Post-op report (long)

[Guest guest]

Hello all,

I had my Ab MYO on February 2 and am finally able to get to my computer

(mainly for reasons other than the surgery) and can finally tell you about

it.

First of all, I should say that the weeks leading up to surgery were very

stressful. First was anticipating the surgery; because I've been through

this before, plus all of the wonderful information from this group, I

pretty much knew what to expect, for good and ill. At the same time, my

boyfriend and I had started looking for a house, which is pretty scary;

AND, same boyfriend and his best friend decided they finally had time to

rip apart and rebuild the (one) bedroom in my apartment, creating a good

deal of chaos in my not very large apartment. I warned them that it *had*

to be done by the time I got back from the hospital, I was assured that it

would. Hah! Still not done. So I was a little stressed.

I was told to clean out my digestive system the night before with Go-Lytely

(who thinks of these names?); my dr. wanted to make sure, *just in case*

she punctured something, there would be no infection problems. Fun.

My surgery was scheduled for 8:30 on Monday. We (my mother, boyfriend and

I) got to the hospital at 7:15. I was allowed one person in pre-op and

basically flipped a coin and Len came with me. Got undressed, into

hospital gown, blah blah. One of the nice things was that a friend's

husband, who is his third year of medical school and happened to be on

gynocological rounds was able to stop by and spend some time (he was in the

surgery as well). I was grateful to have a familiar face involved in the

process. The nurse Anesthesiologist came by and we discussed the

anesthesia; I told her I was very concerned about nausea, that I was very

nauseous after my last two surgeries, and while they were able to control

it *before* I actually threw up, it was so uncomfortable. I don't remember

what she said, but it seems like she said she could control it. I don't

remember much after that. I do remember my dr. coming by and saying very

comforting words. Flurry of activity and next thing I knew...

....I was throwing up in recovery. Yes, it's true. Not only was I

nauseous, they didn't get it under control for most of the rest of the day.

I told my dad later that night that once I got some more energy I'd be

really angry about it (and I am). I finally got up to a room and managed

to scooch over onto the bed. Apparently I was pretty green. I was very

out of it and slept on and off for the rest of the day. They didn't bother

trying to get me to at least sit up, presumably because I'd have thrown up

on their shoes. Ahhh, how I envied Roma and her drug cocktail...

The other thing I remember is waking up for the first time after i got to

my room and my youngest sister asking, first thing, " are you engaged? " It

would have been funny, but I wasn't really in the mood to discuss the state

of my love life.

I did have a private room, which was a big surprise (and relief), but I had

to share a bathroom with the room next to mine, and that poor guy was

suffering from some kind of gastroentestinal problems 'cos he was in the

bathroom a lot and obviously *suffering*. That had to be a staph infection

waiting to happen (what with my having to measure my pee and that poor guy

doing whatever he was doing).

the first time I got out of bed (or even sat up) was when the aide came to

help me with a sponge bath. She was very nice and very firm. I had to try

to pee a little later, which involved the nurse and Len shuffling me into

the bathroom. All I got was a big clot of blood (poor Len...), I ended up

having to have my bladder drained with a catheter a couple of hours later,

but was able to go myself after that (and did so pretty frequently). I was

also bleeding, but since I knew to expect that (from this group) it didn't

freak me out. I was very sleepy for the first half of the day (when a few

co-workers came by and then a different sister than the " are you engaged "

sister). Once I was more awake, Len took me for a couple of spins around

the hospital halls (ok, really a few steps).

During this whole time I had very little pain, except for moving around. I

was told by a nurse that I should use the morphine at night in case I woke

up in pain, so I did, but I think it mostly helped me sleep. I was off of

the IV at some point, I think the evening of the second day (since I didn't

sleep much that night). The nurse asked if I wanted Vicodin or Motrin, I

chose Motrin since narcotics tend to make me feel worse than any pain. I

never have had any pain that was unbearable, and in fact was discharged

with no prescriptions (have taken about 400-600 mg. of Motrin a couple of

times a day since).

