Hysterectomy - A personal experience
Created | Updated Apr 26, 2006
My reproductive organs worked fine until I had a bladder-repair operation. After I had recovered from that {which was horrendous enough} to find myself having problems with my womb, including frequency and amount of blood loss, as well as pain, was quite a blow.
When it got to the stage where I could not leave my home without being padded up with maternity sanitary towels and taking several changes of underwear out with me, I gave in and went back to my
. Luckily I live in England, so no medical bills, just a waiting-list. From my condition, my GP classed me as an emergency case and within a month I'd seen the surgeon for my first appointment. I had been given extremely strong pain-killers by my GP, but they made me dopey, so I was trying to do without them.
The gynochologist was very pleasant and understanding, at least I didn't feel like crossing my legs when talking to him.
I went on the waiting list then had to sort out a foster family for my son (again), for my recuperation period (usually 6 weeks to 3 months). While I was on the waiting list (10 months) I read up what I could about what was going to happen to me. I came to the conclusion that, like childbirth, no two operations are the same, if anything, it would be similar to the one I had just had, the year before.
I prepared myself mentally for losing my reproductive organs.
Luckily, compared to some women, I had finished my family.
Mental preparation is vital to the recovery period, I am convinced of that.
The operation
I was admitted the day before, and my nurse described me as "calm".
On the morning of the operation, I had to sign a consent form. I was taken through it, everything being explained to me.
I gave consent for "anything untoward" being found, being removed.
(Well who wants to be roused, mid-operation, and asked..."Do you mind....?")
The pre-op injection was wonderful, instant euphoria.
I remember being wheeled to the operating theatre, then feeling the cold numbness creeping up my arm as they injected me with the anaesthetic, then nothing until I awoke in after-care.
Having already had a major operation the year before, I was well prepared for the after effects, nothing new there, except I wasn't hooked up to a catheter!
Only a glucose drip and a drain (on my wound) to contend with...
Luckily I have always been alright with anaesthetic, most people get sick immediately after they come round, I never have. I was able to drink water immediately upon my return to the ward, so my drip was removed.
This was a bonus compared to the bladder-repair operation, when I'd had to lug a catheter around for a week....
Absolutely the worst part, for me anyway, was when the poor nurse came to remove the drain....first the removal of the stitches, then all they can do is tug.....ooh, {wince, wince}. If you do meditation, now is a good time.
Compared to that, the removal of the staples is a doddle. A pair of tweezers, a fast, skilled nurse, you lie there and stare at the ceiling, I felt ~nothing~ and hugged my lovely
afterwards. What a
!For what we ladies have to put up with, I am glad to say I never lost my sense of humour. I wish I could apologize to the ladies I shared my ward with, for how I made them laugh, and how uncomfortable it must have made them when they had to hang onto their staples for dear life...
My surgeon came to see me the day after my op.
He pulled the curtains round, {which is no sound barrier}, and you can guarantee silence befalls the rest of the ward, as the other patients hang on to every word!
After he told me that he had not only removed my womb but also my fallopean tubes and my ovaries {because he'd found a cyst on one}
AND my cervix (just to be on the safe side, his words), he asked me if I had any questions....
To which I replied, yes, then "Can I still have sex"?
(sound of giggling from outside the curtains)
The poor man rustled his papers then he looked at me and said:
"Mrs. Ogle, I *HAVE* left you your vagina",
(sound of muffled laughter from outside the curtains)
to which I replied (well I was on a roll)
"I wasn't thinking about right now, doctor, but definately later".
At which the doctor smiled, and he said he wished all his patients were as cheerful as me!
After I was discharged, a week after my op, I was rushed back in with laboured breathing, I had all the symptoms of a blood clot, and it turned out to be a frozen shoulder.
The steroid injection I had to have, was extremely painful.
I haven't got a clue how some people inject themselves for fun...
Do's and Don'ts
This is very important, otherwise you'll have to go back in.
Externally you will repair a lot quicker than internally.
New lease of life
Two years on, I am having a new lease of life. No blood loss, no pain. I am on HRT, because I'd had my ovaries removed, not all hysterectomy patients do.
This has given me the hormones of a teenager, without the acne!
If anyone would like any one to one advice, drop me a note, and I'll try and help.
Thank you for reading my Entry.
Referenced entry:Hysterectomy
