Yesterday was my "6 week" follow-up appointment, it ended up being 7 weeks exactly because of schedule conflicts and a last minute induction/c-section that my doctor got called away to. The good news is that I have been given the all clear. It was a very quick exam with the speculum then a quick manual exam. She said that it all looked great, things stayed where they were supposed to, that I healed up very well and won't need to go back to see her for a year. Since I no longer have my uterus, I don't have to have pap smears done but I do have to have yearly pelvic exams. She then said, "As a surgeon, it's a thing of beauty. I know that may sound weird but a surgeon has the right to be proud of a job well done." I completely cracked up and told her that I NEVER would have thought that I would hear that during a gynecologist appointment!
I will say that I am a bit nervous about my trek back into the world of sex. The good news is that, unlike before my surgery, I want to have sex. But I just had a lot of work done to my lovely lady parts and 6 weeks worth of recovery, what if something happens? What if it hurts? What if that one stitched up area isn't quite healed and my doctor just overlooked it? What if? What if? What if? Yes, as embarrassing as it was, I talked to my doctor and asked her the above questions. She assured me that things would be just fine, to take my time, use lubricant if necessary, etc. and I am sure that things will be fine but still I am a little worried and nervous. Guess that's what the mango flavored vodka in the freezer is for, a few drinks and I'm sure I'll be a lot less worried. =)
Another part and the most lengthy part of my appointment yesterday was about hormone replacement therapy. Wow, that is a confusing topic. So many websites and so much information can get incredibly confusing. I also found that it was difficult to find a website or sites that a good middle ground kind of website. This website said that if I took hormones, I was killing myself by doing that, then the next would say that I was killing myself by not taking hormones. Estrogen with progesterone, progesterone alone, estrogen alone, natural hormones, synthetic hormones, sprays, gels, creams, rings, pills - it went on and on. So many passionate/extreme views made it difficult to find what I needed. The biggest issue that I found was that ALL of the websites that I found did not pertain to women in their 30's that had a hysterectomy. All that I found were geared towards post menopausal women. I am not post menopausal so how did this pertain to me? Often times I would come away from an hour or two or research exhausted and even more confused. So I will tell you what I found to be helpful and what my doctor told me and then you will have to research what will work best for you from that point on. EACH person is different, in my mind, there is no right or wrong, it is what works for you and only you.
To start: After surgery, just because I still had no idea what I wanted, I asked for a pill to take once a day. I was finding that within a couple hours of taking the pill I would get a headache. This was due to the spike in hormones. As the spike waned I would feel fine, great actually and not give it another thought until the middle of the night. As the hormone levels dipped way down my body would heat up. I wouldn't say they were horrible hot flashes but definitely hotter than I should be. I would end up sleeping with the windows open and no covers, that may not sound bad if you are in a warm sunny place but it's still getting down to the 40's at night here. I continued to take the pill and kept filing away information to bombard my doctor with.
Doctor said: She reconfirmed that all or most of the information out there is for post menopausal women and that I did not fall into that category. The health risks and potential side effects of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) that I read about were all true and real in those women. She said that they should be on little to no hormones at that point. But she then said that pre-menopausal women (like me) that do not take HRT have the same health risks and potential side effects. The way she explained it and it made sense to me, is this way, at this age your body naturally produces, needs, wants hormones and it can process them, deal with them, use them it to it's advantage. When you reach menopause your body naturally turns that switch off and you no longer need hormones so taking them at that point is what causes problems. Your body no longer needs or wants them so it doesn't process them properly and that causes problems. It makes sense to me and I hope I explained it well enough for you.
We then went on to discuss my options for taking hormones. Pills, patch, vaginal ring, cream, gels and sprays are all available. She wanted me off the pill because the pill is processed by the liver. This is very hard on livers and she just doesn't like what she sees in the research papers about that. Everything else is absorbed through the skin and right into your system pretty much leaving the liver out of it. The patch is worn and changed every 5-7 days or before that if it falls off. This can cause skin irritation in some people. I break out after wearing a Band-aid so this option did not appeal to me. The vaginal ring is inserted, obvious statement here, into the vagina and changed once a month. I liked the idea of the once a month thing but, okay I'm just going to say it but I have to say that it's a bit embarrassing, I enjoy oral sex and the idea of that ring being there made me uncomfortable. So I didn't go with that option. That leaves, creams, gels and sprays. All of which are applied daily to the forearm. I decided against the cream, which may seem a silly reason to some, because I didn't like the packaging. Lots of little foil packs, a foil pack a day just seemed wasteful. The bottle of gel seemed a little more earth friendly and one pump of the bottle is one dose. I use two pumps a day, one in the morning and one at night to alleviate or minimize the ups and downs in my hormone levels. She also gave me a sample of the spray and I REALLY like the spray. One spray in the morning, one at night and it absorbs almost instantly. The only problem with that one is that it is a brand new way to apply it so it's going to be expensive and possibly not covered by my insurance. I will have to update you on that later. So my choice after all of that, for now, is the gel but I will switch to the spray if it's affordable or covered by my insurance. Same medicine different delivery methods.
I am still researching the pros and cons of synthetic/manufactured hormones versus all natural hormones. I'm not sure where I am yet on that but am finding it hard to find any solid studies on the natural hormones. I would assume that natural would be better for you but until I know for sure I'm sticking with this.
