Prolapse/ Post-op recovery

[Felicitas01]

Hello
I had posterior and anterior (sacrospinous fixation) surgery one week ago , I am hoping to hear from someone who has had similar surgery and how their recovery went.
I was able to stay with my mum for the first week and take time out from my toddler but am back with him yesterday and after a week of mostly staying in bed I am now moving around A LOT (more time on my feet than off them) and have noticed at the end of today that my body around surgery area is aching, and I can feel the prolapse has shifted down again. Sigh. Has anyone been through this? Have I ruined it all?
Thanks in advance!

You will get swelling at the surgical site as it heals, so don’t panic if you feel a lump there in the weeks after surgery. It can feel like the prolapse has returned but give it a few weeks to properly heal and hopefully that feeling should go. Try and rest up when you can as well (easier said than done!). Leave all the house work for your other half- no hoovering, ironing etc. I wasn’t allowed to hoover for 7 weeks after similar (just posterior) surgery!

I had a posterior and anterior repair earlier this year. You are doing too much! I stayed off my feet as much as possible for a couple of weeks and didn't do any housework/lifting for at least 4-6 weeks. My surgeon before the op rammed home how often prolapse surgery fails (30% failure rate) and said it's because people done follow the post-op recommendations of bot doing anything until your scars have healed. The tissues take a long time to knit back together and if you are too upright or lift something too heavy before that's happened, your prolapse will reoccur.
I know that's really hard with a toddler - do you have any other help? A partner? We paid for a childminder to help out with my kids (I have 3) for a month after my op, just for a couple of hours each day.

I know! It's so hard not to, I haven't really lifted too much, heaviest thing was a 2L milk bottle, but a few times bending over, and just being on my feet to help make him lunch and things. I'm SO scared I have undone anything just from one day of trying to be helpful. We are about to head back to our place with no help and a lot harder living so I just don't even know. I think my post-op instructions were a lot more vague; emphasised no lifting and only light household stuff but said walking around is okay. Oh man.

Sorry, yes partner is around and very helpful. We have a high needs 21m old so it's hard to sit back and not help!

My surgeon gave me a helpful chart of allowed activities that I’ll summarise below:
No heavy gardening for 12 weeks
No running for 10 weeks
No heavy washing loads, hoovering for 6 weeks
No light gardening for 3 weeks
No ironing for 4 weeks
No light lifting for 2 weeks.

You can start light housework/cooking after a week or 2, but you should delay anything that causes strain or discomfort.

Just remember that you’ve had major surgery, even though it might not feel like it (my surgeon said this is because there are less nerve endings where the surgery has taken place). Because it’s internal, it’s easy for people to not realise that you are still recovering and to think you are fitter than you actually are.

Just noticed that at the top of the chart it says later start for sacrospinus fixation, so you do need to take it easy.

That chart is awesome, thank you. Yeah it's so hard for other people to understand how seriously the recovery time needs to be taken, and also I feel stronger than I thought I would so I feel like I should be helping!
How do you think you know if you've done damage to the surgery? Like is it something that can happen instantly or is it more of a gradual thing where it he's worse every time you make a wrong movement.
Man, I'm so annoyed at myself! I hope I have undone it all.

Haven't ***

It's really difficult. My DHs view was basically he'd rather do everything for 3 months and me only have to go through it once rather than take any risk of recurrence. Just rest as much as you can, don't take any risks!

Hello all, so I'm post op, had surgery for posterior prolapse on 15/11/18. I still feel so sore around the entrance to my foof, and have this feeling of something constantly being there. A bit like when a tampon isn't in properly and you can feel it irritating you at the entrance.
I've managed to do as I'm told and test up but yesterday I was pottering around a little more.
I'm so worried that it's made no difference and I've gone through it all for nothing. Is it normal for it to feel bulky down there still? I feel as though I need to keep my vagina muscles clenched or else the whole lots gonna just gonna slip right back down. Please help, feeling vulnerable and alone at the moment.
H X

Can you ring the ward to ask them? I was given the ward number if I had any worries post op. They do put loads of dressing up there but it should have all been taken out the day after surgery (I was a bit at just how much they pulled out!). However, it’s still early days and you are still healing so soreness and swelling are normal. I found in the first few weeks that at the end of the day in particular, everything felt sore and swollen. I even thought the prolapse had come back but it was actually fine.

Thank you SergeantPfeffer! I had a check up after one week as I thought I had an infection and they said it looked fine but I actually hadn't been moving around much at all until after that check up, so it wasn't until the following few days that I started to feel a bit swollen or heavy or something, still feeling that now - just like you say, end of the day is when it really starts to feel a bit bad. I think I will just try to ignore it and wait until the check up in January as I don't think there is much that can be done right now anyway, still trying to avoid lifting and moving too actively.. eep.

Oops, just realised you were responding to Hay666, sorry! Haha. Applicable to me too though so thank you!

