Hysterectomy advice please

Hi Little Lamb,

I had keyhole surgery done by my consultant. I think a robot is similar, and the operation was far better than I expected.  I was due to be in for one night only, but my bladder was slow to get going and I stayed in 2 nights. You will need to rest afterwards, and not overdo things. No lifting or heavy housework, no hovering. But you are encouraged to walk each day and gradually increase the distance.

I didn't even need pain killers once I was home. It just felt like a bad period. You need to watch your bowels and get them moving soon. I took one sachet of Movical, and then was fine!!

My consultant said I would get my fitness back after 3 months and that was about right. I am retired, so work didn't come into it. I usually look after my grand daughter (then aged 3) each week for one day, but cancelled that for a month. I  even managed to have a holiday 3 weeks afterwards, although I took it carefully.

I was amazed at all the new equipment, and thought even the staff were better than they were 40 years ago when I was last in. I was lucky in that I only needed an operation. Depending on what they find you may need radiotherapy, which will lengthen the time you are off work.

All the best xxxx

Hi Little lamb and sorry that you are going through such a worrying time right now.

I had my hysterectomy 9 days ago and am recovering well (better than I had expected to) My op was done on a Wednesday evening and I was discharged from hospital on the following Saturday morning. I think with some ladies its a quicker discharge but with my op, it was originally all to be done robotically but in the end it was 75% robotically and then they found that because my uterus was so enlarged, they needed to make another incision on the bikini line to remove it.....They were expecting everything to be removed through the vagina. So for that reason and also due to my living on my own they decided to keep me in for an extra day to make sure that I was completely well and able to look after myself before going home.

I personally found the hysterectomy less of an ordeal than I was thinking it would be. I am left with 3 very small slits on my stomach from the keyhole part of the surgery and the bigger wound on my bikini line....all of which have healed well and are causing me no problem.

Many people gave me advice about getting up and walking about as soon as possible after the procedure and I found this to be excellent advice. It helps with a speedier recovery. The nursing staff will also be keen for you to get out of bed and become active again as soon as possible......I did much walking up and down the ward and found other ladies doing the same. I am following the recovery program that I was given by the hospital and I am now doing two good walks daily plus lots of pottering around. The important thing is that I feel very well at the 9 day stage.....so things can only get better!.

I too was told that I had a suspicious mass in the uterus and the hysteroscopy  showed that I had Serous Uterine cancer cells but after the op the consultant came to see me and said that he had examined the mass after the op and found that a lot of it seemed to be old fibroids that had become calcified and matted together. He seemed to infer that this was a good thing as the cancer cells may be more in the minority than was first thought. But I will have to wait for the results of the biopsy to find that out for sure.. (a two week wait for the result)  

Good luck with everything and I hope things go well for you. Sending positive vibes your way.

Aprilrose xx

Hi little lamb,

Just to reassure you incase you need open surgery, I had open surgery in August 2017 for a total hysterectomy and I was home after two nights and my experience was similar to nanny annys. I was mobile the day after my op and was up and showered and dressed on my own, I had to restrict my twisting, pulling and lifting movements and follow the post op advice but I only needed ibuprofen and paracetamol for a week when I got home. I went back to my desk job on a phased return after three months. I was so surprised at how well I felt, I was expecting to be on bed rest for ages but I was able to go and meet friends for lunch after a few weeks, for the first few weeks I arranged for visitors to come and see me at lunch every other day and that really helped pass my days. I could go out for short walks right away, I started round the house and garden and built it up from there. 

My top tips for hospital, as well as keeping on top of the bowels as nanny says are windeez for the post op wind, earplugs as hospital gets noisy and an eye mask if you like it dark to sleep. I also liked lozenges as I woke up with a really dry throat and coughing pulls on the stomach muscles and stings a bit. I found a cushion great for holding against my belly as I got up and down, when I coughed or sneezed and in the car to absorb the bumps on the way home.

Feel free to ask anything else

lots of love

xxx

Hi Little lamb,.  Well I think I might hold the record here because I came out of hospital the same day I had my hysterectomy by keyhole surgery.  This is pretty unusual had happened because my surgeon knew how scared I was of hospitals.  So the deal was, he operated on me in the morning, about 11am I think, I was coming round in recovery by 1 o clock and spent the afternoon dozing, dreaming and drinking plenty of water and any cups of tea or coffee which were on offer.  I knew I needed to be able to go to the loo and have a wee before he let me home.  I wondered if I would be a bt unsteady when I got out of bed so I asked the nurse to be by my side.  But I didn't need any assistance.  That was late afternoon.  Then my surgeon came to see me whilst I was having some tea (corned beef hash) and gave me the thumbs up to go home with strict instructions to wear the long sexy stockings which everyone has to wear.  My OH came for me and we walked down the hospital corridor, down in the lift, another corridor then across the car park to the car.  I felt a little tender and delicate rather than being in any pain.  I held a cushion against my tummy on the way home and had a lovely evening watching telly, receiving phone calls, then up the stairs (without difficulty) to our lovdly comfy bed.

