Super long and full of TMI....My experience with a Total Laparoscopic Hysterectomy
This will be full of Too Much Information. So if you are scared of that, then you may want to stop now. Last Thursday (July 23, 2015) I had a total laparoscopic hysterectomy. This is where they go through your belly button with a scope and make to small incisions over each ovary and cut out your uterus. I had my uterus, Fallopian tubes and cervix removed.
I am a planner and one who likes to know what is going on and what to expect. I like to be prepared when it comes to my health and upcoming pain. If I am going to willingly sign up to be in pain, I want to know exactly what I am getting into. That's normal, right? So when I found out that I had to get this procedure done, I researched and researched. I read about 10 or so different medical explanations from medical sites. I found one blog with a personal account, and a few chat rooms with question and answers. I couldn't find many positive experiences nor could I find many experiences at all. I read from a doctors perspective of what you could expect....but not much else to go on. So, because of that, I wanted to write down my experience to hopefully help others.
Now, this may get a little graphic for some. I just thought I would warn you now. I am going to share details that most people don't regularly conversate about. But, they are things I would've wanted to know, so I am assuming others may want that too.
I, up to this point, had never had surgery. Aside from the births of my three children, I had never been hospitalized. So the whole idea of being put to sleep and then cut into, really didn't sit well with me. I was super nervous about the whole idea of it all. After getting all the q's asked and answered at my pre-op, I felt a little better, but I didn't have anything to compare this experience to, so I had nothing to draw from. I didn't really know what recovery was going to be like and I didn't know what kind of pain I would have.
After waking up from surgery (thank goodness, I have to admit, I was nervous I wouldn't even make it to that point), I met with my nurse. The cute, stubborn, little grandma had a list of "goals" for me to accomplish before I could go home. This surgery is an out patient procedure as long as you can control the pain. 60% of women do fine and go home the same day. Leaving 40% who have more intense pain and need to stay the night. I was determined to be with the majority and sleep in my own bed that night. Once the nurse heard my ONE goal, she gave me a LIST of things to accomplish that day in order to make that possible. I had to urinate, be able walk around the hall, get off my IV, and not be nauseous.
Well, might as well start at the top. I wanted to pee first thing. Normally this is easy for me. Even not pregnant, I can usually pee on demand. I drink a lot and have a small bladder. But this turned out to be my hardest one to conquer. I couldn't make myself go. I tried and waited and tried.....ugh!! Begrudgingly, I returned to my bed only to feel a strong wave of nausea come over me. I couldn't move fast enough, cause of the pain. And just had to bend over the side of the bed and spill my guts onto the floor. Luckily I had been fasting for the past 10 hours and didn't throw up any chunks. Just liquid. But when that was all gone, I wretched and wretched. Not only was it gross, but it was painful too. These goals turned out to be harder than I thought.
It took some time and a lot of water and more time, but I was finally able to reach all of the nurses goals and 9.5 hours later, I was able to go home. My pain level wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I was more alert than I thought too. My first evening home I ate a normal dinner. Maybe less than I usually eat, but normal dinner. A super great neighbor brought enchiladas, salad and apple crisp. It was delicious.
The hardest part the first evening was getting up and down. The pain pills helped with the constant pain, but it still hurt in my obliques and lower abdomen every time I stood up or lowered myself to sit. As the day wore on, pain started to creep up into my ribs and shoulder. When they do laparoscopic surgery, they fill your abdomen with air so they have a larger working area to see better. Than they try to push all that air out when they are done. Sometimes it doesn't all come out and it traps air bubbles, like gas pains, in your body. These most often travel up through your body and settle in your ribs, under your chest, sometimes in your back, and in your shoulder under your collar bone. It is the most excruciating pain ever! and there is nothing you can do about it. I had to sit in a certain position,inclined, and breath a certain way to make it bearable. It was the longest night ever. I woke up every 2-3 hours watching the clock to take my next pill and all the pain pill would do was take the sharpest edge off the gas pain. It was horrible. Thankfully, the worst of it was just that night. By day 2, the pain was mostly gone. By that 2nd night I was sleeping lying down.
The next day my pain wasn't bad. I took my pain pills on schedule and was able to go to Walmart, go to lunch, and visit family. I did a lot, I felt, for having just had surgery, but the Dr had told me to walk around and keep as active as my pain allowed. I was given stipulations on lifting, bending and pushing. No exercising, No cleaning, and no penetrable intercourse. Other than that, he said, if you feel you can, than you can. Half way through my second day, after the shopping and lunch out, I was exhausted. I had to take a nap and a couple of hours later, I was okay again.
