What to expect after your hysterectomy.

Today I want to chat a bit about some of the things you can expect after your hysterectomy. This isn’t intended to be an all encompassing list, but a few of the bigger things that are common. 

There will be some bloating, this is both from the gas if you had your procedure laproscopically and swelling as your body begins to heal. Imagine if your leg needed stitches - you would expect to have redness and swelling around those for at least a few days to a week, and the more involved the injury, the longer we would expect your leg to heal. Because hysterectomies usually involve structures inside the body, the sign we can see as the immune system attempts to heal the area is swelling. 

The gas from the procedure is often uncomfortable for the first few days post op…and sometimes lasts for a bit longer than a few days. It will go away and there are things you can do to help. 

There will likely be clear glue over your abdominal incisions. This will begin to peel off on its own as you heal. Sometimes there will be some bruising around the incisions.

You may or may not have light vaginal spotting.

You will learn quickly to roll to your side and use your arms to push yourself out of bed. For a bit of time, gone are the days when you can sit straight up to get out of bed. 

You will likely be moving much more slowly than normal for a few weeks. This is person dependent, but many women are much more tired post op for weeks. This makes sense when we take a minute to consider - an entire organ was removed and that’s a lot for a body to heal! Allow yourself time to rest and recover. You will be back to zipping through life in no time (even if it may feel long in the beginning). 

Some mood swings: in part may be due to hormones, partly due to being forced to rest, frustration with progress etc. 

Give yourself time to heal. It takes time. It may at times feel long. Or lonely. Or frustrating. You may also at times feel great. Remember that healing is not linear for the days when you feel like you backtrack some. Find pride in the little accomplishments. 

As always, this is intended to be informational, everyone is different and responds differently and if you have questions (and definitely if you have health concerns!) you should check in with your health care provider! 

And - we don’t need to walk this path alone! If you are feeling like things are long, or lonely, or scary, or frustrating (they often are!) - reach out. I’d love to meet you and I can help.