if you have not gone in yet, then best of luck, I had op monday morning just gone and my ovaries are still in place and still getting the hot flushes and night sweats as before, but my consultant said the ovaries removal is only a tiny op compared to this, so if I did suffer problems badly, he would at a later date consider it, but for now as so young, rather for other health benefits leave them in basically.
I came home thursday and have been resting big time, with regular but small/short walks about my place.
I had a laproscopic Vaginal assisted subtotal hysterectomy, all went well, less than on hour and with no blood loss, he said was very good and would help me heal, the morphine helped a bit, but for me it isn't the best of pain killers but having problems with some meds and already on stuff, its not easy to give me stuff without problems, but you can't overdose yourself as those self dosing devices, as they have a timer on them, so you can only get another dose when the count down of say 4 minutes from last dose is complete.
if you can cope try not to use it more than you really need, as it can cause constipation, not good when you will need to go, as it didn't overly help much the fibro and then only about 30% on the main pain which for me is on my left hand side, I got 3 holes, belly botton, left and right side around natural pubic hair level, I used it for getting up to use the commode for a pee and then getting back into bed or to move in bed to get somewhat more comfortable (cause I got bladder problems due to fibro they didn't leave the catheter in me, as they might with other patients and maybe yourself if you have normal urine passage etc..
Also learned (from the Hystersister website) that those that get up and move about even if its to walk to the toilet with nurses help, or to the ward rooms door and back to bed as often as i possible without over doing it, don't make yourself overly tired either, or you risk your fibro kicking in big time.
I use a walking stick normally to get about as have problems walking not just fibro related, I asked if they had a spare walking frame and got about well with this, compared to tripoding with the walking stick!, it also helps you move your bowels sooner, although I had to have a pessary that got rid of the wind which was for me blocking flow (wind is normal) then pooped ok the morning of Wednesday (2nd day after op, I also forced myself to eat something, as this helps get things moving along in the right direction!, if you are not feeling too sick,
it was easier the 3rd day Thursday and gotten easier every day since, although that first time I was bunged up, I have IBS and like my bladder loss of feeling (which started years ago, and nothing to do with the op, yes I won't hide the fact it was slow (30minutes!) and on and off painful as stuff moved along your bowel (most of it was wind related) but once had finally 'been' my nausea feeling went, as did the pains in the op site area caused by bowel wind (also get pain caused by the gas they pumped into my belly to do the op, which still needs to fully go, so look 3-4 months preg, but a flat belly will come back! (it did last time had a laproscopic procedure.
If you are up on your fibro info, don't be too frightened to mention that something makes your fibro flare more so. if you haven't gone in yet print off the hystersister stuff about a hysterectomy for fibromyalgia sufferers info for your surgeon and anaesthetists to help lessen the risk of your fibro flaring major and also by lessening the levels of pain that get to your brain, so they can't be increased 10times by your fibro.
When you come out, take it easy and even if something is a mess or needs doing, if you got a partner/hubby that seems to be making a bodged job of something DON'T try to help out, its hard if your independent big time and hate asking anyway or like stuff done just so and anyway even if you manage to do it, men being men will assume you are feeling better and more well and might allow you to try (or expect) you to do far to much, you got to be waited on for a week (if possible) after your op and for fibro it ought to be a week after coming out of hospital!! so you got a better chance of healing all around, and getting back to your pre op fibro state (or better if your fibro was affected by problems you had that your op will remove from you) cause you are likely to flare big time, its normal for fibromites too, sometimes its like the 2nd part of the 2nd or 3rd day after the op, you might feel really good (barring the op pain sites) on 1st day and early 2nd day and try to over do things, but to lessen that flaring and help recovery, doing too much is a BIG NO NO, however doing enough not to tire you out is important too, as not trying anything at all is a risk as over doing it, not just fibro wise, but blood clots can arise from being bed bound too long, although in hospital they are likely to give you some fashion killer stockings and also while in their care Vit K injections to stop the risk of clot formation, ie at first this might be getting out of bed and getting to the toilet, or having a face wash, clean your teeth, but also doing nothing at all but rest in between is very important,
Yes it might take a long time, but if you wash your face and then go sit down, then do your teeth, then rest again, try doing 2 things at once were they can be done, for example, if you can try to wash your lower half of body while you sit on the toilet first time you need to go, get someone to get you a small container of soapy water and a flannel and a towel if you do not have a sink right next to your toilet and in easy reach, you don't need to bend as far as if you were stood at the sink. 2nd toilet visit, you will feel more able to wash your top half, also things like putting on new pair of knickers and if you are wearing a pyjama set, change the bottoms when you go visit the toilet , you got to pull down the bottoms and knickers to go to the loo, so why not just swop them when you go. (I do this when my fibro has been bad for days, so I can swop night wear, without having to go the loo, get off the loo and drag myself back to bed and then sometime later manage to change my night wear if have been too ill to change it for several days, as the flare has been a long one, so using this same idea, to lessen.
I decided that for the first day and night home and for the following morning I would carry on wearing the stockings as my fibro had flared and it was a struggle for me to move much, I might have been well over reacting, but just wanted to be doubly safe, as having poor leg circulation anyway, let alone anything that having very bad fibro might cause or not cause, to me it wasn't worth taking the risk.
