2 weeks post op
I am officially 2 weeks and 1 day post op today and I feel pretty good. I still feel quite tired on occasion and I still am not allowed to lift or carry anything over 6lbs, but other than that it’s all going well.
My wound is now healing externally and I am forming a scar nicely. There are marks where the staples were, but they are healing gently like any other cut that scabs over. I am still being careful about rolling in and out of bed, but even that has got easier and I am even able to sleep on my side comfortably now – which is a MASSIVE relief. 
I am finding walking much easier and am up to about a 2o minute walk – Come on! Although my friend visited me last night and she warned me that this was the “Danger Time”. What she meant was, that I feel much better so the temptation is to start doing normal things again – however, I will have to reign myself in. I might be healing on the outside, but the inside is still mending. I still have to take it easy and not do too much.
I still think my trend is up though, which is fab x
Such a Sad Weekend
Sometimes there are moments in history when you almost can’t bear to watch the news and I think this weekend has been one of them. Namely, the devastating bombings an shootings in Norway and the untimely death of Miss Amy Winehouse.
Firstly, I can’t imagine what it must have been like to be on that island in Norway when some guy posing as a policeman, shoots and kills over 80 young people. My hearts go out to everyone involved, they must have been scared out of their minds. 
Secondly, I could hardly believe it yesterday when Moochy came downstairs and said “Have you heard, Amy Winehouse has died?!”. I of course replied “get lost, are you joking?”, but sadly he was not… I thought she had an amazing voice and was a rare talent. I hope that she will be remembered for her music, but the drugs and bloody ballet pumps were also hard to forget. This is my all time favourite video of her which reminds me why I always liked her:
Visitors Galore
Well today I have been blessed with visits from both my Gran and Moochy’s mum and dad. Both just came and chatted and my Gran when asked if she wanted a cup of tea, said “Yes, and I’ll have a toast butty too!” – To those of you not familiar with my gran’s vernacular, she actually meant she was hungry and would like some toast. 
Classic.
I have also managed to go for 2 x 10+ minute walks as well, so I am not doing too bad. I also even had a breakthrough last night as I managed to turn onto my side when sleeping. This is the first time since my operation and it was a blessed relief. I can of course sleep on my back, but relax much more when I am on my side. It’s not completely comfortable and I think it will be even better tonight if I take a small cushion up with me to sort of lie on when I do turn over.
Tomorrow, we plan to do just one walk, but to the local corner shop, which is that little bit further away and then on Sunday, we plan to go to Bents Garden centre for a cup of tea. Small victories make for big progress I am finding.
Also, my IBS is still giving me problems, I won’t go into details, but I find that I can’t eat anything too rich as it.. well… goes straight through (sorry TMI).
But…. overall, I feel the trend is up. xx
1 week post-op
It’s amazing what a couple of good night’s sleep can do. After posting that I was feeling a bit rubbish and I hadn’t sleep, I managed to sleep from 23:00 until about 10:30. Hallelujah!!! I also managed to sleep well the next couple of nights, including last night and it really does make ALL the difference.
I also had my staples out yesterday, all 22 of then. Only 2/22 of them pinched a little and it only took 5 minutes.
I am still getting quite tired, but I am managing on just paracetamol as pain relief. My wound isn’t sore all the time, but just when I do certain movements. The hardest bit for me is still getting in and out of bed, where I have to do a sort of rolling technique to avoid using my abdominal muscles too much.
I also got some lovely sunflowers from my friend yesterday and some gorgeous HotelChocolat chocolates from my sister. What a lucky girl I am!!!
Total Abdominal Hysterectomy Diary
So, just to get you up to speed, here’s where we are so far:
Being Admitted –>It’s done –> The Morning After –> and finally, where we started Major Surgery.
So where I left you was the very morning after the surgery, but to be honest, I need to go back a bit as when I blogged from hospital I was off my t*ts on morphine… not the best 
Here’s what really happened:
I went down to theatre at about 11:15 and was put to sleep by the anaethstatist Mr Morrison whilst my consultant Mr Griffith held me hand. I woke up in recover about 13:00, but I am not totally sure of the time due to the drugs that I was on. I had an oxygen mask on and two cannulae in the back of my hand. I felt a little woozy but not too bad. I also had Patient Controlled Analgesia or “PCA”, which is basically morphine and it was linked to a button control that I was given so that I could self administer. I was told that I could press the button once every 5 minutes and it would give me 1mg of the drug. I could press every couple of minutes, but I would only get a dose every 5 minutes, so there was no chance that I could overdose.
After half an hour or so in recovery I was taken back into my room and luckily the lady I thought I was sharing with was moved to her own room. The nurse looking after me (Amy) called Moochy but told him to wait for a couple of hours to let me get some rest before he came to see me.
For the rest of that day Moochy stayed with me and I was a little out of it. The combination of the pain killers they gave me in surgery, the morphine and the anaesthetic I am not surprised. I didn’t have a very good night’s sleep either, I wasn’t in too much pain, but everything was a bit of out kilter with my consciousness levels, so I only really had longer than 15 minutes at 4:00am for an hour.
Day 1 – Post Op
My first day post-op started ok and this was when I found out I had staples across the very bottom of my belly and the whole thing was very sore. The nurses came in and gave me a a bed bath and I found out very quickly that you have to leave your dignity at the door regarding these things.They were lovely though so it wasnt too bad. I was also helped to get out of bed and get dressed into my own PJ’s and sit in the chair for an hour, which I did and felt fine. I did also at this stage, have a catheter in so that I didn’t have to worry about going to the loo.
After the hour, I was taught a sort of rolling technique to get back into bed, so that I wouldn’t pull on my bruised abdominal. At this point I was feeling ok.
