Hysterectomy

[jwadey90]

Hi all I was wondering if anyone could tell me there experience after having a hysterectomy ,I will be having one within the next 6 months ,i have three children And am a single parent ,so if anyone can tell me how they prepared themselves and how your recovery was please x

[Alicepirate]

I am awaiting one too I'm also a single parent I am hoping to manage alone as child is 16 so should manage to feed himself and me when I had lap and had endo removed and came home the same night.

Although slightly worried incase anything goes wrong as don't want to worry my son so have been holding off having it but had pre op April so should be having really soon so sure we'll manage .

How old are your kids ? from couple of friends having one recently know that first few weeks really difficult as can't do any lifting not even a kettle so it's difficult isn't it think I will get one night hospital as my bowel involved toobut when I get home think flask is useful and obvious things like filling fridge and freezer with useful easy cook things changing beds doing super good clean of house, not stressing about anything just resting. Taking vitamins before and also there is some pelvic exercises on the internet to do prior to op?

[Coreysart]

Hi Ladies,

I had a hysterectomy 5 months ago. It took the whole 5 months for me to heal enough to be cleared to exercise and have sex. That is not the norm but know it can take longer than you think. Definitely take it easy and ignore the cleaning. Complications come from not allowing yourself to heal. Best wishes and speedy recovery!

[lwp75]

I had one just over two weeks ago. I had a total laparoscopy hysterectomy with removal of endo and one ovary. Are you have full abdominal or lap? As mine was lap my recovery has been a bit quicker/easier than full abdominal. I had a one night stay in hospital then home. I have a three year old who stayed with my parents the first few nights and was then in nursery for a few days each week which really helped! i didnt like him seeing me in pain or struggling as he was getting worried so it was good to have him go to my mums so I could just focus on me and my recovery. How old are your children? Rest as much as you can those first few days, I slept a lot! Just kept doing little walks around the house to get moving then back to bed. I had lots of easy food prepped ready in the freezer, had set up a little space around my bed with all my meds, some snacks, books, tv etc. and just made sure everything I might need, like clothes was in easy reach. Am now at the stage where I feel fine but forget I still have lots of internal healing to do so I keep over doing things and ending up sore and bloated!

In terms of other prep, I took arnica before but did t have time to do too much other prep as I had a cancellation and 5 days notice of surgery! Afterwards I took extra multi vits as wasn't eating much and took pro biotics. Am also now doing all the exercises the physio suggested. Have a look at the hystersisters website if you haven't already as there is some good pre and post op advice on there. Best of luck for your op xxx

[Marcia71]

Take a look at the hysterectomy associations website as loads of useful advice.

If you're having it due to endo please get them to remove all endo at same time. I didn't know enough at the time to insist and ended up in worse pain and took nearly 3 years to get right when I finally got excision at bsge centre.

[Hidden]

I had a TLH/BSO/ bowel shave and excision just over 9 weeks ago. I also had a cystoscopy and stents put in at the same time. The first month will be tough - I slept in the day every day for the first four weeks, and was very tired. Getting your bowels moving again after the surgery can also be a bit of a nightmare so be prepared for this to be quite painful for the first few weeks. I did have some complications as I got an infection in the vaginal wound which led to a massive bleed that landed me back in hospital at 2 weeks post op, but after that I had no more problems and things really started to improve at around 5 weeks post op. The best thing I did was to fill the freezer with meals we could just heat up and that really helped in the first few weeks.

I had 2 nights in hospital with a drain for 24 hours and a catheter for 48. Needed oramorph for the first 36 hours but after that was able to manage on minimal pain relief, less than I was taking for my endo pain. They sent me home with movicol which I had to take for a fortnight, and I also had to self inject with blood thinners.

The only other advice I would give is to get a second opinion and make sure this is your only option, and then to make sure that the surgeon is the best one you can possibly access (and preferably a proper endo specialist, not just a general gynae who has endo on their list of things they deal with).

[Bailey72]

I'm interested in the same question. I am having everything out, cervix uterus and both ovaries. Have to bikini line cut me as have large fibroids. I live on my own but don't have any children, just two dogs. Any advice welcome as well

[jwadey90]

Thanks everyone for ur replies ,my children are 5 ,4 and 2 next month so I know its going to be hard work ,I will definitely batch cook before hand and I will have family help and my mom is now going to stay to help with everything ,I'm having a full hysterectomy to remove the ovaries etc as well

[Alicepirate]

I'm having mine on the 7th only told on the 31st late notice so in a bit of a panic but I will let you know how it goes. HOspital hour from home too managed to get lift home but getting train and bus there in the morning as people have kids/ work difficult for friend to do drop off. SOn mid GCSE 's too so really not ideal but can't be helped no family nearby. Anyway sure will all be fine 💗