One Week After Total Abdominal Hysterectomy – Donna’s Story

Hi.. I had a total abdominal hysterectomy (TAH) last Tuesday afternoon.. The op was apparently tricky because of the severity of my endometriosis.. And the cyst (8.4cm) that was on my right ovary had attached itself to the wall of my body making it tricky to part with.

The consultant had to remove my uterus, tubes, ovaries and cervix, so when I came back onto the ward I was in a lot of pain.. But luckily the morphine pump was on hand. I was kept on oxygen all night and at 2am they called the dr to query the amount of blood that I had lost.. I was borderline having a transfusion but luckily all was ok.

The next day they removed my morphine pump in the morning and catheter in the afternoon… Getting up or the first time was scary.. And wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be.. I managed to get up and about a few times to go to the bathroom and felt really proud of myself!!

The drain came out in the evening… Ouchy!!!!!!!!!!

I kept myself quite active the next day doing laps around the nurses station..was hoping it would help with sleeping too!!

On the Friday I had to have a scan where I had dye put through me to check that my kidneys were not damaged… All was fine.

Six days after the op I have had my stitches out.. I feel ok.. Walking around quite well and the stairs are getting easier.. First bowel movement made me hit the roof.. But apart from that each day gets a lot easier and I’m only on paracetamol now for the pain!!

My advice to anyone about to go through it is take each day as it comes, never expect too much and be proud of your achievements.

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