Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Happy New Year

As I'm starting to feel better, I'm pulling together some more substantive posts. I think that the progress reports will be helpful to anyone in similar straits, but there's more ground I'd like to cover.

I'm wishing you all a bright, shiny New Year. I, for one, am filled with anticipation and hope for 2009. It's a new beginning for me - bring it on!

Day 8

I slept solidly last night and woke up this morning feeling pretty darn good. Hooray!

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Day 7

Today was a big day... I put on shoes for the first time in a week, got into the car and went to the mall. Yes, it was my first big outing.

Please note that no matter how deep the discounts, clothes shopping one week after your hysterectomy is not a good idea. You may think that your belly's swelling has gone down significantly - and then you try on a jersey that fits very well except for this poochy stomach, and freak out. Fortunately I grasped the sheer idiocy of it all pretty quickly and moved on to simply enjoying being out in the world.

We choose the mall because it's warm and has lots of benches. If it were spring I might've gone for a walk around the block, but today it was too cold and windy for that sort of thing. I picked up some arnica, because I forgot to do so before my surgery, and walked very, very, very slowly around the building.

And then I came home. Phew, what an exciting life I am leading!

Let's see... I didn't drive, for two reasons - first, I'm still taking vicodin too often to consider myself safe for driving, and second, I'm still moving too slowly. I'd worry about my reaction time if I needed to step on the pedal suddenly or swerve or something. My doctor said I was safe to drive once I felt well enough to stop taking vicodin.

My doctor also told me I should avoid lifting anything over fifteen to twenty pounds for two weeks, and to use my judgment on that sort of thing. I am definitely not ready for heavy lifting one week out, I'll tell you that for nothing - our eight pound cat is about as much as I feel comfortable lifting.

Today I didn't over-do things - but I probably did as much as I was capable of doing. I'm running a slight fever now, and am completely exhausted. I'm having a fairly respectable level of pain as well, so it's back to bed rest for me. My belly feels pretty sore and tight.

I'll admit to feeling frustrated with my progress. But I have to keep reminding myself that it's only a week out from major surgery, that I was in a bad place before surgery and thus my resistance and resilience was not where it would have ideally been. It's just... I have less than a week until I am on my own, as my husband will go back to work, and I'm getting a little panicky about that.

Still. One day at a time... right?

Monday, December 29, 2008

Day six.

Real progress! This morning I woke up in significantly less pain. In fact, this was the first time I haven't woken up in the middle of the night needing more pain medication - I more or less slept through.

And today I have stepped down on my pain medication. I've been taking my vicodin steadily since the hysterectomy; any time I thought about backing down a little I was quickly dissuaded. But I haven't had a vicodin since last night; tramadol has been sufficient to address my pain levels.

My incisions look ok. I was a little concerned about one of them, but by this morning it looked a lot better.

So this Monday has been a pretty good one thus far. :)

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Day 3, 4 and 5

Let's see... day three was all about frustration and weepiness. My hormones were apparently going a little nutso, and by the afternoon just about everything made me cry. I'm not a big fan of damp, weepy females so this was not a good place to be.

Fortunately, day four brought greatness - I woke up feeling about 50 times better than I had been. Apparently my surgeon wasn't kidding when he advised, "You're going to feel pretty awful for the first three days, and then things will start to look up."

My swelling has gone way down, revealing some impressive bruises. And it turns out that I do not have steri-strips, but have stitches instead. Annoyingly enough, one of them is poking up and snagging everything it can, which it turn yanks the incision and makes me yelp. Fun!

I am starting to feel more human, and that is a wonderful thing. Yesterday morning I stepped out onto our front porch - the first fresh air since my hysterectomy on Tuesday. It was wonderful.

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Second day post-hysterectomy

This has been a very full day. I didn't over-do things today, but I came as close as you can get.

The good news... my belly is not nearly as swollen. Yesterday I looked to be in the second trimester; today it's just a slightly swollen potbelly. Not bad at all.

