Looking for recovery room advice

I had the robotic assisted hysterectomy about 17 months ago and I was staged at 1a Grade 2 adenocarcinoma.  My surgery was conducted at 5 p.m. and I didn't get out of surgery until 10 p.m.  I only had to have the surgery and so far (knock on wood), I am NED.  For me, the surgery was fairly easy in terms of bouncing back.  As someone else has mentioned, it was only five small incisions.  I was able to take a shower when I came home.   According to my husband, the surgeon came out after the surgery to give him an update on my medical condition.  Depending on how tired he may or may not be, he may want to record it so that he can share it with you.   I wish my husband had done that because there will be moments throughout this journey that you need to hear the reassurances.  The questions that I would have your husband ask are the following:

1. Did they find cancer cells in the lymph nodes, omentum, fluid?  My surgeon was able to tell my husband that everything looked great and that it looked like the cancer was contained.  In my circumstance, the surgeon removed some lymph nodes and sent it immediately to pathology for examination and pathology was able to give him a preliminary report.  I think this was so that my surgeon could determine how many lymph nodes he would check.  I had 27 lymph nodes examined. 

2. What should you eat after your surgery?  My doctor had me on liquid diets for three days after surgery to minimize the gas issues.  He said that was his practice because it seemed to help his patients.  Not all doctors follow the same procedures. 

3. When is your follow-up appointment?  Mine was three weeks after the surgery and it was mainly waiting for the final pathology reports.

4. What are your limitations (lifting, walking, driving, returning to work, etc.)?  I was told to walk right away because the more I walked the faster I would heal.  I couldn't lift anything more than 8 lbs (I think but my memory is not so good) for 6 weeks.  I could drive within a week. 

If I remember anything else, I will post. Good luck on your surgery and try not to stress too much on what the results may or may not show.  I do remember that I had a weird thoughts prior to the surgery.  I was feeling melancholy and sad on losing a part of me which was strange because it was the part that had the cancer. 

Cathy

unknown said:

Hi

Sorry this is second attempt at trying to respond!  My da vinci surgery went great, doctor talked immediately after with son and DIL and could only tell them surgery went well.  He talked with me the next morning antold old me everything looked normal, and the frozen sample didnt indicate serous, but the final path report said yes, both endometrial and serous cells in uterus and one lymph node.  I was walking the same night of surgery and went home by noon the next day, no pain.  Hope you have the same pain free surgery many of us have, and hope your stage is low.  Hugs Nancy

I had the robotic surgery. I think it lasted about 5 hrs. Unfortunately, I must have been too out of it to ask my husband what he said and now he can't remember. Anyway I didn't get up and walk right away because I had a catheter until sometime the next day and dint go home until the next night partially because I was very anemic and needed two units of blood. I believe the anemia was present before surgery rather than after. I really didn't have a lot of restriction on eating, but I'm never very hungry for a couple days after surgery.