Hysterectomy (continued)

[CointreauVersial]

Following on from this thread - continuing our hysterectomy chat, support and sharing of experiences.

Hi everyone. This weeks been a little manic. Feel like I've been at school every day for something or other. So I've not had chance to pop back onto this thread. Hope everyone is recovering well? I've still got the whole house to clean before Tuesday and wanted to do it when the kids aren't here. But I've decided to do upstairs tomorrow and downstairs on Monday after the school run. I'm just having a look in my drawers etc to find the comfy clothes I'll need after my op etc.

Anyone who had a TLH can you tell me how long you stayed in hospital for please? As I haven't got to be there until 11am, I know it will be probably 2 days. I am hoping to be out Thursday.

@catnidge I’m thinking of getting canestan as I feel very thrushy on the outside. But don’t know if it will sting like a mofo.

Also does anyone know how I go about doing pelvic floor? I can’t even feel anything down there so don’t know how to start!

I had TLH the Monday before last. Surgery was at 2pm and I went home on the Wednesday morning. As far as I’m aware it’s usually 1 to 2 days in hospital.

I’ve finally been put on oestrogen after going through the hell of a medically induced menopause since September.

Hope everyone recovering well & good luck for the imminent ops 💐

@YogiBear19 Thank you. I was hoping for max 2 days in hospital. So fingers crossed for a Thursday discharge. Hope the recovery is going well for you?

@Ballstothisdotcom, I just dabbed some of the external cream on, it didn't sting and I found it quite soothing. Maybe try a tiny dab.
I self referred to physio for pelvic floor and abdominal exercises. There are some pelvic floor exercises on the 'always' website. It may be a while before you feel your pelvic floor though. I'm never entirely sure I'm doing it right. I had a hefty womb and two grapefruit sized cysts so my continence has improved since the op. I'm mindful of a prolapse though so do my exercises, probably not as often as I should

@YogiBear19, hope the hrt improves your symptoms. I'm really struggling with night sweats and insomnia.

@mrsbd21, good luck for Tuesday. Hope you get everything done before the op. Remember to take it easy and rst up after though!

@Ballstothisdotcom - re: pelvic floor exercises, the booklet I linked to on my post on 9/12 has some good instructions. For scheduling and timing the exercises there are loads of apps you can put on your phone - I use KPFL. Then I ignore all the reminders.

I'm all good, currently in France, overdosing on Christmas cuteness in Alsace. Loads of walking, but at a slow pace (DPs are in their 80s). The bleeding hasn't come back, and I feel great.

Good luck for Tuesday, @mrsbd21 - try to get a bit of rest in the next couple of days, and drink LOTS of water.

@catnidge Thank you. I wanted to do a big clean as I know DH and the kids won't do it to my standard whilst I'm incapacitated! I'm glad it's happening before Christmas. I don't have to stress about the school run or the general making sure everyone has what the need each day. The only thing I'm disappointed about is missing out on my annual Boxing Day trip to the next sale with my sister. First time for about 15 years I won't be there
@CointreauVersial Thank you too. I'm going to take a couple of sports water bottles in and we always get a big pack of water from Costco. So there will be plenty for me to drink. I'm paranoid about the first poo. I'm expecting it to be worse than the first one after childbirth and that was horrific the first and second times. By my third child I had learnt to use lactulose as soon as I had given birth and it made it so much more bearable. So I am going to start taking it today and tomorrow and take the bottle into hospital with me!
@Ballstothisdotcom Hope the thrush clears up soon.

@catnidge are you allowed to go on any hrt? After just 3 days of oestrogen both my sweats and insomnia have been eased slightly. Still a way to go to feeling vaguely human again but I finally feel some hope.

@cointreau how lovely. Enjoy every second and so pleased you feel good.

@mrsbd21 I very much agree with Cointreau’s suggestion to drink lots of water over the coming days. I’ve had three major surgeries (two spinal) over the last three years. The first one I drunk very little water in the lead up and I really struggled with the recovery, v low blood pressure from dehydration etc. The second I drank a little bit early in the morning and had an easier recovery. For my hysterectomy I was allowed to drink up until 11am on the day of my 2pm surgery. I drunk a good few glasses of water & I honestly think it made a huge difference to my recovery (& I’ve not (yet anyway) had my palms peel off which I normally have after long GA!)

Drunk/drank ugh! Excuse typos/poor grammar.

@mrsbd21, hope all goes well tomorrow. Hopefully you we be home in no time.

@YogiBear19, I'm not allowed hrt due to oestrogen reactive cancer. The days aren't too bad but could really do with a good nights sleep!

Hope everyone is well.

@catnidge ah I see. So sorry. I probably missed this. I feel so insensitive now. I have been using loads of natural sleep remedies (magnesium, 5HTP, Melatonin & buckets of lavender spray) and I also have some essential oils that do actually help with the sweats and anxiety. I’d be happy to send you some oils if you fancy trying.

@mrsbd21 hope all goes well tomorrow. It will be all done before you know it & you’ll be on the road to recovery.

I’m now two weeks post op and doing ok. Still a bit of pain and get tired easily but walking lots (in between rain showers!)

