2 weeks post-op laparoscopic myomectomy

[Afia1969]

I had surgery 2 weeks ago for a cantaloupe-sized pedunculated fibroid and another smaller one inside the uterus. Things went very well except a lot of bleeding...lost 2 liters of blood and hemoglobin dropped from 130 to 72 and no transfusion. I was walking the next day and have had relatively little pain (controlled with Napraxen and Tylenol, mainly). I bled the 3rd night after bring released from hospital and returned to ER. My hemoglobin was up to 80 so they thought it was normal post-op bleeding. Within a week it was gone but throughout the first week was a good gauge for if I was overdoing it. I would bleed more if I tried to do too much; when I rested, the bleeding would get lighter.
I expected a fairly quick recovery (doc said 2 weeks) but I am really tired a lot, presumably from the anemia. I have just climbed to 92 but I still get weird pains in the vagina, lower abdomen, sometimes twinges in my lower back. I get pain when my bladder gets full. Is all this normal????
I am going back to my family doc tomorrow to discuss this but it's beyond his area of expertise. He is around 50 and has NEVER had a patient do this surgery without hysterectomy. My surgeon is 4 hours away so I can't easily go back to her right now. I am supposed to return to work full-time in a week and I teach young kids...on my feet all day. I am worried that I won't be able to manage and now the government is planning on taking all our accumulated sick days away and give us 6/ year. I could use those up in the first week and a half of school! I am a single mom and can't afford to have to not have sick days for me and my kids for the rest of the year or go without pay if I can't be at work! I have an accumulated total of over 100 days from my 20 years in this job that I can't touch when I now need them!
At the moment, after being up for 6 hours, I need a nap and after walking around I feel crampy and achy. What am i going to do? Thoughts???

[Afia1969]

I hope you are feeling better soon! It took me 6 weeks with the anemia to finally feel like myself again. The lower pain I had turned out to be a bladder infection, presumably from the catheter. The initial tests turned up negative but my doctor said that could happen. After a visit back to Toronto and a stronger antibiotic, I recovered quickly and no more pain. I don't know how common that is but watch for it, just in case.
I went back to work part-time on week 4 and still needed to sleep each afternoon. On week 5, I went back full-time and wasn't quite better yet but the antibiotics were starting to finally work and by week 6, I felt relatively normal. The little bit of pulling and tugging sensations in the abdomen (probably scar tissue adhering) were not very noticeable by then.
Since then, I feel wonderful. No big lump in my tummy anymore. My periods are starting to normalize. No more big clots, starting to become more regular...up to 25 days in a cycle rather than 14, 21, 19...all over the place. It's the best thing I could have done. I'm very happy with the results and even with the complications so worthwhile!
I would recommend you take the full time you need to heal. Laproscopic or not, this is NOT minor surgery and your body requires proper time to heal. I wish I had had access to my banked sick days because I went back full-time too soon.
Good luck!
Sandy

[Meetchella73]

I know you are probably healed and feeling fine now. I just had the same surgery and I am 11 days post op and feel exactly how you described. I am exhausted after only being up for 6 hours. Can you tell me how long it took for you to feel fully recovered? I feel like I can get around ok but so hard to sit at my desk job all day. I have read not to be deceived, just because you feel fine you are still using a lot of energy to heal. I get the same pains you described. Wondering how you made out. I don't think I can return to work just yet