Friday, May 1, 2009
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
2 week checkup
Okay, so it was a bit more than two weeks but both of my doctors were on vacation last week. Monday was the earliest I could get in. Oh, and here is a tip for you all, go see your gynecologist in the afternoon! I usually try for an appointment first thing in the morning and it just dawned on me on Monday at 2pm that SO DOES EVERYONE ELSE! Seriously, my appointment was at 2pm, I walked in, checked in and before I could even sit myself down in the waiting room they called my name! I looked around to make sure that I was the only Tiffany in the room and sure enough of the three people, including myself, that was in the waiting area I WAS the only Tiffany. I walked back, she took my vitals, left me to undress from the waist down, I was still situating myself on the table and I heard the knock on my door. I can usually thumb through at least a half of a magazine before that happens! She came in, gave me the low down on my pathology report, did my exam and I was done. I dressed, walked out, made my 6 month appointment, got out to my car, picked up my phone to call Joel and noticed that it was, are you ready for this, no really, are you ready? It was 2:19!!! I almost called the book of world records to report this incredible phenomenon. At that moment I decided that from that day forward it was afternoon appointments for this gal. I will let you know if it is the same at my 6 week follow up appointment, my appointment that day is at 4:15.
So back to my checkup, my appointment went well. All of my pathology reports came back negative for cancer so that was great! They did find very small fibroid tumors, the beginning of endometriosis, little knobby things on my cervix (sorry I can't remember what she called them) and another thing I cant remember the name of but she described it like this. "The stuff that lines your uterus and becomes your period would form solid lumps then embed in the wall of your uterus. Then the days leading up to your period and during your period, as your uterus contracted it would cause the severe pain and cramping. Imagine embedding a rock into your bicep then trying to flex it." That is about the oddest thing I've heard yet. She did a very gentle exam, including a quick look with the speculum. She made sure all of the incisions and repairs were healing, that the stitches were dissolving and that I wasn't haven't anymore pain that was intolerable. I am happy to report that none of what she did caused pain. Actually, there was no discomfort at all. She said that all was looking great and I was well on my way to healing exactly as expected!
I was a bit surprised and maybe I just read the paperwork wrong but I am on the same restrictions for the next 4 weeks. I was hoping for a little bit of a lift on my restrictions but no such luck. I feel great though and I can see how someone could easily jump into doing too much. I caught a cold last week and coughed a lot on Saturday I found that I was pretty achy on Sunday so that was a good reminder for me to take it easy. I mentioned this to my doctor and she came down on me pretty hard about the coughing. She reminded me to do Kegels when I cough to help hold everything in place and to take Robitussin to stop the cough. Robitussin has worked, thankfully because I was instructed to call and get something with Codeine if it didn't.I am completely off of the pain meds, all of them, and adding a prescription back into my routine just didn't appeal to me.
So back to my checkup, my appointment went well. All of my pathology reports came back negative for cancer so that was great! They did find very small fibroid tumors, the beginning of endometriosis, little knobby things on my cervix (sorry I can't remember what she called them) and another thing I cant remember the name of but she described it like this. "The stuff that lines your uterus and becomes your period would form solid lumps then embed in the wall of your uterus. Then the days leading up to your period and during your period, as your uterus contracted it would cause the severe pain and cramping. Imagine embedding a rock into your bicep then trying to flex it." That is about the oddest thing I've heard yet. She did a very gentle exam, including a quick look with the speculum. She made sure all of the incisions and repairs were healing, that the stitches were dissolving and that I wasn't haven't anymore pain that was intolerable. I am happy to report that none of what she did caused pain. Actually, there was no discomfort at all. She said that all was looking great and I was well on my way to healing exactly as expected!
I was a bit surprised and maybe I just read the paperwork wrong but I am on the same restrictions for the next 4 weeks. I was hoping for a little bit of a lift on my restrictions but no such luck. I feel great though and I can see how someone could easily jump into doing too much. I caught a cold last week and coughed a lot on Saturday I found that I was pretty achy on Sunday so that was a good reminder for me to take it easy. I mentioned this to my doctor and she came down on me pretty hard about the coughing. She reminded me to do Kegels when I cough to help hold everything in place and to take Robitussin to stop the cough. Robitussin has worked, thankfully because I was instructed to call and get something with Codeine if it didn't.I am completely off of the pain meds, all of them, and adding a prescription back into my routine just didn't appeal to me.
I have gone back to work but my job isn't too strenuous. Simply put, I count cash, make up the deposits and do all the paperwork and data entry associated with that. I also only work for about 3 hours a night. I have been doing light housework like the dishes, laundry (but I don't lift or haul the basket around I make lots of trips), light sweeping, picking up all the stuff that gets strewn about, light cleaning in the bathroom (I won't scrub the tub), etc. I also have gone grocery shopping by myself. I am sure the cart with groceries is beyond my 10 pound limit but I do Kegels when pushing and ask for help out. I also take lots of little trips - yeah for Fred Meyers being so close!
As far as exercise, it's mainly been walking. Lots of walking. I haven't tried much else...just about any exercise you do puts pressure in some way, on your abdomen and I figure I just don't need to take that chance. I bet you could do some light 5 pound weight exercises with your arms though as long as you did Kegels and really concentrated on the proper form. My appetite is back, thank God, and am eating like I normally would. BUT I am not eating as much, both because I just can't and because I am really concentrating on my portions and not putting on weight. I also drink a ton of water and if I am sick of water then herbal tea.
The hardest part of my recovery is not picking up Oliver. It is such a part of my routine that I just find myself reaching for him and not even thinking about it. I've only picked him up once and realized immediately that I shouldn't be. Not because it hurt but because it was pointed out to me. I didn't feel any pain during or after though so that was good.
Like I mentioned above, my next appointment is in about 4 weeks...I will do a post on that one too. I do have other stuff I keep meaning to blog about but just haven't sat down to do it. I usually end up snuggling with one of my boys. It's a tough job but someone has got to do it!