@YogiBear19, it's absolutely fine . It's just one of those things. I think I'm not doing too badly with the menopause compared to some. Thank you for the offer, I've got a magnesium spray (and take magnesium supplements) which take around 4 weeks to kick in.
Hope the hrt works for you!
Do you know how long you'll need to take it for?

I found walking was my main exercise, well its really the only exercise you can do post op.
I'm now 9 weeks post op and did a youtube 30 minute gentle work out yesterday. My muscles do ache today, but everything internally feels fine.

Best of luck, @mrsbd21

Thank you for the good luck messages everyone. Bag is packed and final cup of tea has just been drunk. Still waiting on the odd parcel to arrive for Christmas pressies, oh well DH will have to wrap them for a change! I've got the school run and youngest sons Christmas play to go then we will be on our way to the hospital. I'm not afraid to say I am bricking it. I suppose I am used to sorting everyone else out and putting their medical needs first. So to have to focus on myself for a change feels very weird.

Good luck mrsbd21!

Catnidge great to hear about your exercising!
I had a busy weekend and am now wiped out with a sore throat and more worryingly I’ve got pains shooting across the front of my bladder... will give the specialist nurse a call if I can get hold of her to see if I should go to the doctors... I thought I was doing so well last week, getting up to 2 miles a day and having loads of energy!

YogiBear19 hope the sleep continues to improve.

Good luck @mrsbd21!

I’m day 7 now. Can’t sleep at night only in the day. No appetite and cried yesterday because ‘I miss food’ that will be all those lovely hormones.

How are you doing @mrsbd21?

@CointreauVersial
@yoshimi and @YogiBear19. The weather has been truly awful, hope you have been managing to walk and dodge rain showers

@Ballstothisdotcom, poor you not eating and sleeping. How are you doing now? I didn't eat for a few days but started to get back to usual eating after a week.

@mrsbd21, how are you? Hope all went well.

Hi everyone. I'm back home now. Was allowed to leave yesterday. OP went well, although I am in shock as when the surgeon opened me up they found me riddled with deep endometriosis including a nodule on my bowels! I was apparently very lucky that the surgical team working on me were endo specialists and able to do the op otherwise they would have stitched me back up. I didn't know I had endometriosis and neither did the hospital as nothing showed on scans etc. I remember the surgeon coming round afterwards and he told me off for not telling him exactly how my pain I was in lol.
I felt so much better when I woke up from the anaesthetic. I didn't realise how bad I felt before. Currently only taking paracetamol and ibuprofen no codeine due to bowels. Managed a good sleep last night at home and woke up about an hour ago. Best thing I ever did deciding to have a hysterectomy!

Hi catnidge it has been really hard to get motivated to get outside! But on the plus side my pelvic floor seems to be toning up at last- I can do the 10 second squeezes!

Off the the hospital this am, they’re all lovely but still not looking forward to being poked around.

mrsbd21 that is fab news. So glad you had the right team doing the op! My SIL has endo and I know how much pain she’s suffered over the years.

Hope everyone is doing well!

@mrsbd21- glad to hear it was a successful op - how amazing to actually feel better post-op, despite all the surgery recovery implications! You must have been having a miserable time. Hope you get plenty of rest over the next few days.

@yoshimi - they may not poke about; might just be a consultation.

@Ballstothisdotcom - hope you are feeling a bit better.

All good here....now five weeks post-op, and honestly feel 100% recovered. The tiredness has vanished, bleeding stopped, tiny scars fading, and I feel the same now as I did before the op. We had our work Christmas night out yesterday, which was great. I finally felt able to tell a few people about the cancer (no-one apart from my boss and assistant knew where I'd been), mainly because it is going to difficult to hide 27 Mon-Fri radiotherapy sessions, but people were super-supportive. It felt good to come clean.

cointreau that's excellent to hear and I hope the radiotherapy doesn't wipe you out too much. It's weird about telling people about cancer- the people I work closely with know about mine but I haven't shared widely apart from close friends. I'm not the sort of person to share on social media anyway, although I can see other people get lots of support from it. Also seems strange as it was only ever tiny and was removed before I ever had any symptoms.

The consultant had a look around using dye to check for high grade cells but couldn't find any, which is great. Back in 3 months to check all's still the same then hopefully they'll discharge me. He said the prolapse didn't look anything to worry about but if it's bothering me when I go back they will refer to physio.

Today is the first day I've had normal energy levels since last weekend and I just hope I haven't overdone it and suffer tomorrow!

How are you all getting on? Ready for Christmas??? Hope @YogiBear19, @Ballstothisdotcom and @mrsbd21 will be taking it easy, and letting others take the strain over the next few days. Don't overdo things.

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope you all have a lovely Christmas.
I'm feeling better every day. Almost 1 week post op and I took my ted stockings off yesterday as they were giving me restless legs at night. I tried walking about the house more and it definitely helped. Although I'm not liking the insomnia at bed time. Did anyone else experience this?

Happy Christmas one and all! Hope you are all doing well.

@mrsbd21the insomnia is crippling me. 4.30 this morning I was still awake!