Hi, I'm so glad I've found this group as I've become so worried about how it all feels post op. Left hospital with little info and it all happened so fast, I had so many questions but my consultant was unable to see me at the time of being discharged.
You're so right in saying it's almost like the prolapse has come again as at times it feels super bulky. I've woke up to what I'm hoping is my period today although a week early, certainly feels like it & I can't see myself getting out of bed today,
Have a good weekend all

It's very early days for both of you, IIRC it took me a good 6 weeks before things felt fairly normal again and 12 weeks to be fully back up to strength. Keep moving about but with plenty of rests and minimal lifting. Also be careful getting in and out of bed, off the sofa etc - roll onto one side and push up with your arm rather than sitting straight up which puts pressure on the pelvic floor.

Thank you Meet0nTheledge, you're so right it is early days still and it's so hard to know what's happening in terms of healing. Great tip about getting in and out of bed! I am doing well at not lifting for the most part (but even 1.5L milk feels heavy!), though I have pulled my toddler towards me a couple of times, it's so hard not being able to lift him!
Hay666 - I got (what I think was) my period one week post op and in a way it was good to just get it over and done with while everything else was a mess anyway! Haha. Sigh.

1.5L of milk is heavy at this stage. I was told not to pick up anything heavier than a half full kettle for two weeks and only them start slowly increasing. It must be hard with a toddler, my DCs were older when I had my op so it wasn't so much of a problem.

Thanks so much for your replies, I stayed in bed most of day yesterday and I just feel so low and tearful. I can't for the life of me begin to imagine how hard it must be for those with toddlers and babies, I absolutely take my hat off to you! My daughter is 19 and my son 8, my husband aged somewhere in between so I'm lucky. I've never had a period this heavy since being a teenager it's awful and painful. Whenever I get up and walk about it anything I find myself constantly clenching my muscles together down below for fear of everything falling down, I don't know if this is natural to do this or causing more damage, have a good Sunday ladies x

I feel for you Hay666! I am feeling super bulky and heavy down there today and absolutely trying so hard not to panic that it has all relapsed. Gah! This is so stressful! Yes, I do wonder if I should have waited until my son was older but what can you do, have to just work with how it is now :0/

Hey all,
Am I over anxious?
I have noticed over the past couple of days that I'm unable to hold my bladder. It gets full really quickly and it just feels really heavy down there like if I let go of my pelvic muscles I'll wet myself! Is this part of the swelling and healing following a posterior repair do you think? I hope so, In the past is wet myself if I was coughing lots and stuff like that but this feels different I'm worrying like crazy

It's normal to be anxious IMO. It's 5 or 6 years since I had my repair, which was successful, but I still worry if I get a twinge down there. What I would say is that there will still be a lot of swelling and bruising and it is impossible to tell at this stage how things will be once healing is complete. Also I lost what felt like ALL my pelvic floor muscle tone, and a lot of that of my abs, my stomach felt so flabby like it did post-childbirth. You will be amazed how much things change by 6-8 weeks.

I haven't got the bladder thing, like I can hold it but if I need to poo I get so sore like all my stitches are gonna burst!
Also really starting to feel weak in my stomach muscles like if I bend over or stretch up I feel like I have pulled a muscle. It's so bizarre, really feeling weak and frustrated, you just don't realise how major this procedure is until after!
I hope you're feeling okay Hay, it's such a rollercoaster!

Thanks for writing back, I can't tell you how much it helps. I know exactly what you're saying about the poo thing Felicitas, I'm scared to go, even movicol & senna aren't helping. It's just such a weird feeling all round at the moment, not painful just sharp pricking feeling deep inside and this feeling of something just on the outside which reminds me of when I've struggled to keep a tampon in place and it sits at the opening.
I underestimated the op I think, hopefully we'll all be feeling much more positive and meetontheledge, thank you, maybe the lax feeling and needing to feel like I need to wee is more related to muscle tone at the moment. I had a little feel inside really carefully and it is a bumpy knotty mess in there. X

You might want to drop a urine sample into the go to just check you haven’t got a UTI. I got one post op, but I’m prone to them so no surprise there. I do think that everything getting a bit battered and bruised and shifted around probably means you’re generally a bit more vulnerable to getting one so worth ruling it out.

I had an anterior repair 4 years ago. It definitely takes a while to settle down. It is all swollen inside and that's what makes the bulky feeling. I wouldn't advise feeling around in there at all. Just leave it alone for at least 6 weeks. Don't look at it either.
The messages from my bladder changed post op. I felt the 'need to go' in a completely different way. Some days my urethra felt twitchy or trigger happy, then other days I'd almost forget my bladder was full because it didn't tell me in the same way. I just got used to it. So it'll be all over the place and changing as it heals. Because you are so focused on it you'll be noticing everything too.
Everything worked out fine with mine and it has gotten better each year since. Now I rarely think about 'down there' instead of thinking of it a million times a day. Yes that day will come but you have to go slow now and be very patient.