Prophylactic hysterectomy/oopherectomy

Hey there - I had a prophylactic laprascopic hysterectomy/oopherectomy back in December 2010 following my diagnosis in 2009.  My husband and I figured I was done having kids and on tamoxifen, may as well get rid of all the estrogen we can.  Any way, I was out of work for 2 weeks.  I am a veterinarian and have to lift big dogs quite often, not to mention on my feet all day.  I'd say you might need someone to help you for the first 3-4 days.  After that you should be okay.  That was when my pain was the worst and I needed help getting out of bed, etc.  After a couple of days the pain lessened to a point that I was able to switch over to Advil to control it.  At that point you may be able to do some light cooking, but don't plan on any houswork for at least 2 weeks.  The biggest thing that I noticed was fatigue.  It takes a while for your body to heal.  I took lots of naps. 

I hope this helps.  

KSD----- you should not be "bedridden" at all!  I had to have a TAH/BSO (everything removed thru a very large abdominal incision---- could not have it done laproscopically due to large ruptured ovarian mass), and even after major surgery I was up out of bed walking  that night after surgery. I got up myself, the nurse just tended to all the tubes. I walked several more times the next day, and took a shower the following day independently before leaving the hospital. (I'm a PT-----we get people right up nowadays from even the big surgeries to prevent complications). You will be a little sore , your heavy lifting will be limited, and you will need to rest frequently, but you shouldn't need any major help more than 3 or 4 days.

Anne 

Hi KSD!

I had an LAVH in 1998 and was in the hospital less than 24 hours. This was for a complete hysterectomy due to fibroids the size of Volkswagens.



I didn't really have much pain in the hospital, and I wish I hadn't used the morphine PCA because I didn't need it.



My sister spent the first night at home with me because it was hospital policy. But I remember her boyfriend ringing my doorbell at 8 the next morning, and fixing him breakfast....grrrrrrr



I shooed them both out of there pretty quickly. As I recall, I just rested and napped for a day or so. I do remember the phone ringing on the third day or so, and running down the hall to answer it.



About halfway there, I thought to myself "this probably isn't a good idea....". Your body will let you know when you've overdone it. The beauty of the LAVH is tha there are very few sutures and they are internal. You might have a stitch or two where they insert the scopes, but otherwise it's a MUCH easier surgery to recover from than a traditional hysterectomy.



I took the maximum amount of time off work, not because I needed it, but because I could.



Honestly, I think you may be surprised at how fast you recover. It's always good to have help lined up just in case, though, especially with kids. That way it's there if you need it.



Wishing you the best!

I watched all of the procedures on youtube and decided to have it done vaginally and was up and about in 2-3 days walking in the neighborhood, etc. The problem with driving isn't that you can't or don't feel like it - but you will know when you're ready for the seatbealt to grab you across the midsection if you need to step on the brakes.  It's a few weeks until you're ready for that "action"! Even then, I drove with a small pillow between me and the belt just in case. Also, the lifting is tedius. Even a small bag of dog fod (7 pounds) is too much to lift.  Have people help you with groceries, even the gallon jugs of iced tea can be too much.  I overdid it at the 4 week point (yes 4 weeks!) and popped 2 stitches (since I had it done vaginally, these were where the cervix used to be) and had to go back and have some fixing accomplished without pain meds, yeah, that was fun.. NOT! So please follow the doctors orders to a T or you'll have set back. You will be tired for a few weeks. I am not a napper so was surprised when in the afternoon I just felt like I had to lay down. I agree with another gal here on the thread - you'll be out shopping or whatever in the weeks after and you'll just know when you need to stop and are about to overdo it.  

ON the other hand, how wonderful to have so many problems and potential problems gone.  I had some huge uteran fibroids pop up out of nowhere and always had suspect pap smears. My periods were horrible.  Then all of a sudden, nothing, yay!  No more fear of certain cancers also felt great. The surgery was so worth it!! I should have done it years earlier. Best of luck to you. 

I do have a BRCA2 mutation.  Now, the risk for ovarian cancer isn't as high as it is with BRCA1, but it's still higher then the average population.

Before my mastectomy, I was diagnosed with DCIS.  I chose at that time to have them both removed.  I had a mammogram, magnified mammogram, MRI and stereotactic biopsy.  Every single one of those missed the fact I had 3 IDC tumors in my left breast, and one on my lymph node.  If the best tests we have for breast cancer aren't perfect, and we have even less for ovarian cancer, I wasn't about to take a chance.  My ob/gyn and I debated about the removal of the uterus.  She was neither for nor against it, so the decision was totally mine.  And I know myself well enough to realize I would have done nothing but worry that there was cancer in it.  I have always had issues with unusual bleeding, but never had fibroids or anything.  I just decided to clean house and be done with it.

I couldn't be more pleased.  It hasn't even been a week, and I'm not on any pain meds or anything.  The only pain is when my bladder and large instestine have to do their work, and there is a space there they are filling in.  My Dr assured me it will go away in a couple of weeks, once everything settles. 

And thank you for thinking I'm young :-)  I was 39 at diagnosis, 40 now.   

Thank you, everyone, for your input on this issue.  It's something that's been plaguing me these last few months and I hope I can come to terms with whatever is the right decision for me.  I hope to see a breast specialist once I'm finished nursing my fourth daughter (she's 14 months, have now nursed a total of 58 months) and get some better input.

My sister was diagnosed with Stage 2B at 32.  My paternal grandmother died of breastcancer, diagnosed before age 40 and my maternal grandmother died, riddled with cancer, thought to have started in the ovaries or breast, also diagnosed before age 40.  Sister tested negative for BRCA mutations but we all know that doesn't mean a whole lot.

 I struggle a lot with this decision but I'm leaning toward a double prophylactic mastecomy once the baby has weaned.

 Thanks everyone.

Gamergirl - I am 40 and within the past 2 weeks have been diagnosed with DCIS (Pre-surgery) and BRCA2 positive. I am I the midst of trying to schedule surgeries now. Had an appt with BS and GO. Have appt with PS on Monday. How long after our BMX did you have the hysterectomy?