Hysterectomies - advice and hand holding over here PART FOUR

[AtSea1979]

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.

Thank you AtSea thats really reassuring.

I have my date for surgery through now. Dreading it and having childcare issues which won't help. Worried about hospital stay and wondering what I need to organise.

I'm back, managed the drive no problem and survived a seaside beach week. Managed to pick up cystitis whilst there and am on antibiotics for that, not had it for over 21 years so don't know where that came from ???

Back to see consultant on Wednesday night. Am going to ask him as I still have right side pain and it can be quite bad, no tiredness now though, back to normal levels.

Well done Pizza . Glad you had a good holiday. Hoping my stamina is back to normal as I'm back to work on Wednesday. Where did those 15 weeks go .

Have a personal question. Sex - is your DH/P wearing a condom to reduce infection risk? If so for how long? Or am I worrying too much?

Atsea, saw my consultant this evening, asked about this, he almost fell on the floor laughing !

Laughing? Why?!

He thought someone was winding me up, don't need to use condoms at all .....

Survived my first 2 days back at work. All good so far .

hoping everyone is doing well and reviving the thread in case any one new is needing it. .

Good idea. I found the thread very helpful. I'm now five weeks post surgery. It's been a slow recovery as I've had an infection and then an issue with the wound. However, I've finally come out the other side - even went for a gentle 3k walk/run today which felt good.

Hope everyone else is doing well and is enjoying a better quality of life than beforehand.

wow! after 5 weeks I was just about walking round the block never mind walking/running! Well done you :-) Take care of yourself though it is a long steady process, but equally a huge change in the quality of life (for the better).

Please may I resurrect this thread?
I have an abdominal hysterectomy (for prolapse) scheduled in two weeks, also bladder lift and possibly rectocoele repair. I'm in Canada so maybe we use slightly different terminology, I've previously been told it's not called a bladder lift in the UK.
Feeling slightly terrified now that it's so close.
Please tell me what to expect in terms of pain and recovery. I really need some hands to hold. :(

I had an abdominal hysterectomy two months ago. Also ovaries, omentectomy and very large ovarian tumour, fortunately non-malignant. Was in hospital for only 3 nights, 4 days. Was able to get to appointment at outpatients, 15 miles by public transport, with an escort, after only 2 weeks.

Pain not really an issue. Just kept taking the recommended doses of ibuprofen and paracetamol, tho' coughing/laughing really hurt for first week. Had a couple of days of trapped wind which was as bad as post-op pain. Sorted constipation with glycerine suppositories.

Got an infection after 2 weeks, vaginal discharge - yuck, but cleared up with anti-b's. Have only just stopped wearing panty-liners for spotting.
Didn't expect it to go on for so long, but it might have been other aspects of the surgery.

Started driving after 3 weeks. Short distances. Concentration a bit haywire.

The biggest issue has been standing. I can walk without any problems, but queuing etc gives me backache. Slowly getting better, but not really up to, e.g., trailing round an art exhibition yet.

I live on my own. Daughter stayed for two nights, and popped in to do cleaning, shopping, cooking for first week. All I had to do was look after myself and I'm v good at resting! Now almost back to normal, tho' still avoiding heavy lifting - lawnmowing, toddler gc's, getting the hoover out etc for another 4 weeks.

Do hope all goes well for you. Tbh, it's been much easier than I expected.

Thank you Thymeout, that's encouraging :)

glad you found the thread Jacks

i'm back to running now, still very gently, and not pushing it too much as GP has warned against any core/abdo training for another month

Sorry to gatecrash, but can I ask a couple of questions?

My mum is 78, and I will take her to hospital tomorrow, she will be prepped for her full hysterectomy which is scheduled for Monday morning. She has cancer that has not spread. She has also got dementia, and lives in a care home for 4 years now.

I am worried about her post op. She wont understand, and she wont cooperate, and she will be scared. She will try to climb out of bed, and she will try to rip her drip out.

How long until the pain and bleeding settles, do you think? What if she wont lie still?

i only bled vaginally for 5/4 days, it very soon tailed off to little more than a bit of coloured discharge for about 10 days after that

pain-wise, it is usually patient-led, as in you manage it yourself, even in early days.

i only had the drip in my hand for 24 hrs, and for most of that i slept anyhow - how is your DM with drinking? can she take oral meds? this sort of information will be very helpful if you can let them know on the ward, rather than let them find out the hard way

from what i witnessed though, staff were very well-trained to deal with dementia as well as gynae issues. there just weren't enough of them (but that's a whole other government thread)

She can take oral meds, but is very devious in hiding them under her tongue and spitting them out. She has had bone marrow cancer for 20 years, and will try to wriggle out of her tablets and spitting them out.

what about pain management, on a normal day?

is she able to associate pain with cause?

a well-bandaged shunt in her wrist might be used to administer drugs, but i don't know if they will dose her without request, ie by the clock

On a normal day she does not get any pain management, there were talks of morphine, but I dont think they are giving it. Her abdomen hurts, and it keeps her from moving around, she prefers to just sit in a chair.

I had an epidural put in pre GA. Painless. This delivered immediate post op pain relief for a couple of days. No way I could have pulled it out and really didn't notice it. (Or that was the idea. In fact, it didn't work and they called an anaesthetist at midnight who gave me morphine. Apparently, I was one of the 'one in ten'. But no reason to think your mother would be the same.)

I think they can give liquid paracetamol. If she is distressed, could they sedate her a little to stop her trying to get out of bed?

You might do better to post on the Elderly Parent board. Someone there is bound to have had a confused parent who had to have surgery.

Thanks, it is useful to hear that the pain is quite manageable.

I was thinking about posting in "Elderly parents", but then I am not sure to what extent the patients would have been able to communicate their pain post op, iyswim.

Good luck, Quint

Quick update.
My mum is back at the care home after her op.

It was done through keyhole, using robotic technolgies on Monday morning. Minimal pain, and very little bleeding. She has only had a bit of paracetamol. She was able to sit up in bed today and lean forwards, which I have not seen her do in a long time. So, it went really well. We need'nt have worried.