Home from surgery

[jen898]

Thanks everyone for all your tips and advice.  I definitely felt more prepared after scouring this board for the past month.  I ended up with a laparotomy as the cysts were too large to remove otherwise (12cm and 9cm).  I was hoping it wouldn't come to that but was prepared for that eventuallity as I had a hard time finding people who have had larger cysts removed laproscopically.  Ah well, the pain is hell, the recovery will be longer but at least they are gone.  She was able to save my ovary.  Everything also looked good, not cancerous, which I'm definitely happy about.  The path results won't be back for a bit but she's fairly certain they will come back ok.  I'm a little bummed since I had 3 kids without a c-section, and ended up basically having one for cysts but ah well, nothing I can do.  Thankfully my Mom is helping me out with the kids because at this point, I am seriously in a lot of pain that nothing seems to help with right now.  I know everyone is different but how long is the norm before I may feel normal again?  I haven't slept except for bits here and there because laying down is too painful and moving around is worse.  Luckily, I've had no problems eith the gas they pump in though so that's a relief.  And trying to pee is about the most difficult thing I've ever had to do!  I'm assuming it's because everything is so swollen but it's darn near impossible :(.

[jen898]

Thanks everyone, I'm feeling a TINY bit better today, still very painful to move around.  Got the lab results back today too and everything was benign.  The larger cysts turned out to be 15cm by the time of the surgery, the smaller one was 10cm and was a teratoma with bone and hair.  Glad to have that thing out of me!  From the report I got, it looks like the ovary was removed so now I'm a bit confused.  She told me after the surgery that she saved my ovary but she may have been speaking of the other one, I was a bit out of it afterwards so it's entirely possible I misunderstood.  I

[Sandymac]

Now, aren't you glad that's over! And so happy everything is looking "good" .. Laney is right.. don't wait to take that pain medication until you are in PAIN !! Take it at the prescribed time for a day or so.. And from what I've learned on here, the laparotomy is going to take a little longer than the laparoscopy .

Do you like prunes?? If not you may think about developing a taste for them.. 4 a day is good LOL But that's personal preference ...And drink lots and lots of water! And the stool softener.. I also took Metamucil ( I take that on a regular basis anyway).. But, one of the gals told me that her Dr. said not to take it as it may cause an obstruction so you'd best ask your Dr. about that. I diluted it really , really well. .

Did you ever see the post from "Painterchic" 10 things I learned from having a laparoscopy"  It's a cute and accurate post.. I don't know why the advice wouldn't work as well for the laparotomy.. I'll bump it up for you.. In the meantime, rest, take care of you and take it easy.. and keep us posted.

Be well,
Sandy

[Laney8463]

Sounds like good news to me. Congrats on everyting looking negative. That is awesome.
I am sure the laparotomy is harder to recover from than the laparoscopy, but just make sure you take the pain medicine. Take it from me though, add stool softeners or miralax right away. You don't need to add the constipation factor into everything else. It aint fun..lol Rest and recover. You made me smile... im happy for you.
Laney

[vallieanne]

I'm glad to hear your home and your frozen sections were benign. Sorry your pain is keeping you awake. The first days I came home it was like that too, it will get better. Did your doctor give you a prescription for pain meds? If you don't get enough relief from them soon, give him a call and ask to try something else, and make sure to take the ones you have now as directed as you don't want the pain to get ahead of you. It's hard sometimes to keep tract when your not getting enough sleep, so write it down on a notepad. Glad your Mom is there to help you now.
Valerie

[TrudieC]

I'm so glad you're home and all is well.  I had a laparotomy June 6 with a vertical incision.  The first two weeks are pretty miserable.  I found it hard to sleep even though I was so tired.  I don't know if it was the drugs or what.  From a comfort standpoint I found hugging a pillow really helped.  Take all the naps you want.  Sleep will be the best healer.  For the first 2 weeks I found sitting on a stool in the shower helped.

In weeks 3 and 4 I was able to get a bit of energy back and went grocery shopping with my husband, did a wee bit of cooking and was awake a bit more. I transitioned from my narcotics to Ibuprofen during this time.

During the 4th week I actually started feeling normal again.  I could drive then (with a pillow in front) and felt like myself again.  I still needed more sleep than normal and I continued to follow the no vacuum, sweep or lift rule until after 8 weeks.  I went back to work at 6 weeks but if my employer had allowed I could have worked from home on the ocmputer fine during those last 2 weeks.

You can't really take a bath until your follow up but you might want to put some hot water (just an inch) in the bottom of the tub and sit in it to help your swelling issue.

Good luck with everything.  Don't be afraid to ask if anything comes up.