The hardest part of my recovery is not picking up Oliver. It is such a part of my routine that I just find myself reaching for him and not even thinking about it. I've only picked him up once and realized immediately that I shouldn't be. Not because it hurt but because it was pointed out to me. I didn't feel any pain during or after though so that was good.
Like I mentioned above, my next appointment is in about 4 weeks...I will do a post on that one too. I do have other stuff I keep meaning to blog about but just haven't sat down to do it. I usually end up snuggling with one of my boys. It's a tough job but someone has got to do it!
Friday, March 20, 2009
Yes
Many have asked if I'm happy that I went through with the surgery and if I've noticed any changes yet...
To simply answer the question above without going into details, the answer would be yes.
While I was in the hospital they had the pain medication hooked up through my IV, I press the button and relief would be on it's way shortly. There was a time limit so I couldn't push the button a bunch of times but I could every X minutes if needed. Just because I had a lot of time on my hands, I imagined that my issues with hormones were being controlled or driven by someone else. Like I had an IV line hooked to a bag of hormones but I wasn't the one controlling the button. Nor did the button have a limit on it. Some days the button controller wouldn't push the button at all, other days the button pusher was like my toddler, hitting the button over and over and over until I snapped. Within a day or two of the surgery I honestly felt like that IV line of hormones had been removed. The out of control feeling is gone. I feel like I am in more control of my emotions, my life. It is really hard to explain but it feels like the sharp edge has been filed down, it's smoother, easier to cross.
Another immediate effect that the surgery had made me chuckle a bit and it may or may not be because I had my lovely lady parts removed but I'd like to think that it was. The week leading up to the surgery my breasts were tender. Not just a little bit but a LOT tender. I even went and bought new sports bras hoping that the doctors would let me wear one into and during surgery because they hurt so bad. Once out of surgery and coherent enough to think a bit I remember bumping my breasts with my arm and out of habit I flinched thinking that it was going to hurt. I realized that it didn't! They didn't hurt anymore, the tenderness and pain were gone, completely gone. They have not been tender or sore since the surgery either.
As time goes on, as I finish healing and my body adjusts I am sure that I will notice even more benefits of having the surgery. Okay and the idea of never having to visit the feminine products isle again is intoxicating!!
Other recovery tidbits and stuff that my brain has been mulling during recovery...
I have been given a stool softener/laxative to take if necessary to keep things moving so to speak. Luckily, with my lack of appetite and low fiber diet this really hasn't been an issue and I only had to take the nasty stuff the first day or two. It's like corn syrup consistency but tastes yucky. Anyway, there is a statement on the bottle that reads, "For oral or rectal administration." This statement really strikes me as odd and maybe even a bit disturbing. I just laugh at it instead.
I expected a lot more post operation bleeding. I don't know why I did, maybe it was the constant reminders from doctors and nurses that if I soaked a pad within an hour that I needed to see my doctor that did it. Needless to say, I have had little to no bleeding. I bled more, regularly, on a non-period day before surgery than I have the entire time following surgery.
I am healing and feeling better faster than I expected. I have done a good job of taking it easy, napping when tired, etc. and that may be a big part of it. I am walking well and coughing, sneezing and laughing no longer hurt. Any swelling I had is gone and am feeling normal down there. Don't get me wrong, I still feel like I've had surgery but it's not painful at all. I was hurting a lot longer after having my boys than I am now. Like I've said before, though, this is the time that I REALLY need to pay attention and not over do things. I do get a little achy at night but that's about it. I only took pain medications (mostly Tylenol) for the first three days, been off it ever since.
Remember me talking about how I could not get enough ice? My glasses of water were more like glasses of ice with a touch of water. I worked our ice maker harder than any ice maker should have to work. I noticed right away and Joel even noticed that my ice crunching has almost completely stopped. I will still chew on a piece or two if they are in my glass, I always have, but it's not glasses of ice all day long anymore. I even left some in a cup last night and that would NOT have happened before the surgery.
Temperature...before the surgery, and we are realizing it even more now, I was hot at night. I wouldn't say hot flash kind of hot but definitely warm. Joel and I were talking the night before last about how that has changed now. Over the last 6-12 months I have been a little heater in bed. Joel couldn't even snuggle up without getting too warm himself and when he did, it would just drive me to throw the covers off and move away. I also would sleep a lot with my feet/legs out of the covers, just too hot to keep them under there. Since the surgery, I've gone back to, what I would say are, my normal body temperatures. I don't wake up too hot or sweaty, Joel can snuggle up and my bare feet make Joel jump when I touch him with them. =) Even though I am running a bit on the cold side now, it has been nice.
Have any of you ever bought or used the ThermaCare Heat Wraps? These things rock! I'm glad I didn't buy/use them before my surgery because I would have spent a lot of money on them during my really bad cramping days. They have one specifically designed for menstrual cramp relief and they stay warm for up to 8 hours. This one actually has a sticky back that you can adhere to your undies. I've used a couple of these during my recovery and it was awesome. The constant warmth on my abdomen was comforting and relaxing. My three pack, on sale, was $5.99.
I know that I had/have more to share but can't think of them right now. I will keep a notepad and pen/pencil close today and tomorrow to make notes for the next post.
To simply answer the question above without going into details, the answer would be yes.
