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.

Had a lovely meal out with the family, amazing to be out in the real world again, and to actually focus on something other than the op, or recovery. Life is beginning again:-) I even managed to pop into Asda to buy my dad some beer for fathers day.

I'm still here and doing better every day. I am still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I had cancer. For so e reason, I am really struggling with it.

Physically I am doing really well. I had my follow-up on Monday and everything looks great. I'm back to doing pretty everything as normal. I'm now just over 5 weeks post op and it's a huge relief to not be so reliant on everyone else.

You sound a strong woman Annie. Keep up the good work
I'm seeing my surgeon this afternoon. Are there any particular questions I should be asking ? I shall try to write a list before I go though .

pizza - have a great day at the wedding! Hope you got the icing done.

Annie - glad you are still around on here. Back to normal at 5 weeks is incredible! Well done you!

gingeme - I am still pre- rather than post-, but I asked about anaesthetic, stitches/staples/glue, type of incision, how long in hospital afterwards, changing of dressings when I go home, process for getting sick notes, whether I was allowed iPad, phone etc on ward and did I need to shave beforehand. The answers to the first 3 were all "We'll decide on the day".

I had the moonboots... it's for circulation and dvt prevention. Mine were taken off when I was ready to get up. I quite enjoyed the calf massage though I'd rather they were in tandem then alternating ;)

Well done Poonannnie re back to normal after 5 weeks. I'm approaching 5 week checkup and am currently at the stage of 'I'm feeling ok but know I'm not allowed to do much of anything yet as I'll pay for it' and it's soooo frustrating. Planning to go back to work week after next so that should be interesting.

pizza now I want cake! have a lovely time

as for the nude nails... dd (12) has discovered nail polish but as she has no nails to speak off due to chew'itis she asked me if she can practice on my toes LOL. Given that I am just sitting around most of the time I let her have a go at it with some 'interesting' designs

p.s. TMI alert ;). Question for those well into their recovery... did any of you suddenly get extra gaseous? I've started moving around more this week with some outings and wearing proper trousers, which aren't tight (as I bought a couple a size bigger just in case) but they hold everything together a bit more than my comfy big girl trousers. I'm wondering whether that's related, or whether my gut is just in the final throws in finding it's predestined place in my abdominal cavity...

Lawks yes, farting like a hurricane here
I hate farts too my tummy is much more of it's regular size now, but my wound seems a little sticky in places. There's a considerable overhang and with this warm weather I think it's been sweating, need to keep an eye on it, do you think it might be ok to put a little sudocrem on it when I've showered and dried it off?

Good to see you back, Annie. You had us worried for a while there.

My wound is the same Jenny. I was told not to put anything on mine except a bit of Vaseline on the ends of the stitches that are poking out to encourage them to drop off . A little tip the nurses gave me in hospital though was to use a hairdryer on cold setting to thoroughly dry down there after a shower. It seems to work.
Lovely to hear from you Annie.
Hope you have a lovely time at the wedding pizza.
Good luck with the surgeon ginge .

All my stitches have gone, and I've got a small hole on one side, where there was a large clump of thread

Been using the hair dryer too, think will keep an eye on it, maybe pop back to nurse on monday and wipe this sudocrem off immediately

MrsBigD that is pretty much how I am feeling too. I am able to do most things but I am still being really careful not to overdo it. With a 2 year old in the house, that is not easy!

The only question I forgot to ask was when I could have a bath. I am not usually a fans of baths but I have been dying to have one for the last 5 weeks. I was told at my follow-up that I still have two internal stitches. I'm guessing that means I can't have a bath yet?

Glad everyone seems to be doing well. I'm really looking forward to being 100% back to normal.

And yes, the return of gas is a bitch. As is the bloated belly. I can top that question in terms of TMI though. Has anyone had a ... ahem ... play since surgery? It's definitely different. Still good but different.

