a little>

What sort of incision did you have beast ?
I've been warned mine will be quite big.

Did anyone else have stents in the tubes that run from their kidneys to bladder ? I am, with the idea being that they can see them better during the op and are less likely to damage the tubes.
They then come out 6 weeks after the op.

Marshy, sorry to hear that the procedure was so painful. Did you get any anesthetics? That global biopsy thing sounds like D&C, but I am not sure. What will be your next steps?

Nutckracker, I know that the idea of colostomy bag is not really appalling (to say the least), but what helps me get through situations like that is to focus on the fact that even if it does happen, it will only be a temporary thing. Like an annoyance that will go away and will not be any meaningful part of your life when you remember it in 10 years time. And there is a huge probability it won't happen in the first place. Of course, you have every right to feel upset, just as it is totally acceptable to focus on something of smaller order (in the grand scheme of things) just to keep your mind off the bigger procedure.

Annie, just to tell you we are here for you. You are welcome to come here, freak out, do whatever you feel like. All feelings are valid. You are not alone. It's only 7 days until your procedure. Be good to yourself. It's good to have everything organised in advance, but it's good to remind ourselves that it's probably expecting too much to hope to account for all the possibilities in advance. And what is even more important (and brilliant actually!) is that the world will not come to an end if you don't cover everything. Cleaning windows is a good coping strategy, and I wish you were near me because I can offer few that really need good wiping

nut I had keyhole, despite a growth that was 7 months gestation. They chopped it up in situ and slurped it out of my tummy button . So I had an incision just above the pubis, two guide holes either side of my flab abdomen, and a remodelled tummy button.

Ahh i see lol, very good description.
I am having an insicion going from just above my old c-section scar to midway between my boobs and my belly button.

Thanks Bub, I think you are right in that I am focusing on the possible colostomy so that I don't have to think about the rest.

Hello ladies. Hope you're all feeling ok.

I saw the consultant today and have a date for surgery, 27 May. Total abdominal hysterectomy as my uterus is enlarged (16 week pregnancy size he said?) and severely
pre cancerous cells. I was at the hospital all day having my pre op and bloods.

They want me to get my iron up - I have problems absorbing iron and can't take supplements. But the surgery is in the middle of my period so I will bleed it all out again. I can go in the night before the surgery. Glad to have a date.

Good you have a date Scarlett, I'm anaemic (that's why they find Stanley) but I'm ok with iron tablets. Could you try spatone ? It's an iron rich water and you do absorb most of it

That's great news Scarlett. I was wondering how you were doing and whether you had a date yet.

I have tried Spatone and many others I'm afraid, I just can't seem to keep iron in me. Makes my IBS very bad too. I will have to have steak and spinach every night :) so glad to have a date but not looking forward to the recovery and menopause. Xx

Ah ladies, anaemia, I was shocking, that's how they found the growth originally.

Iron tables were like pissing in the channel, to be honest. Waste of time and it takes forever. Apparently it takes 120 days to manufacture haemoglobin in the body. I asked for a blood transfusion during the operation. I am very squeamish so didn't want to be awake for one .

I think it was the reason I recovered so fast. Yes, I had some wounds to heal but I wasn't anaemic and that felt just amazing.

Forget building up iron from scratch, get a takeaway . You have that anaesthetist up the head end doing nothing for a couple of hours, give them something to do...

Hello All - just found you all again I was on fred 1 and 2 but am now out the other side.

I was talking to my friend about my recovery today and it occurred to me people might like to know what its like 5 months in!

I had total abdom hysterectomy after aerial bleeds from fibroids nearly did for me on a trip to Paris and after a permanent history of heavy periods and family done decided to go ahead and take away risk of bleeding to death again!

I had mine done under GA with a spinal on Nov 27th last year.

I was a miserable patient and pretty fed up for most of the first month although not in any great pain just generally pissed off with being incapacitated.

By my 8 week check up had gone back to work (self-employed) back at the gym and virtually back to normal I felt great!

However that high - as a result of looking after myself for the previous 8 weeks - sson wore off and I started to feel v v tired by 10 weeks post op and quite understandably realised I couldn't jump back into previous way of life quite at that point. So another quite gloomy time - every time I tried to do a gym class or play tennis i'd be wiped out for next 48 hours ( i'm quite competitive…)

However I reflected yesterday that I feel really so much better now and really am back to 'normal'. I played tennis for 2 hours on tuesday, body balance class ( include all abdom stuff) yesterday, working all the time in between, walking dog etc - I even went on ALL the rides at 2 watermarks in Dubai 2 weeks ago.

Being 'well' again kind of crept up on me.

My only downside - pouchy tummy which I slightly hate a lot - but working on that.

The -ahem - intimate side of things is much much better a) because i'm not restricted to about 2 days of the month when i'm not bleeding, having discharge or feeling lie I want to murder someone b0 because we don't need to use any contraception and c) i just feel better!

