Life Updates – 3 Weeks post Hysterectomy

Hello Readers! After a hiatus of almost a month, I am back into blogging with this life update post. I usually don’t feel comfortable writing about my illnesses or recovery, but after a lot of internal debating and the fact that I myself was looking for information online about Hysterectomy and other women’s recovery journey, that I decided to write about my experience so far and going forward too, in the hopes of helping someone else looking to connect.

It all started two years back when my periods started to extend from 5 days to 10 days, accompanied with excruciating pain that no pain killer would help with. At first my Ob-Gyn diagnosed that I had multiple large fibroids in my uterus, but a lot of medication didn’t help. So she asked me to get an MRI done. Then we found out that I had stage 4 Endometriosis and four of my organs were already stuck to each other because of the internal bleeding and one of my ovaries had a large cyst and was pretty much useless at this point. We tried more medication, but nothing helped. So in early January this year, my Doctor suggested we go ahead with the Hysterectomy.

I was admitted to the hospital on the 27th of January and my surgery was on the 28th January. The night before the surgery, they gave me only saline and water for meal and some medication to clear out my bowels. I had a laparoscopic full Hysterectomy. The surgery took longer than expected and was a complicated one as per the Doctor. But thankfully, it was a successful surgery.

Day 1-3 Post Surgery – I was in the hospital for three days. The first day I was completely bed-ridden and the pain was immense. I was on antibiotics, saline and painkillers. The second day, they started me on a semi solid diet and asked me to start walking to the toilets and do some feet flapping movement while lying on the bed to avoid clotting. I was also advised to carry on doing some deep breathing exercises. I was discharged from the hospital on the 3rd day post surgery to recover at home.

Week 1 Post Surgery

Diet: I was eating tiny meals 4-5 times a day. A glass of water followed by green tea and a handful of almonds. Home made vegetable oats, or vegetable poha, or a banana with one boiled egg for breakfast. Coconut water for mid morning snack. An extremely small portion of rice, daal, yogurt and a side of vegetables for lunch, two digestive biscuits and green tea for evening snacks, or a handful of peanuts and one chapati, a bowl of moong daal and small portion of vegetable for dinner. I didn’t have an appetite and sometimes my mom would make me chicken soup to get some proteins in for my recovery.

Pain & Recovery: At home, I was in a lot of pain because of the gas and bowel movements and my organs trying to settle down. I didn’t have much of an appetite and was mostly on bed. I was able to slowly turn and sleep on my side and I tried to sleep with a pillow under my legs or between my legs. It was pretty uncomfortable though.

Exercises: I was mostly in bed during my first week back home and only made trips to the bathroom and to shower. Even that much was exhausting and in the first week I showered only every alternate day.

Entertainment: I read one book in the first week back and watched TV or listened to my mom talk. Mostly I was in a state of slumber and sleeping almost through the day because of all the medications.

Week 2 Post Surgery

Diet: During the first half of week 2, I could barely eat anything and had zero appetite. I was mostly on liquids like cold milk, or cold orange juice, or coconut water, or just lentil soup. But once the I started the pain killers and the prebiotics, I was able to slowly resume my diet from Week 1. I wasn’t eating any fried food or food from outside.

Pain & Recovery: Week 2 began horribly because the laxatives and the antibiotics were making bowel movement very painful for me. For some reason, my pain intensified in the second week when I had to pass motions, like these cramps in my stomach that felt like someone was punching my gut constantly. And because of the laxatives, I was constantly going to the toilet and constantly in pain. Like an idiot, I was not taking my pain killers and when I reached out to my Ob-Gyn for the pain, she rightly admonished me for not taking the pain killers. By mid week, once I started the pain killers though, things got much better. She also gave me some prebiotics which helped with my appetite.

Exercises: I had my stitches removed and my Ob-Gyn said I could start walking outdoors and do most of the house chores, except for lifting heavy items and bending too much. I decided to start walking inside the house along with those feet exercises and the breathing exercises and gradually increase my step count each day. By end of week 2, I was able to walk 3500 steps inside the house. My goal is to eventually get to 10,000 steps by the end of Week 4, if my body permits.

Entertainment: I didn’t read at all in Week 2 due to me condition. I watched a little TV with my mom, or Youtube videos of other women’s hysterectomy recovery journey. Unfortunately, my mom had to leave by the end of the second week due to a family emergency, but my sister decided to come and stay with me for two weeks. So just the third week, I would have to stay by myself.

Week 3 Post Surgery:

Diet: The third week saw the beginning of actual recovery for me. I definitely had my appetite back and continued following the home made diet of fibre, liquids and lean protein with smaller portions. I bought flax seeds and chia seeds and started adding them to my meals and snacks. My friends also got me home made laddoos and healthy snacks like granola bites and wheat pancake mix and home made pickles. I felt so blessed 🙂

Exercise: I started increasing my daily step count and went for short walks once in the morning and once in the evening. I’m also doing my breathing exercises and the foot flaps (that’s what I call them :D). By the end of the week, I was able to cover 7000 steps. I was also able to help with house chores and slightly bend, cook my breakfast, help my daughter get ready for school and other small activities.

Entertainment: I finally managed to get back into my reading – you can see my bedside is loaded with books I selected to read. I have no idea if I’ll finish all of these, but a girl can dream 😀 I caught up with a few friends who came to visit me, and watch a few series on TV too. I’m loving Cunk on Earth, but laughing hard is still painful..LOL! I discovered a few new songs and People by Libianca is a current favorite 🙂

My sister arrived last Sunday and I am in Week 4 of post op recovery now. I am supposed to go back to work (I have a desk job in IT) by next week, but we are still discussing if I need to extend my leaves by another week or if I’m okay to start work next week.

I know this post is longer than my usual posts and I’m sure I might have forgotten a lot of things that I wanted to write down. I wrote this post for others who might be planning a hysterectomy or recovering from one and would like to share notes and discuss highs and lows. Just like any other community. I felt that this is a major surgery and many women go through it too, but somehow there seems to be very little information from women about their personal experience and their recovery journey or life after a hysterectomy. I hope I will find a community of women who I can talk to and discuss with them about life and recovery journey after a hysterectomy with via this post. 🙂