Moochy came about 11:00 ish and then this is when I started to go downhill a little bit. The nurses came to take my catheter out and help me to go to the loo and I started to feel a little queasy, which does of course make me come out in a cold sweat with fear. I have to say though, they were very good and gave me an injection of cetirizine which did make me feel a little better. However throughout the rest of the day, I did feel nauseous and rotten and even when Moochy came back to visit me in the evening, I sent him away again after 15 minutes as when I feel that bad, I just need to be on my own.
I did however have a 2nd anti-emetic injection and a better nights sleep and woke up feeling normal.
Day 2 – Post Op
It’s fair to say that 24 hrs makes a huge difference sometime as come Friday morning the nausea had gone & I felt much better in myself. My consultant had come to see me yesterday when I was feeling rough and I couldn’t talk to him, but he came to see me during lunch and said that if I continued to be ok I could go home the day after – I couldn’t believe it.
Did I mention I had 22 staples at my wound site by the way?! Each and every one was sore but actually with continual painkillers, it was manageable. So I spent the rest of the day just chilling, which basically meant watching TV, napping and chatting to Moochy. I did also get a visit from Moochy’s sister, which was great and it was lovely to see her. I had an OK night’s sleep again without having to take any sleeping tablets. Ace.
Day 3 – Post Op
My day started fairly sedately as I woke up about 6:30 and took my time having breakfast and coming to with general rumblings of an early morning hospital. I had a shower on my own and after some general discharge information, I was allowed to come home at around 13:00. I say general discharge information, but to be specific, this is what they told me.
- The myths about not being able to lift a kettle were nonsense and the guide was not to lift anything about 3kg/6lbs. So no baskets of washing, no hoovering, no Sunday Roasts etc, but light things were fine.
- It’s best to shower instead of bathe and when doing so pat my staples dry and then finish of drying them with cool hairdryer, which dries between the staples.
- I had to try and do 2 x 10 minute walks a day in the first week and build it up slowly every day after that.
- Roll on an off the bed.
- If I had to cough or sneeze, I had to draw my knees up to my chest if I was sitting or lying down or bend my knees if standing up and both of these techniques should absorb some of the shock and pain.
- Talking of pain, as I refused Codeine (made me feel sick) and hadn’t had Tramadol in hospital, I was going to try to stick to Paracetamol and ibuprofen in the following regime:
Paracetamol: 6:00am – 12:00 noon – 6:00pm – 12:00 midnight with ibuprofen in between.
So there you are then. I didn’t feel too bad coming come, but didn’t sleep very well the first night. Having to sleep on my back, I just couldn’t get comfortable and so was a bit restless.
Day 4
Had a not too bad day today and started to get into a small routine. Did my 2 x 10 minute walks and I am pleased to report that I finally went to the loo. We made a little chart to document my pain relief and I even managed to have a shower. Moochy’s mum and dad came to see me and I felt pretty ok all day. However just before bed, I had to go to the loo and it was a bit gross and well to cut a long story short, I had about 3-4 hours sleep as I had a dicky tum in the night and whilst I wasn’t actually sick, it came very very close. As I have mentioned before, I am not very good in these situations so had a very disturbed night.
I am sure that last nights problems were down to a few things, but possibly me already having IBS and eating too many cupcakes etc yesterday just exacerbated things. My consultant said that this operation means that they rummage around in my tummy and that can make me feel without any other factors. He also said that my recovery would be very up and down and so far, he is right.
Day 5
Oo I haven’t had a great day today, I am just very tired and had an upset stomach all day. I couldn’t have very much to eat and I realised that I hadn’t slept properly for almost 1 week. I have just been quite quiet and just tried to rest. I did manage to start my exercises though and went for 1 of my 10 minute walks. Let’s hope I get a decent night’s sleep tonight.
The Morning After
Well I didn’t sleep too well and finally had my biggest snooze of 2 hours around 4:00. I’m still in pain, but I’ve just brushed my teeth and the nurse gave me a delicate wash, but she said I would have a full on bed bath later on.
For the teeth cleaning/wash I had to sit up and move around, as up to now I’ve been lying flat. Let me tell you, it stings – big time. But now I’ve got IV paracetamol so it’s not too bad. Day 2 here we go x
It’s done!
Well it’s 1:20am as I write this as my sleeping pattern is a bit all over the shop, but you know what… I feel much better than I expected 
I went to theatre at 11:15 and was back in my room by 13:45. I asked the nurse to let Moochy know I was ok and I settled down with my morphine button. I’m going to be honest it does hurt a lot at first so the “patient controlled analgesia” or PCA is fab. Thankfully no icky side effects, just a very itchy nose!
Moochy went home to see to Peggy dog when I went to Theatre and came back about 16:30… It was lovely to see him and I’ve a feeling it was mutual.
More in the morning, tired again now xx Next E ntry
Being Admitted
So I write this blog from my room in hospital. Arrived at 8:30 this morning and was shown up to the ward by the ward manager. Gutted to find I’m sharing with another lady who apparently is having the same operation as I am. I’m gutted as I would much rather be on my own when I’m not well
But anyway, I’ve got my gown and (lovely) paper knickers ready and apparently I will be going down around lunchtime-ish. I’ve just met the anaesthetist and we had a chat about my emetophobia, I was pleased to hear he is going to give me some drugs to help combat it as much as possible.
This does however, feel like the longest morning ever…
Last Walk for a While
Just got in from a lovely morning walk with Peggy dog and I suspect that will be the last one for me for a couple of weeks. Peggy doesn’t really pull on the lead, but I can’t take any chances.
I’ve got just today left in work and them I’m done… Tonight will involve final preparations & trying not to be too nervous. Nothing to eat or drink after midnight and I have to be at the hospital for 7:00. It’s really happening isn’t it?!
