3 weeks post surgery

This post maybe too much information so I warn you now that its not for the squeamish.

I had my hysterectomy and anterior vaginal repair on the 31st of August, pre Op etc went well and I met the surgeon doing it a few days beforehand which was great as it wasn't the specialist that I had been seeing privately. Before the surgery I talked to the anesthetist who gave me a couple of options re pain relief and if I wanted to have a spinal block and be awake, have a general anaesthetic or have both which would mean less morphine and less pain, Ben and I decided on doing both as morphine makes my blood pressure drop too much.

I have never had a spinal before so that was a new experience but the sedative they gave me to relax means I didn't feel it going in and all I can remember is being told to lay down... next thing I remember is waking up in recovery and seeing Ben and being really dopey.

Most of it went well, but it took longer than it should have due to a few wee complications like them nicking my bowel and me bleeding too much and losing a borderline amount of blood. Apparently younger women bleed more during hysterectomies due to more blood vessels etc.

Recovery was pretty good except my bladder decided to not work properly which meant I came home on the Monday with a catheter still in, this was because I couldn't pee enough, I have read that that was a common side effect though. I got it removed the following Monday after spending the morning at the hospital getting pee measured and having a bladder scan to prove everything was working well.

Day 4 or 5 I got a chest infection which meant I felt even more like crap than I had been, thankfully my Mum and Ben looked after me so I didn't end up back in hospital with dehydration, at that stage I was taking 3 antibiotics which were making me vomit and feel really ill.

Its 3 weeks tomorrow and I have driven once very gingerly but wont be in a hurry to try again as reversing the car was pretty difficult. I still have very little energy and find I go to bed early or have a nap most days. The lack of energy has been hard to deal with as I am use to being able to just do stuff. I am not allowed to lift anything heavier than 3kg for another 3 weeks yet and no biking till then either.

So far everything seems to be going fine bar the chest infection and the UTI I currently have, I have to remind myself not to expect too much and that the pain will reduce and to take life easy as it was a pretty big operation. I am not too bothered that I cant have anymore children, the four I have was always going to be enough for me and there was no way I could have carried another child as my hips are still causing problems from having the youngest two.

I am hoping the next few weeks go ok, the remembering not to lift kids/stuff is pretty hard and only being able to walk the trip to school once a day is hard, thankfully Ben has been able to do the morning school/kindy drop off which means I only do one trip. We have had a bit of help from friends too in this department and people from the church where Miss N goes to music dropped off meals and baking which was hugely appreciated. Mum stayed for a week too which was great as it was the week Ben had to go back to work so I wasn't alone in the daytime.

Our big girls Miss K and Miss L have been really good too at helping me to do things and being patient when I say I need time etc because of pain issues. I have been so impressed at how mature they have been and how helpful too.

love D

date for change

fingers crossed on this but I have been told that my surgery will go ahead on the 31st of August providing the hospital isnt too full with sick people... yay,

Getting this date wasn't easy though, I rung the hospital last week to see where I was on the waiting list and was told that I wasn't, hmmm after the tears had settled I rung the specialist office that I had been seeing privately and they said they would see what they could do... on Thursday I got the call that I had been waiting for offering me surgery on 31st.

I talked to my specialist's receptionist/nurse this morning and she said that my Dr had done a clinical override so that I would be on the list, I was on the care and review list but the hospital doesn't tell the specialists that you are on that so as a patient you just assume that you are on the waiting list.

I am lucky, I have the ability to advocate for myself to get what I need, I do wonder though how many people are feeling let down by the system as they are not aware that they are not on lists. Or how many people feel they are constantly fighting to get the care they need, our health system is not perfect and I am not sure how to change things. The government claims that waiting lists are shorter but is this because people are not even being put on them?

So life will hopefully change for the better soon, I am pretty sure I wont miss having periods and the associated back pain and other issues I currently have, I am scared of this but its for the best.

love D

end of fertility

I have been thinking about my gynae appointment next week and how if we book a surgery date I will have an exact end to my fertility, I will know exactly when my last period will be, its a bit strange really. normally the end of fertility is sometime around menopause and no one can pinpoint that exactly unless you are using blood tests to map hormone levels, yet I will know exactly when I wont be able to have children anymore.

In someways its exciting, no need to worry about taking the pill, using condoms etc, but the idea of surgery is scary, and the recovery time is daunting, I have never had non emergency surgery.

so this time next Tuesday I will know what we are doing, will know if the plan is for surgery or not, I am not hugely sad about not having a uterus anymore, I don't see it as a defining factor in my view of my own gender (others may disagree), and I have finished having children, maybe its because so many woman in my family have had this surgery, so it doesn't seem to have much stigma attached to it.

D

to keep my uterus or not....

after a few months of tests and being mucked around by the public gynaecology team we decided in January to go private to see a Gynaecologist and get his opinion on what was causing all my issues.

He was brilliant, treated me respectfully (which had been lacking from registrars at the hospital) and he discussed what he thought we should do to see if we could sort out my pain issues. The first step was removing the mirena I had for birth control, second was to trial 3 months of taking the pill. If the pill didn't help to control ovulation and bring some relief then when I next see him its to decide whether to do a hysterectomy or not......

I have done 2 months of the pill taking so far and its not done a lot, its more of a hassle really, so after much discussion with Ben, my Mum and my GP I have decided that I will go ahead and have the surgery. I figured that I am 35 in May, I have 4 children and no desire to have anymore, so its a redundant organ for me. My family has a long herstory of Gynae issues and I know that mine will just get worse.

Because we have the luxury of health insurance I am going to go private to get this done, to go public I would be waiting 12-18 months and I don't want to spend that long with decreased quality of life from the pain and having to take some pretty nasty pain killers. Its impacting on Ben and the kids and its been 9 months already why drag this out even further...

there are still a few what ifs about it all, but no surgery is guaranteed to solve all of the issues so we will just hope that this works.

love D