In terms of the surgery itself, it turns out that it took longer than my

dr. thought it would because it took more cutting and repairing to get the

big fibroid off of the wall of my uterus. She also took out the two

smaller ones she had known about. She had to leave some very small ones

that hadn't shown up on the MRI because of all of the cutting she had

already done. My friend's husband (the med student) was *amazed* at the

size (9 cm., grapefruit size). she was able to get everything repaired,

but I will certainly need to have c-sections for any future children (a

zipper would have been more helpful than stitches in this case, I think).

She also thinks I should try soon (once the 6 month recovery period is up)

because of the fibroids that are left in there.

I came home on Wednesday late afternoon (to an unfinished bedroom, which I

was able to sleep in). Something I had forgotten from my last surgery was

how different moving around in the hospital is from moving around at home

(no bed to sit you up, no rail by the toilet, etc., although no pee to

measure, so that was good). I couldn't sleep at *all* on Wednesday night

and I ended up being an emotional wreck on Thursday (the last straw was

that the battery on my cordless phone decided to quit holding a charge so I

couldn't talk to anyone without the phone dying). My Mom came on Friday

and stayed the night, and trust me, if you have that kind of relationship

with someone, there is nothing like being " mommied " .

Recovery since has been fine, not a lot of pain, slow and tired. The

biggest issue is that I can't sleep. I resorted to taking 2 Tylonol PM and

that mostly helps, but sleep is fitful and I'm really groggy in the

morning. I haven't been taking naps and don't drink much coffee. I think

sleeping on my back and worrying about the cats jumping onto my belly (they

are not sensitive to my woes) have made my very uncomfortable. Last night

I was so tired and decided to lock the cats out of the bedroom (and ignore

any of their attempts to dig their way in), and managed to sleep pretty

well.

I'm sorry that got so long! If anyone has made it this far and can

answer a question that has been answered many times already (I don't know

that it's easily searchable in the archives): how long does it take for

the belly to go down after surgery?

Thanks!

Lee

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

" And I hope that, you know, things do change

so I can go back to writing chick songs. "

--Steve Earle

[Guest guest]

Congratulations!

Once I was back on the computer I spent altogether too much

time sitting at it, so remember to get up and walk around too, for

good circulation and BM.

< I warned them that it *had* to be done by the time I got back

from the hospital, I was assured that it

> would. Hah! Still not done. >

Same here! We redecorated part of the spare room and the

grouting in the bathroom still isn't finished. It's like preparing for

the arrival of a baby that you don't have!

Yeah, Hardly breakfast at Tiffanies...except maybe the

engagement?

< my dr. wanted to make sure, *just in case* she punctured

something, there would be no infection problems>

Sounds like a bad sit com joke.

Be careful, or we'll all make use of having an insider ;-)

Nausea: I'd be interesting to confirm whether too much

morphine causes this or not.

I would be angry too, in that situation.

Yes, with many patients in shared wards all the toilet cleaning in

the world can't keep up with the usage rate. We shouldn't

assume that seats of camodes and toilets are cleaned as often

as they should be in busy hospitals. Still, at least we're only

using them for a few days.

The sleepy feeling I had was pleasant...not drugged, just natural.

we definitely all need zips for future myo ops and cesarians! :-)

This is the situation I'm in, only without the useful fibroid

information.

I can relate. It's often not the fibroids or hormones or your body,

but external stress sources.

I love cats but I would shut them out too.

< how long does it take for the belly to go down after surgery?>

I think I wrote that on my myo diary on smartgroups. In the first

weeks of recovery looser larger clothing is more comfortable,

especially underwear wise. You get so used to comfortable

clothes that it's nice to carry on wearing them over the first 6

months of recovery. Your stomach has that external numbness

for a long time, it's one of the last things to return to normal.

Therefore it's just more comfortable to wear things that sit on the

wasit and don't dig into that belly area with elastic, leaving an

indentation mark . I had my op in August and in November I

seemed to have dropped down a dress size at least. Now it's

February I seem to have a fat belly again. I also find I still have all

my fibroid symptoms, so I am depressed about that.

Best wishes on staying fibroid and stress free.

Aztek

> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

>

> " And I hope that, you know, things do change

> so I can go back to writing chick songs. "

> --Steve Earle

[Guest guest]

Hi Lee,

I enjoyed reading your Myo story, brought back memories of mine from last

year..TAke it easy for a couple of weeks..Enjoy the pampering while it last..

God bless you , and i hope you have a painless recovery