Hi there i am 54 years old and i was diagnosed 4 weeks ago and 2 weeks ago underwent a radical hysterectomy. 11mm tumour contained in the cervix but waiting histology results with lymph nodes
I thought i as doing well with recovery but yesterday i was off my food but was making sure I drank plenty, taking regular paracetamol as the pain in my abdomen felt worse
I was up most of last night wretching and belching and felt awful
I went to the district nurses twice in one day for removal of my catheter and then again later in the day to check voiding ok.i wonder if this was the cause ( overdoing things)
I would like to hear from others in the same position or who have since recovered. Im not sure what to expect and when to feel like I can do more. Im usually a side sleeper and struggling sleeping on my back. Any tips would be great
Hi Stokey37 and welcome to our group.
A number of ladies in the group have been through the same surgery, so I hope they’ll come along and reply to share their experience soon.
Recovery can take its own time for different people, but can I ask if you had keyhole or open abdominal surgery? I had abdominal surgery to have a radical hysterectomy(which unfortunately was not able to be completed) and I found that much harder to recover from than another surgery I had done by keyhole. I really struggled for a while, and it was probably about 6 weeks before I felt I was much better. I had a lot of pain and didn’t really feel like eating.
I’m a side sleeper too, and the best thing I bought was a full length body pillow/pregnancy pillow which enabled me to sleep comfortably on my side. I subsequently have had much bigger abdominal surgery and still find this type of pillow invaluable to let me sleep on my side with 2 stomas now.
It’s important to remember that you’ve had a big surgery, and need to allow yourself time to get over it. We can’t see what needs to heal inside, so it can be tempting to push ourselves to do a little too much at times. Your surgery was really very recent, so I’d recommend trying to take it easy for now, and rest if you need to.
I expect you’ll have an appointment soon for a check up to see how you’re healing, so hopefully you will feel stronger by the time this happens. In the meantime, if you are worried about anything, please phone your CNS for reassurance and to ask any questions. They are there to help you.
Sarah xx