I have recovered far sooner than expected by myself, my consultant was very pleased, as he called me a unique case, but things could and would have been different for me had I had to have the op in the winter months, as my healing rate is halved in winter and would likely still be in hospital not well and maybe even risking infections setting in, due to my poor healing, as I have very low mobility in winter due to the cold flaring the fibro for weeks on end, plus with the poor leg circulation in my case, the combination wasn't conducive to healing, however in summer this is different for me and for others as bad or worse than me, the same is true for others the opposite will be true, my family are pleased with my recover, but I did say to the consultant that I would be best suited to a mid August op, think someone 'upstairs' was listening too, cause I got a call about a cancellation and could I come in on the 17th August for my op....
Remember little and often, with good rests in between, I was pleased that some of the nurses let me sleep if I was a sleep and deal with other patients first, after the op and into the first night and full day after my op, cause they had been told that sleep was all important for the fibromyalgia sufferer. one nurse sadly wasn't so considerate and i had to tell her off for wiping me over with alcohol wipes (as my red warning band says allergic to alcohol including wipes, gels, etc.. I took my own Trigene wipes in which are not alcoholic at all, so had to wipe myself in the areas she had wiped, cause she hadn't wiped it off and try hard not to scratch and itch the itchy areas, as it would have set up red sores, had I not cleaned it properly. I did tell her the monitor stickers were not sticking cause my skin was reacting by going oily (my hands go red dry and sore, my body skin reacts similar but at first pumps out oils, then dries out to go scaly, dry and red with sores. depends on where you are and if your nurses are over worked, sometimes it paids to know about what drugs you are having and when, to make sure the overworked nurses know what you have had, as i did find a couple of times, someone hadn't copied my drugs 'had' down properly, cause they had been distracted, so the next nurse on duty doing drug rounds didn't pick up in the right place were I had been given a particular drug, cause it wasn't in the right place for her to find, this occured when they had several medical emergencies coming in, so if you know that you can't have oral morphine at the same time as a codine based painkiller and you had one or other and its like only 4 hours ago and you can only have one or other 6 hours apart, don't want to scare you, but if you are going to a hospital with many nurses likely to care for you, knowing your drugs and what you should and shouldn't take at same time and can question, sometimes its someones quick scribbled handwritting cause they have been called to deal with an emergency thats on its way in and they have to finish the person they are dealing drugs out to really.
I find for my fibro, when in a flare I listen to my loca radio station and it helps shut out the noise from outside really well in the day, so for me, putting on the ear phones and tuning to a station you like (or one that plays softer, less energetic music and try to avoid the advert stations as they can come up too loud) this can cut out all the phones going, all the noises of other people moving about to the toilet, or seeking a nurse, or arrivals in the night of a new and often very sick patient, that might be being sick, crying out in pain, moaning in pain and needing lots of nurse visits, the music cuts down on all but the loudest of noises, also I found brilliant was those fabric eye masks, that you can use on airlines to allow you to sleep while the lights are on and also blocking the light and lots of external noises, can help lessen the effects of a hypersensitive brain, which will go on to cause a sensory overload and cause you more pain and bigger flares. (if you can't deal with radio music or Tv channel on low over night, but can try ear plugs to block out noise) The nurses knew that I slept with the headphones on and low level of radio and would very carefully touch my arm and call my name, to wake me if they needed me to take meds, or take blood pressure, temp, breathing rate etc.. some thought it was a clever Idea and said that obviously I had learnt a lot of tricks to help cope with my fibromyalga's flaring and know my triggers and know what helps, even if they were a bit unusual, they obviously worked for me, a few viewed me as being weird, but hey all us fibromites are weird, our condition is weird, its not text book, its outside the box and its a huge learning curve for everyone.
anyway best of luck with your op and hope you recover as quickly as I am doing (if not quicker) and everything goes to the best it possibly can do, I am still recovering and shouldn't sit for too long at computer chair, ooops, never mind, hope this helps you a bit, if you want to chat when you have come out and well enough to sit at the computer, I don't mind just email me, I might not be not everyday (as not normally anyway), so if don't get back to you in a couple of days, its likely that I haven't been able to get online yet. but remember when you first come arund, yeah you'll hurt in places and you'll fell like yuck, but everyday after that you should start to notice little improvements, little milestones, like eating without feeling sick, going from commode to getting to the loo on your own, to that mile stone of moving your bowels and how much better once the pain settles once your back in bed, your feeling and infact you seem somewhat more energised, even if it is only 20% more so, its healing at work and for me, its nearly 6 days since my op and today noticing sharp pains are dulling down even more and can stand for longer, move about longer before needing to sit, I have asthma too, so get tired and breathless easier, so for someone like me with loads the matter with me, I am surprised as how I feel, but still going to take it easy and also start doing things at a slower and longer rate than suggested in the leaflets they gave me, this is fibro related too. ie don't think I will be doing shopping in 6 weeks maybe 8 weeks and only doing 1/4 of what I did pre op and slowly week by week build up there after that.
Well better go as my back and shoulders are hurting as I'm sat in a more comfortable position for my op site holes, but not for my back and shoulders, i find laying down when hurting sorts it sooner, than sitting in a comfortable chair.
Be thinking of you and sorry its so long, but hope at least a small bit of this helps you, if not more of it. I am 37 and have no children, I do have lots of furry children (guinea pigs, gerbils and my 2 recently turned 1year old bengal type cats have been very protective, following me about, making sure I am ok, one has slept with me a lot, the other calls out and hates the bathroom door shut and cause it has been sore to go toilet (either) every face pull or hushed groan, she has looked so concerned for me and calls softly in a call I have heard mother cats do to a kitten in distress and also I suppose making sure I wasn't going to leave them for days again!!
ps sorry for any spelling error, fibro fog has descended, so not going to try to look over it for spellings, or try to shorten it. it will have to do!!!!
hugs and best of luck
Crystal
