My hysterectomy
I had my hysterectomy Tuesday morning. They got me in prep by 6:00. I was given Tylenol and tramadol during prep and after they got me groggy they did a nerve block in my back and put in a second IV.
I very vaguely remember being put in recovery. Someone told me I got to keep my ovaries and it went great. I was so out of it. I asked her again if I had heard her right and she said yes. My husband did get to stay in my room with me and I got to leave about 6pm. For a couple hours I was still pretty out of it and I hurt so bad. It was mainly my stiff neck and I had a severe headache that hurt so bad that I didn't want to keep my eyes open. When they gave me Tramadol again it was around lunch but all I ate was my jello and a couple bites of fruit so when I took the Tramadol I almost got sick but fought to keep it down. I wasn't able to sleep any in the room because there was someone coming in about every 30 minutes. I had to get insulin 3 different times and even then my sugar was still upper 200s. I had a belly binder on and I have not taken it off except to shower and I think that helps a lot.
The first night in the hotel I didn't sleep because I couldn't get comfy on my back. The 8 hour ride home was tolerable. Since my surgery I have only taken Tramadol twice. The other times I have managed it with Tylenol and Ibuprofen. I have also been taking stool softener and Miralax and had a bowel movement this morning and it didn't hurt nearly as bad as I thought it would. I was finally able to sleep about 3 hours in the recliner, not reclined at all. I'm super congested and stuffy and can't breathe through my nose so that isn't helping me sleep. I showered yesterday. I ended up with 5 incisions that are still covered by bandaids. I'm afraid to take those off lol.
The nerve block will wear off today and then I'm sure the pain will be a little worse. It already feels different, like it's a deeper level of pain, if that makes sense. My lower back and hips are super sore also but today it is a little easier sitting and standing. Peeing is weird. It starts off fine then the longer I pee the more it hurts but I'm sure that will also get better. I have an appointment to go back on the 16th but the nurse is checking because she said they very seldom ever see them back that early. Everything went good and she said the lymph nodes appeared good on the biopsy she did but they also have to do another biopsy but she won't have those results for another 8 days or longer. I had excellent care from the nurses and I think it went better than I was expecting. I wish I could sleep and my incisions are starting to actually hurt but the belly binder is a life saver.
Comments
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Glad you are done with it, MissTaylor! It sounds like it went as well as can be expected, and it sounds like you are doing as well as can be expected also.
It all sounds pretty routine as far as these surgeries go, although the blood sugar issues are concerning. I hope you are going to continue to give us very frequent updates. It sounds like you had the DaVince laparascopic surgery, right? that's what I had too. Keep an eye on those incisions. They can get pretty "gappy" and also can become infected / inflamed. I had some problems with mine.
I'm so glad to hear your sweet "writing voice," dear Miss. How are you eating? avoid chocolate and cheese, of course. Lots of vegetables and fruits and jello. Popsicles helped me.
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I haven't ate very much. My sugar is back down to normal this morning. My instructions said I could take the bandaids off today but my thinking is to leave them on so they stay clean and protected. My throat is really scratchy and I've been coughing a bit and I've been trying not to because it hurts too bad. I'm going to get some medicine tonight. Yes I had the DaVinci. It's hard not to use the stomach muscles getting in and out of bed but I'm finding more ways to do it so I use my arms more lol. My husband has been a huge help and insists that if I wake up at all hours of the night and need to use the bathroom or whatever to wake him so he can help me. Poor guy hasn't gotten much sleep either. I'm hoping tonight I can actually sleep so he is able to sleep.
I'm doing everything I can to make sure my healing process goes the best it can.
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While your husband is there to help you get in and out of bed, I wanted to share a link that helped me after surgery in case he's not around at the moment you need to get up. Since I live alone, the most challenging part of the post-surgery recovery was getting out of bed by myself. It was really painful and I felt like I was pulling at my incisions. (I didn't get any guidance on this at the hospital). So I found a video on You Tube that demonstrated a good technique that really helped:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heEvgDc4w90
i hope your recovery goes smoothly.
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Ms.Taylor,
I was thinking of you on the 8th. I am so glad you checked in to let us know how you are doing. Things are sounding good now that you are home. No one rests in tbe hospital!
Your husband is so great. Be mindful of your lift precautions and keep moving when you can, resting when you cannot.
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Day 3 and I am moving around better. Sitting down and standing up are easier, as is getting in and out of bed. I'm still only napping during the day and not able to really sleep. Most of that is me being so congested and stuffy that I can't breathe. Not sure if that's related to surgery or if I was already getting sick. I had to take my belly binder off because last night and this morning my stomach, back and sides were red and super itchy. I took it off and the redness and itching is gone so I'm leaving the binder off. I don't really feel like I "need" it as much now. The bandaids are still on. I feel like they help protect my incisions so they are staying on a bit longer. I feel like I could probably manage to sleep on my side with the binder on to keep everything from stretching. I definitely feel when I reach too far. I do a little walking outside every day and take it nice and slow. When I stand up it doesn't feel like everything is falling down, which is an odd feeling.