I took off my bandages today, and discovered that the left side incision hurts so much because it's way bigger than the others and has been bleeding. Am making a notation to ask my doctor about that at my follow-up appointment - I'm imagining that's the side they did the extraction on.

I also got to take a shower today, so I feel slightly more like myself.

But today, on day two, the name of my pain is Gas. They warn you about this beforehand, but you don't quite grasp the seriousness of it in your pre-surgery state. It's like seeing those big yellow signs on the side of the road warning of moose crossings - you think, oh, yes, I'll keep an eye out, how picturesque and exciting! And then suddenly you come within inches of hitting something gargantuan and hairy, this steaming ball of heat that dwarfs than your car, and you swerve wildly and think, Holy Crap, there are moose on this road! That pretty much is what the whole post-hysterectomy gas experience is like.

At that point you send your wonderful husband out to buy Gas-X. And it is good.

In other potentially less embarrassing news (well, embarrassing for you, perhaps - I don't shame easily), I'm also running a slight fever. My magic number is 100.4 - anything lower than that is not reason to freak out, and so we are freak-out free today.

And that's where we are today.

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

First day post hysterectomy

First, let me just say that any posts I make in the immediate future will be very brief - because I'm taking a lot of painkillers and feel a little loopy!

My LSH and RSO went smoothly yesterday. Everyone was incredibly nice at the hospital, and took excellent care of me. I apparently screamed at a nurse in recovery when she was trying to give a pillow; I was horrified when she told me that, but she assured me it happens a lot and she doesn't take these things personally!

I have three small incisions; they are covered with gauze bandages, and I can remove them tomorrow. Underneath the bandages are steri-strips, which will stay on for 10-14 days - they should just fall off on their own.

My belly is pretty swollen. On the hystersisters website they refer to this as 'swelly belly' and how long it last varies widely. I'm hoping not long, because this is one swelly belly.

Today I am taking it very easy - pretty much not leaving bed except to use the bathroom. Moving around is getting easier and easier - but getting out of bed is not fun.

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Counting down the hours

So I'm now about 36 hours away from my surgery. I'm having a laparoscopic supracervical hysterectomy, or LSH, with a possible right salpingo-oophorectomy, or RSO. I'm thrilled to be having this done laparoscopically, as the recovery will be much easier than with a traditional incision.

It's overwhelming, all the different options when it comes to hysterectomy. At this point, I've obviously done so much research at this point that it no longer throws me into an anxiety attack to have it all spelled out - but I certainly had my moments in the years and months leading up to my own surgery.

Some people don't want to talk about hysterectomy - they find the entire idea embarrassing, or somehow shameful. I'm not one of those people. I'm all about the conversations, folks. Because the more you talk, the better you feel about it all. And let me assure you that silence is incredibly hurtful when you are grappling with such a huge decision.

Maybe you know someone in my place - and you're not sure what to say or do. Well then, heck, just say that! "I'm not sure what to say, but I want you to know I am thinking of you," is perfectly wonderful. And if you want to learn a little more so you can be supportive, well, let me introduce you to the HysterSisters website. Designed as a support system for women facing hysterectomy, it has a wealth of information for friends and family as well.

I have a lot to get done in the next day and a half - cleaning the house, doing the laundry, all that stuff I don't want anyone else to have to think about for a while after my surgery. I plan to do the majority of my posting to this blog after my surgery, to document what it's like to have an LSH and what the recovery is like. I hope it's helpful to someone out there.

Saturday, December 20, 2008

In the vein of "One Girl, No Uterus"

Inspired by the author of the fabulous "One Girl, No Uterus" I am creating my own blog about my upcoming hysterectomy. Why? Because the time leading up to this surgery has been a pretty lonely one in some ways.

It hasn't been easy to find women to talk to who are in my situation and in my age group. I've found myself scanning message boards, Twitter feeds, blogs and websites for anyone in a similar place, so I can hear their story and feel a little less alone.

So I'm creating this blog for those women. Because I know how meaningful it is to find a little sympathy.