I’ve been gone for a little bit. I was actually in the hospital for a hysterectomy.
Not too much to say about it really. There are a lot of videos on youtube with women telling their stories of after their laparoscopic hysterectomy. I had a bilateral salpingectomy oophorectomy. haha that means both sides, tubes, ovaries, and my cervix.
They made three incisions in my belly, filled me with gas, cut the tubes, cut around the uterus and cervix and then removed the tubes through the incisions and the big bulky stuff is removed vaginally and then where the cervix used to be is sewn shut.
The big info is really the after story. I didn’t feel like documenting it much and still don’t feel like it but I had it done on Monday and it’s Saturday so I’ll give a very brief day by day.
Day 1 was Monday. Surgery day. Don’t recall them knocking me out. There is a lot of busy stuff going on in the OR and it distracts you. Next thing you know you are awake. Sort of. Very groggy. Pain in my belly, especially the left side. Not big pain. Just ‘ow’ pain. They gave me meds, the pain went away.
They took me to my room and I took a nap. They checked me, gave me meds, I took another nap. And so the afternoon went. Food came, soft, uninteresting, and I wasn’t hungry. I didn’t eat it.
My sweet gynecologist visited me that evening. I love her. She is an amazing, tireless woman who is the most nurturing woman I have ever met. She loves to take care of people and we love her for her love. I am blessed to know her.
My only complaint later that evening was my catheter, which was rubbing on the inside of my bladder and made me feel like my bladder was overfull. They did some moving it around, scanned to see if my bladder was actually full like I was insisting it was (it was empty), readjusted it and gave me a big bag of IV fluids and I drank a lot of water. That is how I remember it. Better.
Day 2 I woke up and they took the catheter out. They had me sit up in a chair for three hours. Not painful but tiring. I ate breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast. My amazing doctor brought me coffee in one of her own mugs. It was the best cup of coffee I have ever had.
I went back to bed for a bit, my nurse stopped by, I got up to pee (a requirement for going home), then my surgeon came by to see me and tell me I could go home as soon as the nurse took care of my discharge paperwork. Yay! Surgery went well! Yay! No housework! Double Yay!
The gas started to get uncomfortable once I got home. I took Gas X and it helped a lot.
I napped sitting reclined in a recliner. I napped a lot. I managed to sleep in our bed that night using two pillows and help from my husband. I passed gas all night long. Poor hubby.
I have always tried to NOT pass gas in front of him. Our 20th anniversary was last summer and I told him that was it, I wasn’t going to ‘gracefully’ dash to the bathroom anymore just to toot. Good thing. I made up for lost time LOL Sorry, baby.
Day 3 (Wednesday) My stomach muscles felt tight. TMI Warning: I had loose but very tiny bm’s. I mean, it was good I could go, but the urgency was that of diarrhea, it looked like newborn breastfed baby bm’s (maybe from pain meds which I had been taking at bedtime) and I had gas. Not a fun day but also not miserable. Took Gas X and longed for bedtime. Still pulls getting in and out of bed, especially on the left side.
Day 4 (Thursday) Felt stronger. About 40% normal. Small amount of gas. One nap of about an hour. Husband is still home from work to help me watch 3 year old granddaughter and I really need and appreciate the help.
Took a shower. I wasn’t up to it yesterday. It felt nice to be clean.
Day 5 (Friday) Almost feel normal, just tired. No nap but tired early. Don’t need pain meds or Gas X anymore.
Folded three baskets of laundry.
Day 6 (Saturday) Today. Made the bed all by myself! And I’m blogging! Feel pretty good, just about normal.
How I felt yesterday was how I was foolishly expecting to feel right after surgery because so many people said how easy it is. It is easy. Just not that easy! It was silly of me to expect it to be practically pain and discomfort free. They did a lot in there and it’s bound to be sore. But it also wasn’t terrible.
My pain was only momentarily a 7, usually more like a 5 tops and for a lot of the time it was closer to a 3. So not bad.
So that is where I’ve have been and what I have been up to. Our Galentine’s Day plans for tonight have been postponed until next week, not because of surgery but because of a predicted ice storm. A jam session with my son that was supposed to happen last night was also postponed but that was indeed because of surgery. Can’t rock and roll just yet, but I’ll be back!