Anyone up for a new hysterectomy hand holding thread?

[Northlondonma]

For those who are contemplating, have a date, had one and recovering?

I had mine keyhole with everything removed on Monday. Am 40. Would love to chat to people going through same thing.

Thank you. To be honest it can't come quick enough. Going private so I could have been in right away but have chosen to wait until the Easter holidays to make it easier on my DH as he would struggle with the school run and working. I would normally rely on my parents in a situation like this but my DF has been told he will be in for surgery before 4 April to sort out a problem with his shoulder which is causing him difficulty with driving at the moment and after surgery he won't be able to drive for 8 weeks. Meanwhile DM has lots of other health issues going on and can't drive any distance due to problems with her eyes. Worried sick about my DF surgery as he is on warfarin, which he will need to come off pre op and they will give him something to help coagulate his blood, so his surgery is not without added risks. I am feeling a little stressed at the moment.

Hello all glad to see some have healed , and welcome newcomers

Thyme I have joined a gym! Ok I have only been once ( and sat in sauna haha ) but decided that I need to get my strength back . I thought of you as I did a very small amount of gardening today .

It's so surprised me how this abdominal wound surgery knocks the stuffing out of you

I am now 12 weeks and still get so tired , but definitely feeling normal

To all the newbies welcome and good luck

Having surgery is a massive emotional and physical journey so be kind and patient

Make sure you get some leggings a size larger than usual for when you are healing . And if you can get hair done before surgery !

Good luck with work cosmic

Mothers and lepa your situations sound a lot worse than mine. I hope lepa that you hear soon and either it is good news or that you get quick treatment. Mothers, it sounds like an Easter horibilis for your family. Is there any other care you can get. I know one friend who hired a second au pair, a friend of the first, to come over to help look after her and her children for a couple of months.

I'm a wimp. A close relative and a friend are currently being treated for cancer. In contrast I have the effects of a bad forceps delivery, 19 years of gravity and carrying an over heavy suitcase last summer.

I need to deal with it as my bladder is starting to be affected as well as the original prolapse. However I recall the pain after childbirth, torn ligaments, stitches etc which in turn sparked post natal depression and am scared. This time I can plan and won't have a small baby and the hormones, and can demand suitable drugs, but I still think back to how awful the healing was then and how shellshocked I was.

I am also scared about a general anaesthetic. Mainly because my mum has dementia which became far worse following a hip operation.

The counter argument is I need to get myself sorted whilst I can heal fast and the anesthetic risk is not too high.

Still I am writing my will. Should have done it ages ago and it feels a bit morbid and over dramatic now.

A question. A lovely friend has said she is renting a holiday cottage about 7 weeks after my op and would I like to join her. Mad or not? I like the idea of something to look forward to.

Quick question re phased return. I am due back on Monday and so called occ health yesterday. They said that it would be wise to speak to me but that I needed to be referred by hr. Hr are now saying that they do not need to refer me and that I need to get this from my doctor. Occ health have always done this for me and I don't really understand why they are blocking this route. Has anyone else spoken to the doctor about this? I shouldn't imagine that they get involved in phased returns. Hr are not my greatest fan as have had quite a bit of time off last year with endo so it seems that they are blocking this for no reason. It is all very strange. I think they may want me out......

Sorry - can't help with that, North - hope someone else can.

I'm a fainter, too. Every time I had the coil put in. (A hypersensitive vagus nerve, they said.) Makes you wonder if a tendency to faint gives you pre-disposition to needing a hysterectomy somewhere down the line!

Lepa - I had a radical hysterectomy. Vertical incision from 2 inches above navel, detour round it, down to pubic bone. It needed to be big so they could get the tumour out (ovarian) and he could have a good look round. But there's keyhole and robotic/Da Vinci method - probably more common in the U.S. And vaginal, of course. Sometimes they do an abdominal along the bikini line/Caesarian section.

At my hospital, you get an epidural put in before surgery and when you come round it's hooked up to a Fentonyl drip. I'm sure that helps, tho' I was apparently the 1-10 that it doesn't work for. An anaesthetist arrived at the foot of my bed at midnight, sprayed my lower half with something icy, ouch, agreed it wasn't working and gave me morphine. It's all a bit hazy, don't remember complaining about any pain, got the impression that the day staff thought the night nurse had over-reacted.

Anyway - honestly, constipation/wind was more of a post-op problem for me than pain. And that was easy to sort.

Altered - I'm sure you'll be fit enough for a break at your friend's holiday cottage. Not mad at all.

Paris - sauna sounds good! Glad you're feeling normal now.

Best wishes to everyone I haven't mentioned.

North I hope it has all been sorted and you can ease back.

I'm lucky in that I work from home and to some extent can schedule work as I want. At the moment I'm trying to clear the desk and also catch up with friends. Good as it means I have not been focusing on the operation ahead.

Lepa. I hope things are Ok. That Paris is feeling less tired, and that mothers has support worked out.

I've bought peppermint oil, cotton nighties and some very baggy jog pants. I also have a copy of 101 tips for a happy hysterectomy. Need to read it and book an appointment with the hairdresser.

