upcoming surgery

hugz4u

Glennie, been thinking of you. Stay well hydrated and move careful when you get up to go pee.

glennie19

Hi all,, it's day 3 post op and I'm doing well. Just saw my GYN for post op appt and she thinks I'm doing great. Wants me out walking and says I can get back to gym with light weights, etc.  Just take it slow and don't get overtired.  Plan to walk for the rest of this week,, and then next week, I'll try the recum bike and progress from there.

Marple

That's great news Glennie.  You must be pleased.  Be careful not to push yourself..........you need to heal so be good to yourself.  Cheers.

glennie19

Thanks marple! Napping every afternoon so far!

sas-schatzi

glennie  walking is your best friend. Bike activity not so. The abdomen had three puncture points minimum, maybe a fourth. Plus vag stuff. Walk and walk, but give it a few more weeks for bicycle. Totally different ways muscles used.

Happy for you .

glennie19

Hi Sassy,, yes, I have 3 small incisions.  thanks for the advice. Will hold off on the bike for now.

mcgis

glennie, my surgery is penciled in for 10/29. we're waiting for the approval from the insurance.

looks like everything went well. you had it done laparoscopic, right? any advice, info, warnings you can share with me? they fill you with gas?

how did your LE do?

glad you are on the mend!!

glennie19

Yes, I had robotic lap.  Everything went well.  She said I lost only a teaspoon of blood. Beware of gas pain!  I had it bad.  Get the pain killers going right away.  She wanted me on scheduled motrin 600 mg and then percocet for breakthru pain.   I felt better sitting straight up,, laying down at first was painful, but then was ok after the painkillers kicked in.  Gas pain was much better the next day,,, it was really the first day that it was bad,, after that it was there,, but tolerable. 

The LE was ok.  I warned everyone not to use my left arm. I wrote on my arm too! I worried about swelling just from being in the head down position for 2 hours,, but I didn't have any.  (she had warned me that women w/o LE could get facial swelling from the position alone. Thankfully that didn't happen)

Is yours going to be laparoscopic?  Feel free to ask me any questions,, and I will help if I can.

mcgis

Thanks. Yes, mine should be laparoscopic. That's the plan! Were you able to take anything for the gas? Is it typical gas (that causes farting...)? I suppose that's all I know. LOL.  I'm wondering if I'll be able to walk around with my daughter trick or treating if I do have the surgery on 10/29??  I'll be on something other than percocet (i'm allergic) but it's nice to know it's not too much. What is break thru pain?  How is it going to the bathroom...? Have you had much bleeding or spotting? Did you have a full or partial hyst? I'm going for the full.

glennie19

No it is not the kind of gas that causes farting.  My GYN said don't waste money on Mylicon.  they pump gas into your abdominal cavity to be able to better visualize the organs. They try to get all the gas out, but usually some stays behind and it will get reabsorbed by the body in a day or two.  The gas can get trapped under your diaphragm and irritate the phrenic nerve, which sends impulses to the right shoulder,, believe it or not,,, and so your right shoulder might really hurt afterwards.  For me, it was around the rib cage.    

I had a complete hyst.  everything is gone.  Removed thru the vagina,,, so my vagina was kinda sore from the removal process.  Peeing was a little irritating on the sensitive area at first!  And it might take a while to get the bowels back to normal,, I recommend taking prune juice mixed with apple juice 2-3 days after surgery if you have not pooped by then.   Are they having you do a bowel prep?  Mine wanted me cleaned out in case of accidental nick on the bowel. So you will be empty,, and then it will take a few days to get everything moving again.

You might be able to walk around but you will probably get tired fast, so probably don't plan to go far. My GYN wanted me out of bed and walking around, but I'm not sure how far I would have been able to trick or treat.

Break thru pain, is the pain that you have in between regularly scheduled doses of pain meds. She wanted me to take the Motrin on a regular schedule,, and then if I have more pain, to use the Percocet.  Had some bleeding/spotting,, but not much. Only had to use panty liners,, not regular pads even. 

mcgis

Thanks so much. As the time gets closer I'm sure I'll have more questions. This helps a lot!!

glennie19

No problem.  You can PM me too if you want.

mcgis

glennie, did you have it done robotically? my insurance approved the hyst but not the robotic portion. waiting to hear from the dr. office if he's still good without that portion. he mentioned he wanted to go that route because i had a c-section so i'm not as "wide" as those who delivered vaginally. 

how are you doing now? it's been almost a month out. how much bleeding did you have? discomfort...?

glennie19

I did have it done robotically.  I've never had kids so I'm small down there too!!  I have 3 little incisions and then she pulled everything out of my vagina.  Ask and make sure that he does NOT do morcelation.  Google it.  That is when they grind up the uterus etc before removing it. If you have unknown cancer, it can cause it to spread. Are you having cervix out too? 

Tomorrow will be 3 weeks.  I really didn't have much bleeding or discharge at all. Discomfort, yes.  Get bowels back to normal,,, NOT FUN!  Recommend hitting the prune juice by day 2. They get moved around and unhappy.  I'm back to walking,, will probably wait another week before going back to gym.  Thought I'd make it a full 4 weeks.

carol57

Glennie, it's great to hear that recovery is going well!  Stay patient on the exercise!

glennie19

Hi Carol!  Thanks!!  Trying to be patient!!

mcgis

I'm having it all done for preventive reasons. I don't have unknown cancer. He didn't mention anything about grinding stuff up. He described it like you did: snip snip through the belly button and 2 other little holes and then pulling it out.  I'm hoping I'll be ok by Monday (surgery is Wed.) to feel OK to take our daughter to school and pick her up. I won't do much more than that for a few more days. I'll increase my walking but no gym... I'm hoping the bleeding/spotting is light that I won't be having to wear pads for very long.

Thanks!! I'm glad you are healing nicely!!

Oh, and are you experiencing any menopause side effects? Hot flashes? Weight gain?...

glennie19

If your surgery goes as well as fine, I think it is possible for you to feel well enough by Monday to pick up your daughter.

After the first 2 days, I had very minimal spotting,, just used a mini-pad for any drips,,, wear old underwear!!

and yes,, having hot flashes!!  I can live with them, but the sleep disturbance is really getting to me. Hopefully you will not have that problem!

Let me know how you fare afterwards when you are up to being on the computer

mcgis

hi glennie!!

had the surgery 3 weeks ago today. my follow up last Friday went well. he said i'm healing nicely. it was laporascopic via the vagina so no big incisions - yay!!! i'm still spotting and i've been told and read that can be up to 6 weeks.

how are you holding up?

sas-schatzi

YAY MCG and glennie sassy

glennie19

hi mcgis,,, I'm doing good.  I go for my next check up next week and she will do an internal exam that time. But I have to say it went really well, and recovery was not as bad as my MX.

Glad to hear you are doing well!!

mcgis

i do have the sleep disturbances. boo!! i'm exhausted. i'm not a napper either. if i nap it will be well past midnight before i'll fall asleep that night. we're in temporary housing right now (just sold and haven't moved into the new place yet), so i'm hoping getting settled where i can't hear everything will help.

are you still spotting? i can't wait for that to end. i hate panty liners.

things are pretty good outside of terrible headaches (arimidex, i think) and being so darn tired.

glennie19

My spotting seemed to have ended.   Sorry you are not getting good sleep.  I know that problem.  **hot flashes in the middle of the night suck**

I hope you get settled soon!!

mcgis

I had to go in to have a spot 'cauterized' because it was still bleeding just a bit along the stitch line inside. I'm still having a little yellowish (no odor, no fever) discharge. Hope that resolves itself soon!!!!!!!!!!!