Recovering From a Hysterectomy

I recently had a hysterectomy, and while I felt prepared, there were some aspects of the surgery and recovery process that I wasn’t fully prepared for. Here are some insights on recovering from a hysterectomy.

The Emotional Aspect

I would love to tell you that I was calm, relaxed, and ready leading up to the surgery. But I would be lying.

Even though I knew everything would be OK, I still felt very anxious as I checked in for my surgery. I felt I had prepared all that I could and figured the anxiety was just a normal case of pre-surgery nerves.

The nurse called me back to get me ready for surgery. She looked at my husband and told him, “Just her; I’ll come back and get you in a bit.”

Before I could even sit down on the bed, I was crying. I don’t even know why. The nurse calmed me down, and I was able to get my tears under control. I can’t imagine having to do her job while dealing with a crying patient like me.

When she was done getting me ready for the doctor, she brought my husband back, so I was able to take my mind off of things by talking with him and watching the television.

When my doctor said, “It’s ‘go time,'” I started tearing up again. I kissed my husband, and they rolled my bed back to the operating room. The closer I got to the operating room, the more I cried, and by the time I was in the operating room, I was in hysterics.

My doctor grabbed my hand and made sure I was OK going forward with the procedure. She made sure I didn’t have any other questions and even offered to reschedule my surgery if I needed more time to discuss the hysterectomy.

She was very understanding and helped me get through it.

I was ready for surgery.

Waking Up From Surgery

When I woke up in the recovery room, there was another amazing nurse who helped me calm down. Everything went smoothly during the surgery.

The only thing that delayed me leaving was going to the bathroom. Before you leave, you have to go to the bathroom. I had my hysterectomy vaginally, so releasing my bladder was very difficult. It felt like shards of glass were hitting me everywhere when I went.

Eventually, I was able to release my bladder and could go home to recover.

Post-Op at Home

Here are a few things that helped make my recovery at home a little easier:

• Have all prescriptions filled and picked up prior to surgery so you can have them on your nightstand.
• Be sure to have plenty of books to read, some good shows ready to go and some pre-cooked dinners to make life a little easier.
• Purchase menstrual pads prior to your surgery. While everyone is different, I needed these for almost four weeks.
• Have some gas medicine and stool softener on hand to help with any constipation issues from the pain medication.
• Finally, no submerging in water for six weeks. This means no pools, beaches, rivers, waterparks, or anything. I was told I could have a quick bath after two weeks.

The Hormones

Now for the personal stuff…

I was instructed to remain on bed rest for two weeks and then had my post-op appointment when I was given the all-clear to do some activities, but absolutely no exercises that work out the abdominal or pelvic areas. The doctor will look in your vagina at this appointment to ensure your sutures are healing correctly.

My doctor required complete pelvic rest until my six-week post-op appointment. Complete pelvic rest means nothing inside the vagina or anything that will stimulate the pelvic region, including orgasms that can cause your pelvic region to constrict, possibly tearing your sutures and making the healing process longer.

Listen to that advice. After a hysterectomy, it is very common to have a surge of hormones.

I had two different things happen to me.

First, I felt like I was going through menopause and had several hot flashes. I still have them. Second, I had a surge of hormones, which resulted in a new rule in my house: My husband was not allowed to walk around without his shirt off!

Don’t let those hormones get to you!

Do whatever you can to make sure you don’t make your healing process longer. I’ve read that some ladies require 16-20 weeks of pelvic rest because they didn’t listen to their doctor and thought they could have orgasms as long as nothing entered the vagina.

Even lifting something too heavy could prolong your healing process. Do not lift anything over ten pounds during the first two weeks and nothing over fifteen until six weeks post-op.

Take it Easy

It’s been almost five weeks for me, and I can feel I’m healing, and not 100% yet. I took a month off work. On my first day back at work, I took breaks throughout the day. On my second day, I did not, and I was hurting by the end. If you have a job that requires you to stand for long periods, take more time off.

Take it easy and follow your doctor’s orders.

If you are preparing for a hysterectomy, please know you are not alone. Even though it is a very common procedure, I still felt anxious about the surgery.

Some of this is very private information, but I was clueless and would have loved to have this information beforehand.

Finally, it’s OK to be nervous.

It’s a huge decision to have the surgery. Ask as many questions as you can. If you don’t feel comfortable asking friends, ask your doctor.