My chart showed that the two lymph nodes they removed are clear of cancer and it also said I had adenomyosis and chronic cervicitis and my pelvic washing showed nothing so I'm in the clear I think?? I hope.
My lower back and hips and even tops of my legs are still really sore and giving me issues but I know it will all get better. Yesterday I walked out with my husband and brushed two of our horses but was hurting from standing after 10 minutes so cut it short.
I've been fighting back sneezes the last 3 days. That's going to be super painful so trying to not sneeze or cough until I've healed more. I'm also waiting to hear from my doctor about the appointment. They want me back on the 16th, which is just one week post op. The nurse said that was very odd to have a patient come back so early and we honestly may not have the money to get there because he hasn't gotten to work this week yet and his check from last week will only be enough to cover our car payment and buy dog food.
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Very glad to hear that your surgery went well and that you're healing so quickly! Also happy that the news you've received so far on the pathology front has been good!! Sending you best wishes for a full and speedy recovery and for continued good news on the pathology front.
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Everything is sounding really good. Wow, I was glad to hear that "everything doesn't feel like it's falling down"---it sounds like your uterus was probably really causing some discomfort. I am so glad to hear you are moving around. It's the best medicine for you, along with that sweet husband of yours. It also sounds like you're coming down with something. Oooph, bad timing, but you will get through this. Thanks for letting us know how you're doing. I can hear that you are relieved. Congrats on getting through the surgery, and on having some clean results thus far!
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No, I mean after my surgery it felt like everything was rearranged in there lol. I didn't feel that before surgery. It felt like when I stand up things fall down. That has improved a lot. Last night I finally managed to sleep for more than 3 hours at a time. My congestion is clearing up and I was able to comfortably lay on my side. My stomach has been itchy so I have been putting hydrocortisone cream on it. I feel a little pain around the incisions but not bad. Still, most of my pain is in my hips and lower back. I feel it pulling on my muscles if I reach too far to try to get something and I still do not bend, at all. But I can bend my legs better so I can bring my leg up to adjust my socks or shoes, etc lol. Yesterday I walked to the mailbox and back by myself and took it very slow and by the time I got back to the house my back was killing me. It was a very short walk. Yesterday evening I walked through the grocery store with hubby and that made me pretty sore.
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I think yesterday I overdid it. Yesterday morning I went with husband to go feed our dogs and I went around back to fill the water bowl and our big male was running loose in the yard. He is very hyper and loves to run right by people and smack them with his tail so he was running at me and I turned away from him to protect my belly and turned too far or too fast because felt immediate sharp pain in my lower left abdomen. Made it back to the car but felt that pain again when I went to get out of the car. Still in pain when we stopped by my cousin's house to wish her youngest happy birthday. Sat in the car when he ran into Orschelns but got out at the grocery store. Got back home and I took 2 Tylenol but pain was still more than usual the rest of the day. Yesterday evening we got our taxes done and then went back to the store to pick up things for supper and I pushed the cart a bit and picked up light things off the shelves and put them in the cart. We had been in the store maybe 15 minutes and then I started hurting pretty bad. My lower back and hips just felt like the muscles were being squeezed and I kept feeling pain.
Last night at 10 I was trying to stay awake to watch TV and felt so tired that I didn't feel right so hubby put me to bed. I woke up at 11:40 very shaky and my body felt heavy so he checked my sugar and it was 402! The only bad thing I had ate was a small cupcake after supper but even that normally would never bring my sugar that high.
This morning it is still higher than normal for me at 167 but it's a lot better than 402. Today I have decided to take it very easy. No shopping for me. Yesterday I was able to get 3 bandaids off the steri strips. One bandaid I don't want to touch because it's a vertical cut starting right at my belly button going up and I see that being difficult to remove and another bandaid we tried to remove was pulling the steri strip off with it and I don't figure that's a good thing. I called the on-call nurse and he told me the strips should come off on their own, which I know, and he said try again the next time I shower lol. I don't think the strips will come off under the bandaid, right? I won't see my doctor until the 22nd so should I try to take off the belly button bandaid and see if the strip stays in place? That incision is the most painful. It feels like it's being pulled when I sit or stand and the others just feel like they are burning a little and my whole belly is still very itchy.
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Dear Miss Taylor, I have been wondering how your hysterectomy went ! Was It was done at CTCA by dr Ruchi ? I’m so glad you were able to have laproscopic robotic and not open hysterectomy! I had laproscopic as well but not at CTCA , I’m so happy to hear your pathology reports were clear so far ! And you were able to keep your ovaries , that’s encouraging! Sincerely Yetti ps if you could give me your address I would like to send you something !