Oh North, I hope you have managed to get something sorted out! It's awful that you feel undervalued by HR when the reality is you have been ill. I really hope things look up for you.

Altered, I just got my hair done yesterday. Another thing ticked off the list. Spent a good portion of Tuesday clearing out DD's bedroom and putting stuff in plastic storage boxes to make the house a bit tidier as can't bare the thought of my DM or worse, The Mother-in-law, tut tutting at my lack of housewife like skills when I'm incapacitated, lol.

2 1/2 weeks to go for me now before my op. Have my pre-op on 19th. Is there anything I should ask? Any advice greatly received!

Hello I am so glad I came across this tread, I am 46 year old had the IUD for 9 years no problem change to Mirena 1 year and half my period disappear and in November I started bleeding heavily at work with clots went to A&E I was prescripe tranxacid which help to control the bleeding and did a scan discover fibroid went to see GP after but was more concern about the coil need to come out no options . I had a second opinion a private Gynaecology who advise not to take it out because it help for bleeding. It annoying and stressful going to change pad every 20 mn at work. I went back to GP few days ago for options and been refer for another scan . I don't know what to do I am so scare for a hesterectomy because beeing put to sleep and the recovery time 8 weeks too long I would like to have some quick recover options. thanks

Well it's me again. Finally got my follow up appt. at hospital today after resection on December 5th which didn't work - so much for 3 weeks later!

I'm down for i urgent hysterectomy in approx 2 months because potential anaemia problems. It will be abdominal but keeping my ovaries. Can't believe I'm finally gonna have it!

Trouble is it would would be right slap bang in middle of my son's GCSEs. I want to avoid that if poss.

Hi Tobee, these things never happen when it is convenient do they.

My DS is doing his GCSEs too and I go in on Wednesday for my abdominal hysterectomy. I've got both the kids off on holiday which makes it easier from a school run perspective but feeling really guilty that I won't be able to do much, especially with my 10 year old DD. DS has work experience for 2 weeks of his holiday so at least he will be occupied. Between the work and studying, I think I'll hardly see him!

I'm feeling a bit apprehensive now that I only have 3 days to go...

North, how is work going? Did you get revised hours?

Hi everyone!
Good luck Tobee and mothers for your operations. Hope you are all bearing up and not too nervous. You will both be fine!
I have been back to work for three weeks now on phased hours. An hour more each week for 6 weeks when I will be back to normal hours. It's going fine although exhausting! I finish at 1.30 at the moment get back at 2.30 and crawl under my duvet for an hour. Still get stomach ache towards the end of the day and there are days that I am a hormonal mad old bag lady but getting there.
Please let me know if you have any questions about the operation. You must remember to take it easy in the weeks after. I was a mess ten days after the operation as I thought I should be better. Silly looking back now. Recovery takes time and you need to be kind to yourselves. The very best of luck

Hello North, glad things are going well with work.

Things took an unexpected turn on Monday when admissions advised me they were postponing my op until 8th April. I was angry and a bit upset as I was all psyched up for it, had organised all the child care, husband had booked the time off work and most importantly there was time between my op and my dad's op. Now DF is being operated on 7th and I'm the 8th, bloody nightmare! No explanation from the hospital just that the consultant has cancelled all his surgeries. I'm gutted.

Only plus side is that I can spend some of the Easter holidays doing things with the wee one.

Hope everyone is well.

I'm sorry to hear that. I have had similar. I was finalising my packing and ready to go when they phoned to say they had realised I had been placed on the wrong surgeon's list. At least it was an explanation..Its now scheduled for 13 April. A pity as teenage daughter would have been home over Easter revising and son was due to come home from University to help out. Instead DH will have to take time off work. I also now have an odd month with a clear diary.

Glad to hear things are getting better North. Friends have been warning me that recovery takes a while but that it is worth it in the end.

Can't believe they cancelled yours on "the day". I was gutted with 3 days to go so I feel for you. I was mainly exasperated because I am a bit of a micro manager and felt content within myself knowing I had everything organised and under control whilst I was in for the op and for a good few weeks post op then suddenly all my plans were for nothing and I had to start re assessing things, grrr.

Is your DD doing GCSEs or A levels? How's the studying going? My DS is home from school and is doing a good job of staying off his xbox and hitting the books when he isn't at his work experience. I feel I've hardly seen him so far these holidays. I'll be so glad when the exams are over for him and he can relax a bit (until the dreaded results day).

Not quite. I was just about to leave to have the blood tests done two days before, when they phoned and told me.

Emotionally it was odd. I had just got to the point where I wanted the operation over and done with. Plus I would have started feeling better before DDs exams so the focus could then have been on supporting her.

She is doing AS levels which I think are as soon as school goes back. (We haven't seen a timetable yet and bizarrely her five exams are set by at least 4 different boards.) I am expecting tension as she wants to do well is not a natural swot. More a natural procrastinator.

Instead, like you, it will all happen at once. Assuming they don't cancel again.

Motherstongue. I hope the countdown to your operation is going well. I phoned today to check on timing of blood tests to find that they had again added me to the wrong lost. I don't know if I am being silly but I really want to be operated on by someone I have met and feel comfortable with.