While I was in the hospital they had the pain medication hooked up through my IV, I press the button and relief would be on it's way shortly. There was a time limit so I couldn't push the button a bunch of times but I could every X minutes if needed. Just because I had a lot of time on my hands, I imagined that my issues with hormones were being controlled or driven by someone else. Like I had an IV line hooked to a bag of hormones but I wasn't the one controlling the button. Nor did the button have a limit on it. Some days the button controller wouldn't push the button at all, other days the button pusher was like my toddler, hitting the button over and over and over until I snapped. Within a day or two of the surgery I honestly felt like that IV line of hormones had been removed. The out of control feeling is gone. I feel like I am in more control of my emotions, my life. It is really hard to explain but it feels like the sharp edge has been filed down, it's smoother, easier to cross.
Another immediate effect that the surgery had made me chuckle a bit and it may or may not be because I had my lovely lady parts removed but I'd like to think that it was. The week leading up to the surgery my breasts were tender. Not just a little bit but a LOT tender. I even went and bought new sports bras hoping that the doctors would let me wear one into and during surgery because they hurt so bad. Once out of surgery and coherent enough to think a bit I remember bumping my breasts with my arm and out of habit I flinched thinking that it was going to hurt. I realized that it didn't! They didn't hurt anymore, the tenderness and pain were gone, completely gone. They have not been tender or sore since the surgery either.
As time goes on, as I finish healing and my body adjusts I am sure that I will notice even more benefits of having the surgery. Okay and the idea of never having to visit the feminine products isle again is intoxicating!!
Other recovery tidbits and stuff that my brain has been mulling during recovery...
I have been given a stool softener/laxative to take if necessary to keep things moving so to speak. Luckily, with my lack of appetite and low fiber diet this really hasn't been an issue and I only had to take the nasty stuff the first day or two. It's like corn syrup consistency but tastes yucky. Anyway, there is a statement on the bottle that reads, "For oral or rectal administration." This statement really strikes me as odd and maybe even a bit disturbing. I just laugh at it instead.
I expected a lot more post operation bleeding. I don't know why I did, maybe it was the constant reminders from doctors and nurses that if I soaked a pad within an hour that I needed to see my doctor that did it. Needless to say, I have had little to no bleeding. I bled more, regularly, on a non-period day before surgery than I have the entire time following surgery.
I am healing and feeling better faster than I expected. I have done a good job of taking it easy, napping when tired, etc. and that may be a big part of it. I am walking well and coughing, sneezing and laughing no longer hurt. Any swelling I had is gone and am feeling normal down there. Don't get me wrong, I still feel like I've had surgery but it's not painful at all. I was hurting a lot longer after having my boys than I am now. Like I've said before, though, this is the time that I REALLY need to pay attention and not over do things. I do get a little achy at night but that's about it. I only took pain medications (mostly Tylenol) for the first three days, been off it ever since.
Remember me talking about how I could not get enough ice? My glasses of water were more like glasses of ice with a touch of water. I worked our ice maker harder than any ice maker should have to work. I noticed right away and Joel even noticed that my ice crunching has almost completely stopped. I will still chew on a piece or two if they are in my glass, I always have, but it's not glasses of ice all day long anymore. I even left some in a cup last night and that would NOT have happened before the surgery.
Temperature...before the surgery, and we are realizing it even more now, I was hot at night. I wouldn't say hot flash kind of hot but definitely warm. Joel and I were talking the night before last about how that has changed now. Over the last 6-12 months I have been a little heater in bed. Joel couldn't even snuggle up without getting too warm himself and when he did, it would just drive me to throw the covers off and move away. I also would sleep a lot with my feet/legs out of the covers, just too hot to keep them under there. Since the surgery, I've gone back to, what I would say are, my normal body temperatures. I don't wake up too hot or sweaty, Joel can snuggle up and my bare feet make Joel jump when I touch him with them. =) Even though I am running a bit on the cold side now, it has been nice.
Have any of you ever bought or used the ThermaCare Heat Wraps? These things rock! I'm glad I didn't buy/use them before my surgery because I would have spent a lot of money on them during my really bad cramping days. They have one specifically designed for menstrual cramp relief and they stay warm for up to 8 hours. This one actually has a sticky back that you can adhere to your undies. I've used a couple of these during my recovery and it was awesome. The constant warmth on my abdomen was comforting and relaxing. My three pack, on sale, was $5.99.
I know that I had/have more to share but can't think of them right now. I will keep a notepad and pen/pencil close today and tomorrow to make notes for the next post.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
On The Road Again
Honestly, the title to my post was simply going to be, "Road to Recovery," but that reminded me of the Willie Nelson song that has now been stuck in my head for far too long!! Everyone sing with me now, "On the road again. Just can't wait to get on the road again..." Sorry about that.
Last Friday I finally got my walking papers and was able to go home. The hospital, in its typical fashion, would not let me walk out but instead wheeled me out. However, I totally cracked up when we got down to the curb. Joel had run out to grab the car and left me with the nurse. Apparently once you hit the curb you are no longer hospital property. In her kindest voice she said, "You can wait on the bench, I saw you walking around earlier," and kicked me out of the chair. Luckily, I found it to be quite humorous. Joel quickly picked me up and we drove over to the pharmacy for my medications, to Burgerville for Joel's dinner and then home.
Both boys were spending the night with someone Friday night and I have to say that it was a blessing. It was nice to be able to come home to peace and quiet and to find my comfortable spot or two without any interruptions. As much as I enjoyed having nurses answer every call and tend to my every need it was incredibly nice to be home! Joel, all worried and concerned, doted on me and made sure I was well taken care of. He too was glad to be home and have me here with him.
