I have debated whether to post my hysterectomy recovery on my blog. After much consideration, I decided to bare the good the bad and the ugly...
Busy-ness Begins: Fibroid tumors are found in my uteral lining. Due to anemia, surgery is scheduled for the following week, just 6 days before Christmas. No problem! I am confident finishing Christmas prep before surgery will be a breeze. Being busy that week before turned out to be a blessing. I had little time to worry.
Surgery Day: Preparations are all complete, and with my sweet hubby by my side I check in to the hospital for the surgery. Surgery is performed efficiently and well. Doc reports everything to be fine.
Recovery Day 1:By morning, I am thinking this hysterectomy stuff is a cakewalk. I forgot there are large doses of morphine pumping through my veins. The fact that I pushed a little button at the first twinge of pain was lost on me. The knowledge of catheter which made it so I did not have to leave my bed also escaped my memory somehow. My Hubby brings Kaka and Lulu to the hospital who quickly snuggle up on the hospital bed with me and they watch the Disney channel while I snooze. Faithful doc comes in to give me an orange and do a quick check. All is well, and I tell him of my plans to attend church the next day. Color drains from his face and he begs my girls to not allow me out of bed. I chuckled and actually thought to myself, "I feel so good, there was nothing that could keep me from going tomorrow."
Ignorance is a blissful state. Meds that were given to me just one hour before checkout caused an allergic reaction. They made me swell up and my heart race enough to delay checkout five hours. Once I was home I slept for the next 24 hours - completely forgetting about church. So much for good intentions!
Week 1: Pain is mild to moderate, but is definitely controllable with Ibuprofen or Aleve. I am very thankful for Doculax!
Swelling is coming down respectably from the allergic reaction.
Night sweats set in, and I am very emotional. Things that would normally be just irritating are now seeming like the end of the world. Everything makes me cry. I am hopeful this will get better.
I am not as energetic as I thought I would be by the end of this week. I feel best when I walk around for a few minutes each hour, but in between these very short walks and talks with my family I have a lot of naps. Bleeding has almost completely stopped. I am getting cabin fever. Christmas eve day I wanted to get out of the house so much I thought I would go crazy. Typically during Christmas break we go skiing, sledding, skating and various physical activities as a family. This break is finding much quieter things. We watch a lot of movies together, read The Chronicles of Narnia together, play games, and practice new hairstyles on each other.
Week 2: Pain is almost always mild. I rarely take any pain meds - even Ibuprofen. Walking more feels great, but it is so slow. I walked on the tread mill for 15 minutes and only went 1/2 mile. It made me tired enough that I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. Bleeding has completely stopped (for now).
On Wednesday this week, I tried a couple of slow yoga moves and popped a stitch. I actually felt the stitch pop (strange sensation), but knew for sure when later that day it fell out, and I start spotting again.
At my 2 week check up the next day, doctor tells me I am doing way too much and to rest more. He also informs me that the lab found tumors in the muscle of the uterus and sent it to Standford for a second opinion. I had to wait to find out the details... It was a long 24 hours later to find out the tumors are benign. What a relief!
The exhaustion of making the trip to his office put me in bed for two days straight.
Week 3: No pain except when I cough or sneeze. Unlucky timing gives me a cold. On the bright side... I now only want to be in bed so I am sticking to doctors orders better. Bleeding has stopped.
Week 4: Cold goes into my lungs and becomes pneumonia. I feel worse than I have felt the whole recovery time. Pain and bleeding is worse because of coughing. I am getting depressed, but I think it is mostly due to no exercise and the gloomy weather outside. Even looking out the window is dreary. The only things I force energy enough to do is to visit with my kids after school and go to mutual on Wednesday night. Thank goodness I am not in charge of this weeks activity.
Week 5: The middle of this week I begin to feel better. Feeling better helps depression seem not so overwhelming. I talk my doctor into letting me drive. I get to pick LuLu up from school! It is such a small task, but feels good to be able to drive. LuLu gets a part in Missula Theater play (more on this later). They practice every night, so I get to drive her to her practices. It shocked me how tired this made me. The first night I was so tired that the family had to come to my bed for scripture reading and prayers.
On the positive side, Bleeding has stopped once again. I am no longer coughing. Depression is just an occasional sensation instead of a heavy cloud. I picked up small books and a few items scattered around the house and even made dinner a twice this week. I only feel pain when I am cold and shivering or when I have sat too long.
Week 6: Check up went flawless. All stitches were removed. I am cleared for long
leisurely baths (HOORAY!) and to increase
exercise (FINALLY!) I believe that these will get me feeling back to normal, and three days into it I feel great! The hot flashes & night sweats still come, but doc is hopeful they will taper off the next two weeks as my
ovaries "wake up". If they are still occuring after week 8 then we will do a blood test to check hormone levels. It feels so great to be more active and back to normal routines. HAPPY to be.
three years ago, she loves to be on stage. Anything dramatic wins her attention In January she decided to audition for Messula Children's Theater. Here she is anxiously awaiting the outcome of her audition.
The night of the show, Lulu was happy to put on her new poodle skirt to TWIST & SHOUT for the audience.