The 3rd day I wanted to see what it was like without pain meds, so I didn't take any first thing. I woke up feeling like I had just done a 10 minute plank and about 1000 sit ups, but nothing that was too painful to move. I made a point to walk as much as I could. I was told to try to have a bowl movement within the first 3-4 days. Walking and moving helps that. I made it to about noon, before I realized going without pain medication was a bad idea. The pain felt like I could feel from the back of my belly button all throughout where my uterus use to be. I was also achy all over and super tired. It seems the tired is an every day, constant thing.
I didn't have a bowel movement until Sunday Morning. It was super painful and not very cleansing at all. I am on day 6 now and still trying to get all cleaned out. I am normally a pretty regular person, so I am trying some natural remedies to try to clean it all out. It is painful to be constipated. I have never experienced this before. It is not pleasant!
The frustrating thing through this all is the ups and downs of energy and pain. I will feel really good and feel like I can do a lot and then hit a brick wall and be dead tired and feel like... I hit a brick wall. The full recovery time is about 2 weeks till your back to doing your regular duties and 6 weeks of being totally healed on the inside. They said I would probably feel the tiredness for the full 6 weeks.
It is a long process, but I know it could be worse. I still got to keep my ovaries, and my incisions are so small and haven't even bothered me. I am super thankful to my neighbors and friends who have taken care of me and my family and checked in on me. And my wonderful husband has really been the best ever at taking care of me. He has been sure that I don't do too much and been extremely attentive. I love him so much! I am glad the surgery is over and I am on the mend. And I am super glad that I will never have a period again!! Yay!!
Okay, so below you will see a picture of my insides. Don't look if you get squeamish.
I am a planner and one who likes to know what is going on and what to expect. I like to be prepared when it comes to my health and upcoming pain. If I am going to willingly sign up to be in pain, I want to know exactly what I am getting into. That's normal, right? So when I found out that I had to get this procedure done, I researched and researched. I read about 10 or so different medical explanations from medical sites. I found one blog with a personal account, and a few chat rooms with question and answers. I couldn't find many positive experiences nor could I find many experiences at all. I read from a doctors perspective of what you could expect....but not much else to go on. So, because of that, I wanted to write down my experience to hopefully help others.
Now, this may get a little graphic for some. I just thought I would warn you now. I am going to share details that most people don't regularly conversate about. But, they are things I would've wanted to know, so I am assuming others may want that too.
I, up to this point, had never had surgery. Aside from the births of my three children, I had never been hospitalized. So the whole idea of being put to sleep and then cut into, really didn't sit well with me. I was super nervous about the whole idea of it all. After getting all the q's asked and answered at my pre-op, I felt a little better, but I didn't have anything to compare this experience to, so I had nothing to draw from. I didn't really know what recovery was going to be like and I didn't know what kind of pain I would have.
After waking up from surgery (thank goodness, I have to admit, I was nervous I wouldn't even make it to that point), I met with my nurse. The cute, stubborn, little grandma had a list of "goals" for me to accomplish before I could go home. This surgery is an out patient procedure as long as you can control the pain. 60% of women do fine and go home the same day. Leaving 40% who have more intense pain and need to stay the night. I was determined to be with the majority and sleep in my own bed that night. Once the nurse heard my ONE goal, she gave me a LIST of things to accomplish that day in order to make that possible. I had to urinate, be able walk around the hall, get off my IV, and not be nauseous.
Well, might as well start at the top. I wanted to pee first thing. Normally this is easy for me. Even not pregnant, I can usually pee on demand. I drink a lot and have a small bladder. But this turned out to be my hardest one to conquer. I couldn't make myself go. I tried and waited and tried.....ugh!! Begrudgingly, I returned to my bed only to feel a strong wave of nausea come over me. I couldn't move fast enough, cause of the pain. And just had to bend over the side of the bed and spill my guts onto the floor. Luckily I had been fasting for the past 10 hours and didn't throw up any chunks. Just liquid. But when that was all gone, I wretched and wretched. Not only was it gross, but it was painful too. These goals turned out to be harder than I thought.
It took some time and a lot of water and more time, but I was finally able to reach all of the nurses goals and 9.5 hours later, I was able to go home. My pain level wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I was more alert than I thought too. My first evening home I ate a normal dinner. Maybe less than I usually eat, but normal dinner. A super great neighbor brought enchiladas, salad and apple crisp. It was delicious.