I've been resting and recuperating quite nicely. Actually, I am feeling a lot better than I had expected. The first day (Saturday) I was extremely achy and had a mild dull pain but controlled it well with Tylenol throughout the day. Each day after that I have been getting progressively better. As a matter of fact, I haven't needed/wanted Tylenol at all today. The first couple of nights home I took the prescribed pain medication they gave me just before bed just to make sure that I could rest well and comfortably. I switched to Tylenol last night and will probably do that again tonight. I am still a little achy but for the most part but feeling really well. This is the time that I really need to focus on taking care of myself. This is when I would normally push myself and try to do more than I should. I've promised myself, my husband and many others that I will give my body a chance to recover completely though so don't worry. Plus who can argue with not vacuuming or mopping for 6 weeks? Seriously, why pass that up?
One thing that I have noticed is that I tire easily, to be expected after surgery I'm sure. I got up Sunday morning around 7:30, I thought I had been up for much longer and was shocked to find it only 9:30 when I headed in for a long nap. I've been listening to my body, taking the clues and taking lots of naps.
I've been instructed to keep my diet very simple, low fiber, low bulk, etc. Turns out that hasn't been hard for me at all. I'm am struggling to get my appetite back. I can barely get down a banana and a couple sips of coffee before I'm done. I am still easy to tip to the nauseous side of things and am finding few things appealing. Water, bananas, juice, baked potatoes (sweet and regular), butternut squash, chicken broth/soup have been my main staples. I tried some yogurt and that did not settle well at all which really surprised me. I did have a little bit of macaroni and cheese yesterday, it sounded good so I went with it, and that went down pretty good. I have lost just over 10 pounds since Wednesday of last week. I'd like to think that will stay off when I get my appetite back but I'm not counting on it. =)
The rain has been pretty steady and crazy since I got home so to get out and walk someplace other than my house, Joel took me to Fred Meyers yesterday and let me walk a bit there. We went and picked up a couple of donuts and a latte today. Amazing what a quick trip out can do for your spirits! I do pace the house frequently to get my walking in and have made a couple of trips to the mail box too.
So, in keeping with doctors orders, I've been resting and walking. I'm starting to get a little bit bored but I've had some fun with scanning and uploading old pictures to my facebook page, I have some books that I've been meaning to read, I bought a puzzle book at the store yesterday and many other things that I can focus on. I also have a couple of stitching projects waiting for me at Joel's work that I can't wait to get my hands on.
Many have asked if I'm happy that I went through with the surgery and if I've noticed any changes yet...I'll answer that in my next post. Any other questions out there? If you have any hospital/surgery questions, be sure to ask me now while it's fresh in my mind!
Last Friday I finally got my walking papers and was able to go home. The hospital, in its typical fashion, would not let me walk out but instead wheeled me out. However, I totally cracked up when we got down to the curb. Joel had run out to grab the car and left me with the nurse. Apparently once you hit the curb you are no longer hospital property. In her kindest voice she said, "You can wait on the bench, I saw you walking around earlier," and kicked me out of the chair. Luckily, I found it to be quite humorous. Joel quickly picked me up and we drove over to the pharmacy for my medications, to Burgerville for Joel's dinner and then home.
Both boys were spending the night with someone Friday night and I have to say that it was a blessing. It was nice to be able to come home to peace and quiet and to find my comfortable spot or two without any interruptions. As much as I enjoyed having nurses answer every call and tend to my every need it was incredibly nice to be home! Joel, all worried and concerned, doted on me and made sure I was well taken care of. He too was glad to be home and have me here with him.
I've been resting and recuperating quite nicely. Actually, I am feeling a lot better than I had expected. The first day (Saturday) I was extremely achy and had a mild dull pain but controlled it well with Tylenol throughout the day. Each day after that I have been getting progressively better. As a matter of fact, I haven't needed/wanted Tylenol at all today. The first couple of nights home I took the prescribed pain medication they gave me just before bed just to make sure that I could rest well and comfortably. I switched to Tylenol last night and will probably do that again tonight. I am still a little achy but for the most part but feeling really well. This is the time that I really need to focus on taking care of myself. This is when I would normally push myself and try to do more than I should. I've promised myself, my husband and many others that I will give my body a chance to recover completely though so don't worry. Plus who can argue with not vacuuming or mopping for 6 weeks? Seriously, why pass that up?
One thing that I have noticed is that I tire easily, to be expected after surgery I'm sure. I got up Sunday morning around 7:30, I thought I had been up for much longer and was shocked to find it only 9:30 when I headed in for a long nap. I've been listening to my body, taking the clues and taking lots of naps.
I've been instructed to keep my diet very simple, low fiber, low bulk, etc. Turns out that hasn't been hard for me at all. I'm am struggling to get my appetite back. I can barely get down a banana and a couple sips of coffee before I'm done. I am still easy to tip to the nauseous side of things and am finding few things appealing. Water, bananas, juice, baked potatoes (sweet and regular), butternut squash, chicken broth/soup have been my main staples. I tried some yogurt and that did not settle well at all which really surprised me. I did have a little bit of macaroni and cheese yesterday, it sounded good so I went with it, and that went down pretty good. I have lost just over 10 pounds since Wednesday of last week. I'd like to think that will stay off when I get my appetite back but I'm not counting on it. =)
The rain has been pretty steady and crazy since I got home so to get out and walk someplace other than my house, Joel took me to Fred Meyers yesterday and let me walk a bit there. We went and picked up a couple of donuts and a latte today. Amazing what a quick trip out can do for your spirits! I do pace the house frequently to get my walking in and have made a couple of trips to the mail box too.
So, in keeping with doctors orders, I've been resting and walking. I'm starting to get a little bit bored but I've had some fun with scanning and uploading old pictures to my facebook page, I have some books that I've been meaning to read, I bought a puzzle book at the store yesterday and many other things that I can focus on. I also have a couple of stitching projects waiting for me at Joel's work that I can't wait to get my hands on.