Well what a waste of time that was. I didn't know I had to make a case to see if they will fund my op or not ! I had to tell him my symptoms and he sent it off and I will get a letter in three weeks to let me know one way or another. If they do decide to do it it will be in about 3 months time . I feel very deflated to say the least .

That sucks gingeme. I can't believe funding is an issue. Are you in the UK? I moved away 4 years ago but it was always my understanding that things like this were covered on the NHS.

Yes I am Annie. I know . I was all geared up ready for a date and hospital to be told this. He suggested lazer treatment if the op doesn't go ahead !

ginge, that's awful that you weren't made aware of that system before now - I've never heard anything like it before, sounds really unfair

In other news, I'm just back from a wonderful couple of hours waiting at the urgent care centre. My hole worried me, and what is thought was a lump of sudocrem was an internal stitch poking out

I've got some antibiotic cream to use, as doctor is sure the infection is topical, not internal, but if the stitch gets too troublesome, I've to go back and have the end snipped off.

But Silver lining, I managed to walk home from the surgery! Usually takes me 7 mins, but was more like 15

Weddi was great and cakes survived - although it's eaten now. The groom was in tears with his camper van cake

Just about to blitz the bomb site commonly called a kitchen !

Everyone was asking me last night about the op

Hello everyone, just after a bit of advice really, has anyone had to have an injection of Zoladex before their operation?

Mine fibroids are huge and after being messed around at the hospital last year, have opted for the hysterectomy rather than embolisation and have been given a date for next month, but have to have this injection a month before the op - which means I should have it tomorrow (only got the letter yesterday) - can they give this if you have your period, started yesterday, and what are the side effects I'm going away camping in 10 days and the conditions will be a bit basic!

Lots of other stuff going on as well so I'm thinking I might delay the operation anyway!

Hi hello and welcome . Can't be of any help I'm afraid but didn't want you to go unanswered. I had large fibroids, made my uterus the size of a 12 week pregnancy, but didn't have any injections. Hope someone will be along soon to help you .

Hi guys just posting to say that after my last post things went downhill. My drain was filling up with urine and so there had obviously been doe damage.
Originally they thought my bladder was damaged and said they'd have to open me up again and do a 44 min repair op.
Unfortunatly when they got in there it was one of my urethral tubes that was damaged and it was also blocked.
Four hours later I came back out of theatre (most terrifying theatre recovery I have ever had) and they had repaired and moved my tube.

That was on13th and it has been so hard going. Being opened up so much twice in 3 days has been awful but I finally appear to be on the mend and maybe home tomorrow or wed xx

It's so nice to read how everyone else's recovery is going cos it gives me a bit of a timeline x

Oh Nutcracker, you poor poor thing.

Wishing you rest and a speedy recovery

Well, that's me done! Had a spinal block with sedation and am sitting up waiting for it to completely wear off. Inflatable boots are surreal.

Apparently my fibroid was the size of a football and (TMI alert) they didn't have a big enough container to put it in in theatre so they had to chop it two!!! Sounds like the surgeon had a lot of trouble wrestling it out so think I might suffer later on. He did tell me some other details which I'll spare you, but it sounds like it really needed to come out.

Aww nutcracker that's awful, hope it's all sorted now.

Let's ... Glad you're recovering

I'm sat in my super sexy stockings with my green gown on waiting for the surgeon and the anaesthetist - supposed to be going down at 5.30

Well done letspretend
Good luck Pizza
Aww, thinking of you nutcracker. Recovering once is hard enough, twice, well...... take it really easy .

Good luck pizza!

This time tomorrow you're going to be feeling a whole lot better!

Nutcracker - sorry to hear you've had such a rough time. Fingers crossed it is sorted now and you're back on the road to recovery.

Well, that was interesting. Nurses just got me out of bed to change into my nightshirt so I had a little shuffle round and then inelegantly flopped back onto the bed again.

I was just thinking how little pain I was in, but discovered that that was because I was just lying down doing nothing!

Back to inactivity again now.

So no one knows about Zoladex injections then :(