The hardest part the first evening was getting up and down. The pain pills helped with the constant pain, but it still hurt in my obliques and lower abdomen every time I stood up or lowered myself to sit. As the day wore on, pain started to creep up into my ribs and shoulder. When they do laparoscopic surgery, they fill your abdomen with air so they have a larger working area to see better. Than they try to push all that air out when they are done. Sometimes it doesn't all come out and it traps air bubbles, like gas pains, in your body. These most often travel up through your body and settle in your ribs, under your chest, sometimes in your back, and in your shoulder under your collar bone. It is the most excruciating pain ever! and there is nothing you can do about it. I had to sit in a certain position,inclined, and breath a certain way to make it bearable. It was the longest night ever. I woke up every 2-3 hours watching the clock to take my next pill and all the pain pill would do was take the sharpest edge off the gas pain. It was horrible. Thankfully, the worst of it was just that night. By day 2, the pain was mostly gone. By that 2nd night I was sleeping lying down.
The next day my pain wasn't bad. I took my pain pills on schedule and was able to go to Walmart, go to lunch, and visit family. I did a lot, I felt, for having just had surgery, but the Dr had told me to walk around and keep as active as my pain allowed. I was given stipulations on lifting, bending and pushing. No exercising, No cleaning, and no penetrable intercourse. Other than that, he said, if you feel you can, than you can. Half way through my second day, after the shopping and lunch out, I was exhausted. I had to take a nap and a couple of hours later, I was okay again.
The 3rd day I wanted to see what it was like without pain meds, so I didn't take any first thing. I woke up feeling like I had just done a 10 minute plank and about 1000 sit ups, but nothing that was too painful to move. I made a point to walk as much as I could. I was told to try to have a bowl movement within the first 3-4 days. Walking and moving helps that. I made it to about noon, before I realized going without pain medication was a bad idea. The pain felt like I could feel from the back of my belly button all throughout where my uterus use to be. I was also achy all over and super tired. It seems the tired is an every day, constant thing.
I didn't have a bowel movement until Sunday Morning. It was super painful and not very cleansing at all. I am on day 6 now and still trying to get all cleaned out. I am normally a pretty regular person, so I am trying some natural remedies to try to clean it all out. It is painful to be constipated. I have never experienced this before. It is not pleasant!
The frustrating thing through this all is the ups and downs of energy and pain. I will feel really good and feel like I can do a lot and then hit a brick wall and be dead tired and feel like... I hit a brick wall. The full recovery time is about 2 weeks till your back to doing your regular duties and 6 weeks of being totally healed on the inside. They said I would probably feel the tiredness for the full 6 weeks.
It is a long process, but I know it could be worse. I still got to keep my ovaries, and my incisions are so small and haven't even bothered me. I am super thankful to my neighbors and friends who have taken care of me and my family and checked in on me. And my wonderful husband has really been the best ever at taking care of me. He has been sure that I don't do too much and been extremely attentive. I love him so much! I am glad the surgery is over and I am on the mend. And I am super glad that I will never have a period again!! Yay!!
Okay, so below you will see a picture of my insides. Don't look if you get squeamish.
So going from Left to right. 1st pic on the top is of my pink uterus and my white ovaries. Then the Dr took a side pic of each ovary. that is the 2nd pic on top and then the 1st pic on the bottom row. The last pic is of the finished job. No uterus with stitches and cauterizing.
*Update: It has now been 3 weeks since my surgery. I just wanted to document my progress. I had what seemed like a major set back last week (Aug 6th). I had been off my prescription narcotic (percocet) for about 3 days and was feeling somewhat normal again. Then, I helped my kids pick up branches around the yard and the repetitive bending seemed to tear up my insides. I ended up being in some bad pain for about 3 days after that and had to get back on my pain meds for a couple of days. I am fine now and feel like I am healing. I haven't dared vacuum yet, I heard that was a big no no until the six week mark. But I can sweep (yay?). I have steered clear of the repetitive bending. I still feel that if I try to bend over more than a couple of times in a row, it starts to hurt. I can walk at a faster pace to exercise, now, but I am still not back to full speed. If I do too much walking, shopping, standing, anything that would or could be interpreted as some exercise, I lose steam fast and am exhausted. Also, if I sit for too long it also starts to hurt and I need to get up and walk around a bit to feel okay again. My bowels are regular again, but it still hurts to move everything through. Gas pains still hurt moving through those abdominal and pelvic muscles. This 6 week recovery time has been rough and long. The frustrating thing is that my Dr said it would be a 2 week recovery, but after 2 weeks I felt better, but was not as back to normal as I thought I would be. I still feel quite limited. The upside is that I passed the date of when my period would have been. And let me tell you, it was so wonderful not having to worry about the bleeding. I am loving that side effect!
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