Rose's Recovery

Thursday, March 16th was a day with a big surgery for me. I had a hysterectomy. It all started in the fall of 2021 when I was having cramping every day. I waited for a few months for it to go away but it didn't. I thought it was in my head but it wasn't. It was annoying to constantly feel that discomfort. Sometimes it would wake me up at night. I had an ultrasound to see what was causing it and the ultrasound showed varicose veins. I was diagnosed with pelvic congestion syndrome which is an umbrella diagnosis for pelvic pain with unknown cause. The treatment options were vein removal or hysterectomy. I didn't like those options so I decided I would just deal with the pain. It wasn't too bad for a few months but then it got uncomfortable through the summer. Then I decided it wasn't going away and I didn't want to live with the pain. I thought a lot about the treatment options. Vein removal isn't a guaranteed resolution. I knew a hysterectomy would be and since I didn't need my uterus it would be ok to take it out. 

My surgery wasn't until the afternoon. I was planning on same day but I got out of surgery so late in the day and my pain was out of control. I ended up staying the night so my pain could be managed by IV medication. It was a good choice. I was throwing up and miserable that night after surgery. My 10:00 at night I was feeling much better and my pain was tolerable. Marshall was with me until then and then he went home to be with the kids since we weren't planning on me staying the night. It all worked out though. I had a good night at the hospital and he got the kids off to school and came back the next day. 

I went home the next morning. The first few days were very painful and uncomfortable. I had ice packs on my incisions constantly. There was a lot of taking it easy. Which means lots of pictures snuggling with Chewie.

So I'm back blogging where I'm posting this with the date of March 17th but it's actually June 3. So I'm going to just add how the whole recovery went. The recovery was way longer than I had hoped. I thought because I was super active before, and eating healthy-ish, that I would prove everyone wrong and recover quickly. Turns out it was more like the exact opposite. Each check up I have not been healed. I took it so easy. So it was discouraging. I didn't feel like myself through 6 weeks so that helped me want to take it easy but it was also a bummer not feeling like myself. After 6 weeks I felt back to normal but I still wasn't released for full activity yet. Thankfully I could start swimming at 6 weeks. That helped a lot because I was really missing my running, biking, and swimming. Swimming helped me feel more active. By 8 weeks I had my final check up. I still wasn't completely healed but I got a go ahead from the doctor to run and bike so it was good and bad. 

Here's what I learned through it all. It's ok to not work out. Sleep needs more priority in my life. I can control my eating. I counted calories and ate less through the recovery so I wouldn't gain weight. I also learned that it's not fun doing nothing all day everyday. I couldn't wait to do chores and be productive. You can only do nothing for so long before it's not a good thing.