So I hope this gives you all some hope of what is out the other side.

Don't get me wrong I was really really scared, i had mixed support for my decision to have it done from friends which was hard and upsetting and I had a number of sleepless nights worrying about it and googling the horrors of what can go wrong. However - different to a lot of you- I didn't have anything else more seriously wrong - but it has frankly hugely improved my quality of life…..

That is so good to read kingfisher. It makes me feel much less worried about afterwards. Thanks for posting.

Scarlett - Good news about them giving you a date. Hope it all goes well .

I was done just before kingfisher. 13 November iirc. I only had keyhole, and they glued the wound rather than dressings, so I could have a bath the night I got home. The nurse terrified me with talk of being in pain afterwards. Actually, I had a migraine when I went in, and it came back in recovery. As soon as it went off, I was walking up and down. Once I got home, I had lovely days watching judge judy and walking gently round the park. The pain never got more than a bit of a weird ache round the stump of the cervix.

Went back to work early January and to be honest haven't given it much thought since. I hate exercise but I get fat very easily, so am back to regular swimming, and I do my weekly session with a trainer which I restarted in Jnuary. He says I am fully back to strength and actually he is pushing me harder now I am not anaemic.

I'm actually really, really pleased I found what was wrong with me and had it all dealt with. it made me really ill before. The difference in my life is amazing, not being anaemic and not having all that bleeding to cope with. The surgical menopause was a bonus. My friends have had natural menopause s and they have dragged on forever and been a PITA. Mine was all over in 20 minutes, and I have oestrogen patches and topical oestrogen, and that's it, job done. No mood swings, no hot flushes (well, a bit if I wake up at night) and no aching joints.

Another day on the sofa for me...did the school trip on Tuesday and then yesterday did some housework, including hoovering the hall and stairs and my burny stabby pain low on the left side is back and my just behind my tummy button is achy and sore

I hate this not being able to do the things that I could previously take for granted. My joints have flared up as well, but I can cope with that as it's my "normal" and I'm seeing my rheumatologist next week so will get a steroid injection. However, the lupus flare probably isn't helping my recovery as it causes crippling fatigue as well. Heaven knows when I'll be fit for work which is quite physical.

DH has ordered me to sit with my feet up all day, but PiLs are coming over this evening to babysit as we have DS1's parents evening and my MiL keeps an immaculate house, inspite of crippling rheumatoid arthritis. she is like this ---> at the state of my house. Of course she wouldn't say anything, and has helped DD tidy her room a couple of times (which is pointless as it's a bombsite again within 24 hours) but I feel bad.

I suppose I am only four weeks post op...

Yay for your date Scarlet; not long to wait now.

Good news Scarlet.
Sit your bum on that sofa Daisy I'm sure mil can let you off just this once surely ?
Thankyou for your recovery story kingfisher. So glad your doing well. I can't wait to feel like that.
Can't believe my luck. I havnt had a period since January and I have my biopsy on the 12th May and am now bleeding I just hope it doesn't last a month as my Jan one did or I can't have my biopsy. Think they call it the law of sod

arse ginge! I hope it clears off quickly.
kingfisher, it's good to hear that things will get better...and that it'll creep up gradually!

Right, school waddle time for me; well I'm driving today as I have to fetch something from the post office, but it's only a very short journey. Working the clutch makes things ache! then I'm back on the sofa, I promise.

I insisted dr did my biopsy when I was bleeding heavily-I've not stopped since last August so I couldn't see how else we could do it. When I arrived and told the nurse I was bleeding as usual and she said they couldn't do it I made a big fuss!
The first go was filled with blood, but he tried again and got a usable sample. It was hideous as I bled everywhere, but I imagine a biopsy is pretty hideous anyway.
I think it also made my heavy bleeding a useful reality to the consultant. I fainted afterwards, but I think that happens sometimes.

DAISY …. in hindsight 4 weeks was NOTHING in terms of recovery …please do look after yourself esp with yr other health issues. It won't help long term and your DH is right… if you MiL always looks like that then frankly I wouldn't be arsed if i was post-operative!

thanks kingfisher; I think I need a kick up the arse sometimes. DH remarked that when I could manage the housework I didn't bother, so why the rush to do it now I suppose my mess thresh-hold has been reached!

Feel much better after my day of rest. I'm starting a college course tomorrow, so will be fine for that; it's sewing so mostly sitting on my arse too!

If I had to do it again tomorrow I would be firmly attached to the sofa of a lot lot longer than I did ..I sort of miss my back to back ER extravaganza perhaps not the best thing to watch after major emergency surgery and a hysterectomy but at the time I HATED being incapacitated so as soon as i felt even slightly better I was doing stuff and in retrospect it was rather stupid….

beginning to think I'm a lazy mare! I'm quite looking forward to not doing anything .

It was nice being waited on. Make sure that you've recorded a good selection of programmes, have plenty of nice chocolates on hand and make sure your family staff have been briefed well regarding their duties.