Many have asked if I'm happy that I went through with the surgery and if I've noticed any changes yet...I'll answer that in my next post. Any other questions out there? If you have any hospital/surgery questions, be sure to ask me now while it's fresh in my mind!
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Surgery Recall Part 2
I just want to take a couple of minutes and talk about SW Washington Medical Center. I had a great experience, all things considered, at this hospital. They were all very professional, very proficient and everything was efficiently run. They had procedures that they told us about then followed them to the letter, they always told you exactly what they were doing or going to do, when they were going to do and then did it. I was tracked, so to speak, on many different levels including a bar code that was assigned to me/on my bracelet. I got that bracelet as soon as I talked to the lady at the check-in desk! It was scanned before anything was done or any medication given. All of my nurses were good but I totally scored with the two I had starting at 7am on Friday - those two gals were the bomb! Anyway, I've heard stories of bad experiences in hospitals and wanted to let you all know that my experience was excellent!
So after the anesthesia wore off Friday night my next goal was to get home. I had a checklist of requirements to meet and that was what I focused on all day Friday. Joel too for that matter, each time I got another requirement done he reminded me that another was checked off the list. The list included removal of packing put in place during surgery, removal of catheter, going to the bathroom on my own and emptying my bladder, eating a little bit and keeping it down, able to control the pain via pills (wean me off of the IV pain medication), able to keep fluids going into me (drinking lots of water, juice, etc. to wean me off of the IV fluids) and able to be up and walking.
When I came out of surgery, I had a bunch of vaginal packing and a catheter. Around lunchtime on Friday, my doctor came in, removed the packing then the nurses came in and removed the catheter. My doctor decided to do a back fill of my bladder then I had 15 minutes to use the restroom. She wanted 300 cc's in and 300 cc's out. That way she could be sure that I was emptying my bladder. I guess during surgery if the bladder is bumped at all it can show it's unhappiness about that by not emptying completely. As I'm sure you can figure out on your own, this is not a good thing and can quickly lead to infection. Before the catheter was completely removed the nurses back filled my bladder with a sterile saline solution but instead of the full 300, at the 200 mark I asked them to stop. I felt full and knew that I could go and did as soon as I could get up out of bed. Problem was, my bladder wasn't empty to begin with...they put in 200 and I put out 550! So they went with plan B, after my next trip to the bathroom they did a bladder scan (looked like a mini ultrasound machine) to check for any fluid and there was none! Woohoo! By this time I had already eaten some food, drank lots of fluid, had the IV removed so my only task left to do was get up and walk around.
Joel had to leave for a while to go home and get Noah off of the bus and off to his destination for the night. Plus the poor guy had to have been bored to no end sitting by my bed. I am sure it was nice to just get out for a while and grab a bite to eat or whatever. For almost my entire stay at the hospital I had a room to myself but shortly after Joel left, I ended up with a roommate for about an hour. Let's see, how do I put this nicely, um, well, okay fine...that was not a pleasant experience at all. My great nurses came to my bedside and kept mouthing that they were sorry. They also whispered to me and told her loudly that she would have her own room within an hour, it was just being cleaned. Now, I'm not sure what she had done but there was lots of sobbing, crying, moaning and when the nurses asked her what her pain scale was from 1 to 10 she shouted, "A 20! A 20! Now give me something!" As if that wasn't bad enough I then had to listen to her and her husband/boyfriend fight about whether or not she should be allowed to use her cell phone, all the crap that he had to go through to get there to be with her and that she should be thankful that he was there at all, who should or shouldn't be allowed to visit and then more people showed up. A friend, a mother (I think) and God knows who else and our rooms ARE NOT BIG. They finally moved her and about two minutes after that some other friend of hers comes running into the room loudly calling out the patients name. I stayed quiet, it wasn't me they were looking for, but she still ripped back my curtain and demanded to know who I was and where the hell was the patient? Seriously, she is lucky that I had just had surgery and that Joel wasn't there. Needless to say, my nurses came rushing in after she was all moved and could not apologize enough for the chaos and swore it wasn't usually that bad.
So why do I tell this little side story...because it put off my walking around. I wanted to walk a bit in my room first then the hallways. I mean, if I was going to get light headed or nauseous or even go down for that matter I wanted it to be in my room, not out in the throws of a busy hospital floor. Once they left, I got up, walked about my room a bit, rested some, then got up and headed out for the hallway. They wanted me doing laps around the floor before they gave me the okay to go home. I knew that my doctor would be back by 5pm so it was my lot in life at that time to walk. So walk I did...well okay, I sort of did this shuffle walk with a blanket wrapped around me in case my gown decided to open while holding a small pillow against my stomach for comfort. I'm sure it was a thing of beauty! Oh and don't forget the hospital issued, gun metal gray, non-slip socks. Be-yew-ti-ful! But despite my beauty, I walked and got my walking papers!
To be continued...
So after the anesthesia wore off Friday night my next goal was to get home. I had a checklist of requirements to meet and that was what I focused on all day Friday. Joel too for that matter, each time I got another requirement done he reminded me that another was checked off the list. The list included removal of packing put in place during surgery, removal of catheter, going to the bathroom on my own and emptying my bladder, eating a little bit and keeping it down, able to control the pain via pills (wean me off of the IV pain medication), able to keep fluids going into me (drinking lots of water, juice, etc. to wean me off of the IV fluids) and able to be up and walking.