I'm not sure this would work for everyone.  Some people like to feel the reassurance of being in hospital.  I was lucky to have a wonderful surgeon who I suppose had enough confidence in his technique to know I would be ok to go home that day.  And for me it worked well.  So yes, in answer to your question things have changed a lot.  This is largely due to surgeons perfecting their techniques and the advance of keyhole surgery.  Pleople are no longer kept in bed for days after any surgery but are encouraged to move around and get back to normal as soon as possible. I hope you get your date for surgery soon and the ladies here have lots of wonderful suggestions for what to take and how to prepare.   Steph xx

Thank you for the advice Nanny Anny. This is really useful for me..it sounds as if things have improved greatly now. I have visited this site so many times when I was having my tests for reassurance as I know you ladies have lots of information and experiences between you but felt as if I was intruding as I didn't have a definite diagnosis...sort of in the air really. I am working full time at the moment and basically needed some indication of timescales for work purposes so they can arrange cover. Not that I am rushing to get back before I am ready but they do need an idea of how long these things take. God bless you .

Thank you for the advice Aprilrose and for the positive vibes. I hope your recovery is still progressing positively and good luck with your biopsy results too. My consultation with my Macmillan nurse was squashed in between my CT scan as the results of the MRI scan were back on the same day and as I was there and somebody had not turned up it saved me a visit. It was a lot of information to take in and I was grateful for the diagnosis but with everything going on i forgot to ask the most basic question about the surgery. Seems you ladies have come up trumps again and now I have loads of advice and tips as well as all your experiences. God bless you and I know where to come now to have it all told like it really is. Thank you again.x

Hello lovely, 

First...a big hug!

I had a radical hysterectomy 13 weeks ago by keyhole and the da vinci robot.  I went in mid morning and was home the following teatime  

I came out of surgery at 7 pm and the next morning I was out of bed gingerly at first but all good. The experience was way less dramatic than expected. I recovered well and returned to work 3 weeks ago and am not back at the gym doing low impact stuff. 

I'm finding I get tired still but I listen to my body and take a nap.I'm a Nanny and the baby naps after lunch soooooo I've been getting my head down too.

All I can say is if you follow the instructions re lifting, etc recovery is great. 

I waited till 6 weeks to drive. My fitness has taken a nose dive but I'll get back I hope soon. 

So far no MENOPAUSE which is a plus. I have to say the pre operation time,  was way more stressful than the op and recovery

Happy to chat if you need further info

X

Hi arla and thank you for all your top tips for hospital and for letting me know of your personal experience. Wow,out and walking the day after surgery. I don't think I did that even after having my caesarean section ( my son couldn't make his mind up whether he was staying in or coming out then helpfully got jammed halfway!)..mind you that was 33 years ago.I'm not convinced that I won't need a bit of open surgery actually because they have said my womb is very enlarged and quite frankly,being on the large side as well, I cannot see how they are going to get everything out of the small holes. Still we shall see..miracles do happen! Thanks for the advice about the cushion too..I wouldn't have thought of thatthat in a million years myself. God bless you Arla

Hi hysteria53. Thank you for answering my question and for all the helpful suggestions you have given me and for sharing your story. I admire you so much for having such a major operation and going home the same day. I was so cramped up and woozy after having the second hysteroscopy under GA in day surgery and I didn't get home until 7.30pm after being in at 7am and having the procedure at 11. So I think your record is safe..don't think I'll be challenging that! I see you also took a cushion into hospital with you..such a good idea I'm going to put that on my packing list for the hospital bag when I've finished here. You ladies are such a mine of information..I feel I have so many friends already and I've hardly been here five minutes. A tower of strength and support and so reassuring. God bless you.

Hi nannydeb and thank you for my big hug. Really appreciate that. Thank you also for sharing your story and your experiences of life after the operation. Having read your account of the robotic surgery and the experiences of the other ladies,every story is different so I feel really privileged to have read them all and I feel so much more confident about the surgery and the things that happen afterwards. I work in a pharmacy full time so my work is mainly standing and moving around a lot like yours. Unfortunately my patients don't sleep so it is pretty much full on the whole time so think I will have to talk to them about making some adjustments for me whilst I am recovering. I've been through the menopause six years ago and only have the hot flushes left now but that is not as frequent as it was. Hopefully that won't return! Now if they could just carve off the odd bit of fat and do a tummy tuck whilst they are in there.. Thank you so much for your support and your guidance. God bless you. Hope your recovery still keeps progressing in the right direction.x