The new surgeon does not have much presence online and does not appear to be UK trained. Its so difficult to judge but this surgery appears to be quite complex to tackle long term prolapse, including bladder and bowel problems. It is so important to me that it is done right. I would welcome some reassurance that IANBU to want to have at least met the person or know something about their background.

It looks as if I have the option of being re booked for the end of the month. The issue could then be that the pre op tests become invalid after three months.

How can they do this to me twice?!

Dh had the option of adding me to the private health insurance he gets through work. Its looks as if it was a false economy not to have taken this up.

Sorry about the rant. It is so frustrating.

Oh altered, that's just crap!

I totally agree. I suppose when my op was postponed I could have gone to another consultant but my consultant has a great reputation, he was recommended to me by my consultant radiologist and most importantly I felt confident about him when we met. He was friendly, he put me at ease and explained everything to me at length so I just sucked it up that my op was postponed for that peace of mind. I'm going private though so I could have just requested an alternative surgeon if I'd been determined to stick to my dates or as near to them as I could.

I have no idea how it works on the NHS. Can you choose your consultant? I would hope you can or at least insist on a consultation with the surgeon prior to your op. However, you are probably worrying unnecessarily. We have to hope that if someone has got to the stage in their career that they are a consultant, they must be pretty good at what they do. The thing is that NHS or Private, the same surgeons work in both sectors so your surgeon might have been on the Private Hospitals list of consultants too.

I have kind of got things sorted for going in on the 8th. DH has managed to sort out his time off. My poor DM will have DF in for his op on 7th but will feed my DD and DS and keep an eye on things while my DH is in at the hospital with me on the 8th. I'm feeling a bit sorry for my DM at the moment with all this extra stress. Just hope my DF op all goes well and no hiccups that selfishly cause a knock on effect for me. Overall will be a bit of a stressful time over the 2 days I think. We'll be glad to get to the end of next week lol.

Then DS back to school and GCSEs looming with a whole different kind of stress :-)

Let me know how you get on...

Thanks for the sympathy. Its helped get it out of my system. I was in tears earlier, perhaps highlighting that I am more apprehensive than I have admitted to myself.

The NHS has a system of 'choose and book' so you are supposed to get the Consultant you choose. I also liked her, felt reassured and she did private work so it was easy to find her CV on line. Not a huge amount to go on given how major it is for me, but everything stacked up.

The frustrating thing is that despite phoning to explain that I was booked on the wrong list the first time round they did not bother to tell me whose list they were putting me on second time round. I made a couple of phone calls and got the good advice of phoning the consultant's secretary. She was kind enough to reassure me that the second surgeon is, if anything, more experienced than the first and agree that knowing that your surgeon has done lots of your sort of operation is relevant. The second is a consultant but does not appear to do private work hence the much lower on line profile.

(From what the bookings people told me I could have been a complete guinea pig in the hands of a junior doctor. With Dr Google throwing up all sorts of examples of problems with the use of mesh.)

So I am now content and indeed hoping that I will be able to unravel my request to be moved back to the original consultant. I really want this over and done with.

Poor DD. I had thought that with my original dates the whole thing could be really distracting (and she is easily distracted) so booked her on some holiday revision courses partly as a way of getting her out of the house and as a way of making sure she covered everything without me having to check.. She is quite ambitious and so may be applying for courses where not only AS grades matter but also UMS.

I now feel it is a bit unfair as sixth form, and not having to take subjects she found difficult, suits her and she is much more engaged. So she probably would have got on with it on her own. I am impressed though that your DS has been hitting the books. I still have bad memories of Art and French. The art folder got lost at one point and I hated supporting her through the wretched rote learning before the French oral. I think I can still recite the whole thing.

The next couple of months sounds like a nightmare for you. I really hope it goes smoothly for everyone.

Hello all. Got my date for my op. June 17th. Had to move it to then to avoid son's GCSEs. At moment I'm feeling quite pragmatic. Last period, on day 3, we, my husband, 19 year old daughter and 15 year old son went out for pizza. Towards the end of the meal my husband made me laugh a few times and a tsunami seemed to be occurring, iyswim. I was too nervous to go to the loo because of what might show. When we left, shall we say, the floor and pavement were not unscathed. My husband and daughter went to get the car while my son stood with me. His voice suddenly seemed to be coming from underwater. I realised I nearly passed out for a second. My son was terrified but I was completely unaware. He wouldn't leave me alone for the rest of the evening, even when I had a bath, standing outside the door, lol! As I walked up the stairs when we got in I looked like, sorry for tmi, I had been shot up the bum. So I think I probably do need the op!!!

Hello, just wondering if this is the most current thread on hysterectomies. I'm considering it for removal of massive fibroids that make me look 5 months pregnant. Am 43 and done having babies, so it seems perhaps a reasonable option.

Meeting with a consultant later this week to discuss in more detail. Would welcome any advice going into the meeting or info on what the preparation (pre-op hormone treatment, surgery and recovery) were like for you.

I have a c-section scar, so removal would likely be through it. But one doctor told me that keyhole might be possible as well. Has anyone had a hysterectomy with large fibroids (10+cm) removed via keyhole?