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Yes, Dr. Garg and Dr. Baker did the surgery. I had not met Dr. Baker until after the surgery but he was very nice! I really do think if I had gone with my first cancer doctor here in Arkansas my surgery and recovery would not have gone so well. I will send you my address in a private message.
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Glad to know you are paying attention to your body and taking things easier when you get messages from your abdomen. I'm so relieved you've gotten through the surgery. Keep resting. These first four weeks are crucial for healing.
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It is one week post-surgery today. My soreness is moving to different places now lol. I'm having a little bit more discomfort around my incisions and they are starting to bruise. It also feels like my abdomen muscles towards my sides are hurting more. My lower back and hips are still giving me a lot of trouble. One thing that I've noticed is when I start to feel tired it seems to hit all at once and it makes me feel a little sick, like nausea and just a yucky, all-over sick feeling. I walk a little every day, slowly, and go up the steps. The steps at my house are a little taller and it hurts to go up and down them so I'm going to avoid those for a while longer. The bandaids are finally off and the steri strips show no indication of coming off anytime soon. I am still taking it easy and mindful of how heavy things are and try not to bend or use my abdominal muscles. Usually first thing in the morning and just before bed I am the most sore but today was the second day I haven't taken any Tramadol. Ibuprofen handles the discomfort. I'm still taking stool softener because I'm afraid of having to strain. Every day I wake up wondering what's going to hurt today lol. Yesterday my right hip was the worst and today it seems like it's my lower back.
I still feel tired enough that I usually need a nap in the afternoon and even then I'm still tired and ready for bed by 8. Hubby is going to go back to driving tomorrow but he will be home every night.
Question for those who have gone through this: I never experienced this before surgery but now when I pass gas it kind of hurts. Is this normal and does it go away? And when I have gas it does tend to cause pain in my abdominal area but it's like sharp, stabbing kind of pain as it builds up.
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The gas pains and bowel movement pains can be awful, gas X helps and stool softeners. I still have that pain 5 weeks post op even though it's improved and take gas x daily. Also, the tiredness is still around but not as bad, it seems to come and go. I try to look at each week overall for signs of improvement vs day by day, because it is 3 steps forward and 2 steps back kind of recovery. I found that once one pain seemed to go away a new one appeared lol. The dr helped me understand this is really a 3 month process to feel truly normal again and to just pace myself and pay attention to my body by not overdoing. Good luck!
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I had a phone appointment today and she asked me how I was doing. I told her I hadn't had any bleeding and my pain level has been really low. I had been needing to take something for pain typically in the morning and before bed but it's not so much pain, just discomfort. She moved my 2 week follow up appointment out so now I will go back and see her March 23 so they can make sure I've healed. She told me all my biopsies came back negative for cancer so after that appointment I will see her once every 6 months for 2 years.
She told me to just keep doing what I'm doing and no bending, lifting over 5 lbs, etc and she said my hubby was doing a great job of making sure I wasn't doing too much lol. He's going to return driving over the road in 2 weeks. That's going to stink because I get so used to him being here daily that when he leaves for a week it's a hard adjustment.
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Hi, MissT - thanks for checking in and letting us know you are doing okay. So, did they end up staging the cancer that was in your uterus? Grade 1, stage.....? And I'm so glad that everything else checked out well--guessing the sentinel lymph nodes.
xxooDeb2 thx for checking back with us. Thinking of you every day.
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I'm a little confused about that because she said I also had adenomyosis and she said everything was basically pre-cancerous, so I guess my tumor was cancerous but the lining was not? I'm going to ask her about that when I see her in march. Lymph nodes, pelvic washing were all benign. I had ectopic ovarian tissue in my left pelvic region also. My cervix had chronic cervicitis as well. So basically I don't think I would ever have been able to get pregnant anyway. I don't think I'm going to go through with egg freezing because I have read that if you had issues with ovulating before, you will still have issues and I'm just done with medical things. We can't afford to miss work for doctor appointments and I'm sure fertility treatment would involve a lot of those. Surrogacy would be beyond what we could ever afford too. She did say at some point the ovaries will probably need to come out, after menopause, but I'm not having another surgery until there is a problem with them.
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Oh, girl! You had a lot of tissue where it wasn't supposed to be. I've had the same kind of issues...all. my. life. with my unruly uterus. It is so hard for me to consider how much agony my reproductives have caused me! I completely, 100% understand why you are ready to MOVE ON and get past this. Like me, you may have a kid or kids suddenly come into your life "through a window." You know the old saying, "God shuts a door and opens a window...", well, I have adult children and was a school teacher for literally thousands. There are a lot of kids out there if and when you are ready at some point in the future. But for now? Heal up! Glad to hear you are on the other side of the surgery, and moving right along!
Debxo
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