When I came out of surgery, I had a bunch of vaginal packing and a catheter. Around lunchtime on Friday, my doctor came in, removed the packing then the nurses came in and removed the catheter. My doctor decided to do a back fill of my bladder then I had 15 minutes to use the restroom. She wanted 300 cc's in and 300 cc's out. That way she could be sure that I was emptying my bladder. I guess during surgery if the bladder is bumped at all it can show it's unhappiness about that by not emptying completely. As I'm sure you can figure out on your own, this is not a good thing and can quickly lead to infection. Before the catheter was completely removed the nurses back filled my bladder with a sterile saline solution but instead of the full 300, at the 200 mark I asked them to stop. I felt full and knew that I could go and did as soon as I could get up out of bed. Problem was, my bladder wasn't empty to begin with...they put in 200 and I put out 550! So they went with plan B, after my next trip to the bathroom they did a bladder scan (looked like a mini ultrasound machine) to check for any fluid and there was none! Woohoo! By this time I had already eaten some food, drank lots of fluid, had the IV removed so my only task left to do was get up and walk around.
Joel had to leave for a while to go home and get Noah off of the bus and off to his destination for the night. Plus the poor guy had to have been bored to no end sitting by my bed. I am sure it was nice to just get out for a while and grab a bite to eat or whatever. For almost my entire stay at the hospital I had a room to myself but shortly after Joel left, I ended up with a roommate for about an hour. Let's see, how do I put this nicely, um, well, okay fine...that was not a pleasant experience at all. My great nurses came to my bedside and kept mouthing that they were sorry. They also whispered to me and told her loudly that she would have her own room within an hour, it was just being cleaned. Now, I'm not sure what she had done but there was lots of sobbing, crying, moaning and when the nurses asked her what her pain scale was from 1 to 10 she shouted, "A 20! A 20! Now give me something!" As if that wasn't bad enough I then had to listen to her and her husband/boyfriend fight about whether or not she should be allowed to use her cell phone, all the crap that he had to go through to get there to be with her and that she should be thankful that he was there at all, who should or shouldn't be allowed to visit and then more people showed up. A friend, a mother (I think) and God knows who else and our rooms ARE NOT BIG. They finally moved her and about two minutes after that some other friend of hers comes running into the room loudly calling out the patients name. I stayed quiet, it wasn't me they were looking for, but she still ripped back my curtain and demanded to know who I was and where the hell was the patient? Seriously, she is lucky that I had just had surgery and that Joel wasn't there. Needless to say, my nurses came rushing in after she was all moved and could not apologize enough for the chaos and swore it wasn't usually that bad.
So why do I tell this little side story...because it put off my walking around. I wanted to walk a bit in my room first then the hallways. I mean, if I was going to get light headed or nauseous or even go down for that matter I wanted it to be in my room, not out in the throws of a busy hospital floor. Once they left, I got up, walked about my room a bit, rested some, then got up and headed out for the hallway. They wanted me doing laps around the floor before they gave me the okay to go home. I knew that my doctor would be back by 5pm so it was my lot in life at that time to walk. So walk I did...well okay, I sort of did this shuffle walk with a blanket wrapped around me in case my gown decided to open while holding a small pillow against my stomach for comfort. I'm sure it was a thing of beauty! Oh and don't forget the hospital issued, gun metal gray, non-slip socks. Be-yew-ti-ful! But despite my beauty, I walked and got my walking papers!
To be continued...
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Surgery Recall Part 1
Note: I started this yesterday thinking I would add to it as the day went on. I find myself napping a lot though so I will break it up into parts...
While it's fresh in my mind I thought I would write a bit about the surgery and how things went. I got to come home last night (Friday) and was resting on my couch by 8pm. That was wonderful! Been resting and recovering since then quite nicely and will get back to that later.
Starting Wednesday morning I was on a restricted diet knowing that I had to start the bowel prep around noon. I pushed that back to around 1pm wanting to make a last minute trip to the grocery store and make sure that Noah got home from school okay. My doctor had warned me that it was going to be unpleasant, that I would hate her and probably want nothing to do with her come Thursday morning. Well, the bowel prep part of it wasn't pleasant by any means but the massive headache and severe nausea that I got about an hour after taking the liquid torture was far worse. Apparently some people can have this reaction but most don't - yeah! lucky me! I was supposed to keep drinking clear liquids until midnight Wednesday then nothing after that. I couldn't even do that, too much nausea. Any nervousness I had about the surgery was pretty much squelched by my desire to be knocked out and relieved of the migraine like headache and massive waves of nausea. We left here at 7am on Thursday, at the hospital by 730am and I was quickly checked in and led back to my pre-op station. I thought, more than once that my head was going to explode from the bright lights overhead. They tried to keep them off as much as possible but had to turn them on for things like putting in my IV fluids. Surgery started a little bit late but almost immediately upon being wheeled into the operating room the anesthesiologist gave me some happy drug and within minutes of that knocked me out. The next thing I knew, the nice gal, whose name I will never ever remember because they gave me some amnesia drug (oh yeah Janet, that was good!), was asking me if I wanted something for the pain. After prying my tongue and lips from my teeth...my goodness was my mouth dry, and begging for a wet swab, I said that if she could give me pain medication then I would take it - now. I remember her asking me on a scale of 1 to 10 where my pain level was and I remember answering 8 but I don't remember the pain. I'm thinking that the amnesia drug did it's stuff! I'm not sure how long I was there but remember them telling me that my surgery lasted a bit longer than expected and was told later by my doctor that my body had a tendency to ooze. They had to stop and mop up the ooze then continue with the surgery. Gross! She then told me that I would be in recovery for while then moved up to my room. I will have to ask Joel exactly when I got out of surgery and then moved from recovery to my room. I don't remember at all.
Note: Just asked Joel...he talked to the doctor at about 1:40, then he met me at my room at about 2:45. So I was in surgery about an hour longer than expected, then an hour in recovery.
