Major Surgery Advice

[medusa]

I had the biggest form of total hysterectomy and was amazed by how much it didn't hurt, so don't think that 'major surgery' means that you'll take months to be able to be up and about.

 

I had a total hysterectomy including ovary and fallopian tube removal and an incision which went down one side of my abdomen, across the bottom and up the other side, but I still went out for tea on the way home from the hospital on day 4 and was back at university on day 13 after the op.

 

I don't think that I'm particularly out of the ordinary either. The reason that I needed the operation was so painful that the operation was really not a problem and the most painful thing was having the drains removed before going home.

[AGB1]

What a lovely, positive post!

I bet the OP is full of confidence now.

Nice one

 

 

Just telling it how it is Daven...perhaps you'd like to come to where I work and see how often these things are omitted and the consequences they can cause.

There are some things you can control after a big operation and some things you cant. All I've done is give the OP some knowledge to enable her to control a few more things...

[Daven]

Just telling it how it is Daven...perhaps you'd like to come to where I work and see how often these things are omitted and the consequences they can cause.

There are some things you can control after a big operation and some things you cant. All I've done is give the OP some knowledge to enable her to control a few more things...

 

Bur judging by her post I would guess that she has posted for some reassurance from others who have had this operation

When she is asked to sign her consent form, all the risks will be discussed then..

[ShinyPurple]

The reason that I needed the operation was so painful that the operation was really not a problem

 

That's the situation I'm in - I haven't had a single pain free day this year On good days it's just (just ..lol ) cramping and backache and on bad days so bad that, even with prescription painkillers, I'd do the op myself with a rusty penknife!

 

The more active I am, the more pain follows so, even now, I'm reduced to light pottering and gentle strolls. The pain and/or painkillers mean that I'm living in a perpetual fug and it's driving me spare!!!!

 

It's reassuring to read that you all started to feel better within days and weeks rather than months and years because my greatest fear was having the op and not feeling any better for, well, ages really.

 

ALZYMER, I didn't realise about protein depletion - that's something for me to look into.

 

I'm taking a multi-vitamin & mineral tablet daily to make sure that (hopefully) I don't have any deficiencies but is there anything else that could help speed up the healing process? Did anyone take arnica? Did it help?

[medusa]

I didn't feel better within days and weeks- I felt better within hours!

 

The fog lifted as soon as the anaesthetic wore off and I didn't even need painkillers for the post operative pain. I smuggled in a mobile and called my sister the night of the operation to tell her that I was better and lay in bed without pain unless I moved (and it's pretty understandable that I would hurt if I moved after a full open-abdominal operation isn't it?).

 

I got out of bed on day 1, which turned out to be a mistake because of how woozy I felt, not whether I was capable of doing it.

 

Granted, you'll need to rest to recover and it's silly doing too much too soon, but that's the same with all surgery.

 

I had an allergy problem with the latex in the TED stockings. My skin started getting very scurfy and splitting and got very painful and you can't apply moisturiser because it rots the TED stockings, so after 3 weeks I called the ward to ask their advice about not keeping the stockings on and they said they would call me back. When they called me back I'd gone out and had to leave my trolley in the supermarket to go outside to take the call. They asked me whether I was managing to get about inside the house, in that 'never mind dear' voice that they use with old people and I didn't have the heart to tell them that I had driven myself to Makro and was busy buying the western Europe bog roll mountain at the time.

 

The plans that they make assume that a) you're a lot older than I was, and b) that everyone folds up and stops functioning with the post operative pain.

 

Go into it with the positive frame of mind that you've survived the pain this long and the post operative pain could be as bad as the pain you've been suffering but will be over and sorted before you go home from the hospital in less than a week and then it will be all done and dusted

 

Good luck for picking yourself up and having some good times afterwards.

[Dozy]

Everybody is different and everybody recovers at a different rate.

 

The best aid to recovery is a positive mental attitude. But you need to listen to your body - if, for instance, you totter upstairs for a pee, then feel like you need a nap when you come back downstairs - have a nap!

 

After my hysterectomy, I found the worst thing was the tiredness - I slept for England. The least little exertion and I needed a kip to recover, it's a good job I've got a very comfy sofa!

 

I didn't have any pain - in fact, I had very little pain when I was in hospital and had to keep fending off the nurses, who were convinced that I needed a constant supply of painkillers.

[foxydebs]

That's the situation I'm in - I haven't had a single pain free day this year On good days it's just (just ..lol ) cramping and backache and on bad days so bad that, even with prescription painkillers, I'd do the op myself with a rusty penknife!

 

I have PCOS and menorrhagia and I haven't had a day free of pain this year. When I am out I wear heat pads and when Im at home I sit or lay with hot water bottle. Am currently on tramadol and paracetamol for pain, have had mirena fitted with little effect and various hormone treatments and am at the end of my tether and know what you mean about doing the op yourself.