Elderly mother hysterectomy permanent restrictions

[CarmelasFridge]

My mum is 74 and had a hysterectomy 7 weeks ago, she's recovered well, but is tiring very easily.

She had her check up today and was told not to lift anything (a baby was used as an example) forever. Mum's quite shocked at this as she wasn't told this beforehand, obviously no lifting during her recovery, but forever?! She did a little hoovering last week and was weak for days afterwards. Will she always be affected like this?

She's active and will find this very restricting.

Would appreciate any information.

I wouldn't have been hoovering at 6 weeks. I was very careful for quite a while but 2 years later I lift normal stuff quite easily. I refuse to lift really heavy stuff but bags of shopping, toddlers etc no problem. Tell her to build up carefully and be careful. Hoovering and ironing, I didn't tackle for a long time.

I'm 10 months post op, same sort of age as your mother. (But don't feel 'elderly' yet!) I do still avoid lifting toddlers and, for some strange reason, sweeping makes my sides ache. But otherwise, I can do most things I did before. Cooked a turkey for 10 after 3 months tho' needed help in taking it out of the oven.

But it took much, much longer than 7 weeks to be anywhere near getting my strength back. I recovered incredibly quickly for the first month, so I thought I'd be back to normal much sooner than turned out to be the case. You reach a plateau and then improve very slightly each week.

I found standing still the most tiring - queues, choosing library books, looking for things on supermarket shelves. Sitting for long periods, e.g. at a dinner party, was tiring. Made my back ache. Certainly ran out of steam v quickly. Could only cope with one or two shops or half an art exhibition for about six months.

But mine was quite a big surgery, vertical abdominal incision, so your mother may recover more quickly. Tbh, I enjoyed watching box sets on the sofa with a clear conscience. And a hand held cordless Dyson was a godsend.

Thank you both so much for the replies. I've read them to my mum and she feels much better about her progress. Do you have any tips for daughters dealing with grouchy impatient mothers?

Sorry - can't help there! My hysterectomy was a 'just in case' add-on to an ov-ca scare and I was euphoric to be given the all-clear. I was never going to complain about anything ever again. Little Miss Sunshine I was for months - quite irritating in the end for my nearest and dearest, like being a born-again Christian or something. (No offence, if you are a BAC!)

Also, I have a talent for 'resting'. Re your username - I re-watched The Sopranos, along with The Wire, The West Wing, Breaking Bad - anything with a lot of episodes. But it paid off. Others much younger seem to have had more in the way of complications through trying to do too much.

And lie down, don't just sit. It was a revelation how much one needs those muscles just to stay upright.

Best wishes to your mama - and to you!

She needs to be realistic. That is a big op for someone her age. was this for prolapse? if so, then she will have to not lift forever. I had a repair aged 36 ( equivalent in recovery time to a hysterectomy) and have never lifted anything heavy since - I was advised no more than 14lbs and go for way less than that! A 2.5kg bag of spuds is the limit.

I know nothing about the op/recovery but just wanted to say if you have the funds for a Roomba they are really brilliant things. You press the button and it hoovers your floor. Makes such a difference when you are recovering to be in a clean room. Its so easy to get a bit stir crazy, fed up with depending on people, then overdo it, then people get fed up with you overdoing it. But with a roomba you are in control even though its no effort iysim.

PS and best wishes to your mum for recovery and you for patience!

I had a very minor gynae op at 50 and was surprised how long it took to recover. 6-12mnths before housework was normal. A daily horizontal lie down is definitely very refreshing, even on the sofa.

A walk in the sunshine is probably better than vacuuming.

A Roomba would be so good - I would so love one, but can't afford it. Wouldn't it be fun to sit and watch it.