I remember being wheeled to my room, wow that was quite a hike! The surgery took place in the new state of the art operating suites in the new Firstenburg Tower and my room was in a completely different wing of the hospital. It felt like the walk lasted forever. I also recall thinking at that time that my headache was gone but not the nausea. UGH! I had that same car sick feeling on the trip to my room as I do on those back winding roads when out driving. It turns out that I don't come out of the anesthesia quite as gracefully as others. I was sick to my stomach and nauseous until around 11pm that night. It wasn't until then that I was finally thinking that I probably won't need to beg for the anti-nausea medication anymore. However, I was still touch and go. At one point during the night the nurse wanted to move me to change the bedding and whatever other torture she wanted to inflict upon me and I'm sorry to report that I wasn't very nice. I at one point told her to let me lay back down or I was going to barf all over her. Nice huh?
They brought in a very simple breakfast on Friday, I can't remember all that was on the tray but mostly liquids with a small bowl of rice cereal. I drank the juice and tried a bite or two of the cereal...it was all I could stomach. Come lunch time I managed to get down the little bit of fruit and half of the bread roll and the juice...but the beef stew stuff was nasty and not going anywhere near my mouth. By the time dinner rolled around I was able to eat a bit more but am still on a limited diet...so some rice, some steamed veggies and a couple sips of coffee was all I had.
...to be continued
While it's fresh in my mind I thought I would write a bit about the surgery and how things went. I got to come home last night (Friday) and was resting on my couch by 8pm. That was wonderful! Been resting and recovering since then quite nicely and will get back to that later.
Starting Wednesday morning I was on a restricted diet knowing that I had to start the bowel prep around noon. I pushed that back to around 1pm wanting to make a last minute trip to the grocery store and make sure that Noah got home from school okay. My doctor had warned me that it was going to be unpleasant, that I would hate her and probably want nothing to do with her come Thursday morning. Well, the bowel prep part of it wasn't pleasant by any means but the massive headache and severe nausea that I got about an hour after taking the liquid torture was far worse. Apparently some people can have this reaction but most don't - yeah! lucky me! I was supposed to keep drinking clear liquids until midnight Wednesday then nothing after that. I couldn't even do that, too much nausea. Any nervousness I had about the surgery was pretty much squelched by my desire to be knocked out and relieved of the migraine like headache and massive waves of nausea. We left here at 7am on Thursday, at the hospital by 730am and I was quickly checked in and led back to my pre-op station. I thought, more than once that my head was going to explode from the bright lights overhead. They tried to keep them off as much as possible but had to turn them on for things like putting in my IV fluids. Surgery started a little bit late but almost immediately upon being wheeled into the operating room the anesthesiologist gave me some happy drug and within minutes of that knocked me out. The next thing I knew, the nice gal, whose name I will never ever remember because they gave me some amnesia drug (oh yeah Janet, that was good!), was asking me if I wanted something for the pain. After prying my tongue and lips from my teeth...my goodness was my mouth dry, and begging for a wet swab, I said that if she could give me pain medication then I would take it - now. I remember her asking me on a scale of 1 to 10 where my pain level was and I remember answering 8 but I don't remember the pain. I'm thinking that the amnesia drug did it's stuff! I'm not sure how long I was there but remember them telling me that my surgery lasted a bit longer than expected and was told later by my doctor that my body had a tendency to ooze. They had to stop and mop up the ooze then continue with the surgery. Gross! She then told me that I would be in recovery for while then moved up to my room. I will have to ask Joel exactly when I got out of surgery and then moved from recovery to my room. I don't remember at all.
Note: Just asked Joel...he talked to the doctor at about 1:40, then he met me at my room at about 2:45. So I was in surgery about an hour longer than expected, then an hour in recovery.
I remember being wheeled to my room, wow that was quite a hike! The surgery took place in the new state of the art operating suites in the new Firstenburg Tower and my room was in a completely different wing of the hospital. It felt like the walk lasted forever. I also recall thinking at that time that my headache was gone but not the nausea. UGH! I had that same car sick feeling on the trip to my room as I do on those back winding roads when out driving. It turns out that I don't come out of the anesthesia quite as gracefully as others. I was sick to my stomach and nauseous until around 11pm that night. It wasn't until then that I was finally thinking that I probably won't need to beg for the anti-nausea medication anymore. However, I was still touch and go. At one point during the night the nurse wanted to move me to change the bedding and whatever other torture she wanted to inflict upon me and I'm sorry to report that I wasn't very nice. I at one point told her to let me lay back down or I was going to barf all over her. Nice huh?
They brought in a very simple breakfast on Friday, I can't remember all that was on the tray but mostly liquids with a small bowl of rice cereal. I drank the juice and tried a bite or two of the cereal...it was all I could stomach. Come lunch time I managed to get down the little bit of fruit and half of the bread roll and the juice...but the beef stew stuff was nasty and not going anywhere near my mouth. By the time dinner rolled around I was able to eat a bit more but am still on a limited diet...so some rice, some steamed veggies and a couple sips of coffee was all I had.
...to be continued
Friday, March 13, 2009
Spring Cleaning
I hope you all don't mind me filling in for Tiffany today...this is just a quick post to let everyone know the surgery was a success. As a matter of fact, when Tiff's surgeon met with me after the surgery to let me know how things went, she mentioned that they "got the uterus out" which I thought was good, but odd to mention since that was kind of the point of the surgery in the first place. But I digress...Tiffany is doing great and well on her way to recovery. She should be coming home tonight (Friday) to an empty house for at least one night of uninterrupted convalescence.
-Joel
-Joel
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