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I’ve been through so much in my life and definitely the most difficult adventure I have ever been on, was my trip into the operating room to have all of my female stuff removed and replaced by thousands of stitches.
If you are at that point in your life, when your female organs are going to vacate the premises, then here is a list of my Top 10 Things to Do Before Your Hysterectomy:
1) Get every detail about the operation down to a science with your doctor…now is not the time to be shy or bashful, seek out exactly what he is going to do and ask questions.
2) Take the allotted 6 weeks, minimum, off work-your body will definitely need the time to heal. Even if you feel better in a few weeks, you will still have hundreds and hundreds of stitches on the inside that need to heal and that will take more time.
3) Right before your surgery, get your hair cut…..shorter than usual….that way you won’t have to worry about needing a trim while you are recuperating.
4) Stock your house with easy to make foods and also include some protein rich Ensure, extra protein will help your internal muscles heal and recover faster, and Ensure tastes great.
5) Plan on bringing a small pillow or blanket to the hospital, so that you can tuck it under your sides to prevent your belly from sagging, because that will result in an unpleasant pulling sensation that doesn’t feel good at all.
6) Before surgery, avoid anyone who may be remotely sick, the last thing you need is to catch a cold with a cough….a cough will hurt, trust me. I coughed 1 time about a week after the surgery and boy did it hurt.
7) Plan on sleeping on the couch, you may not need to, but plan on it. You will be surprised how paranoid you are with people getting close to you, in fear that they may bump you and also on the couch you can have the back of the couch like a barricade, to remind you not to roll over too fast….ough. Roll over very slowly and use your arms to support all the time.
8) I used our empty cooler as a “table”, I could pull it up to the couch and reach over and get my water-a must have-and it also had all of my magazines, meds, remote and phone, that was a very useful tool….we don’t have a coffee table.
9) Prepare your family to wait on you and clean the house. My family was wonderful and my step son did all of the housewife things for me, including grocery shopping. My husband couldn’t do much since he was disabled. Let the family know that you will not be cooking etc. for them, like it or not, this recovery time is for you.
10) My last piece of advice to you is this….You only get 1 chance to heal properly, take care of yourself…..if you try to push yourself too fast you could make small tears on the inside, which will result in scar tissue forming, which in turn can turn into pain and issues years down the road. Avoid developing scar tissue as best you can.
There you have it…feel free to share how you coped with your adventure.
Freedom from pain and periods is just an incision away…remain positive and calm, everything will be fine.
Excellent post. Thank you for sharing !
Every word of your advice is true. Went through this a number of years ago and the one that struck me while reading this was sleeping on the couch. I was sleeping all the time and you are right, you want no one near you. Take the time, the most important part.
You have been through so much Chris. I admire your strength. Thanks for sharing these great helpful tips!
Wow. What a great list of suggestions, some are things you just would not think of – like get a haircut. Very practical. And I think folks always underestimate the recuperation time. Nice reminder.
Your suggestions are great! I wish I had those when I had my c-section.
Excellent post. Thank you for sharing your hard-earned advice.
Now Grndma Chris, make sure you take your own advice. Especially about you only get one chance to heal properly. Thinking of you.
Great advice Chris. My mum went through one last year, and she was surprised at how long it really took to recover.