I've made my decision and my appointment is set!

                                                                                        Lynn

I am 71 and had my surgery on July 3rd, almost 4 months ago.  I had a hysterectomy with anterior and posterior repairs - Canadian terms.  Depending on where you live, it's rectocyle and cystocele or something like that. Everything was done vaginally and I came home the day after surgery.  I was told nothing in the vagina for six weeks and no baths.  Start walking as soon as it's comfortable to do so which for me was the afternoon of the surgery. Absolutely no lifting of anything more than 10 lbs for six weeks - I had a scale in the trunk of my car.  The restriction helped my walking for sure.  I had help at home for the first two weeks only.  I started driving locally (rural area) during the day and driving anywhere after 3 weeks.  I returned to my desk job after 4 weeks.  The prolapses are held in place with titatinum mesh.  The surgery was done by a urogynacologist.  After six weeks, I went back to everything I used to do - but with more ease because the hanging stuff was gone....That includes cutting a half acre of grass on a hill and being the main caregiver for my husband who is disabled.  The lawn mower is self propelled but doesn't work on its own unfortunately - lol.  And hubby is not able to help with anything.

Surgery was the best decision I have ever made in my life so far.  The first few weeks were not good at all so be prepared.  They never tell you what might happen because everyone is different.  Common threads seem to be constipation  - do whatever you have to and take whatever you have to - to keep your bowels moving without straining after surgery.  Another thing which happens frequently is incontinence.  This is temporary for almost all of us - it disappears gradually over 3-4 weeks.  Fatigue seems to be a problem for many.  I had the first two but not the third.  My best friend had the same surgery about 20 years ago and she was perfectly fine with none of the above problems and went back to near normal after about 10 days.  We are all so different.

One thing is that those in the UK seems to be given far more restrictions than those of us in Canada and the US.  So depends on where you live.  They don't tell you what might happen in case it doesn't eg my friend.

But I was terribly concerned and frightened post-surgery when "stuff" happened which I didn't know was OK or not.  Best advice I got was if you are concerned, call surgeon's office.  They were incredibly supportive.

But the best support I got was right here - this site helped me save my sanity - especially in those first few very trying weeks.  And it's the only site I have ever been on where we cheer each other's ability to finally go poo!  Trust me, sounds funny now but it wasn't then at all.

Don't be afraid to say whatever is troublilng you.  It's sure someone else experienced the same thing and can encourage or inform you.  Your doctor's office of course is always the right choice for an answer but you can get soothing help here.

Make sure you get a phone number you can call post surgery if you have any questions - very important to have.

My timing wasn't great either - I felt lousy for all of June and lost July.  Still had restrictions for most of August so I had no summer this year really.  And being Canadian, that sucks.

Good luck.  You will be fine - and you won't regret it.  I find so many of us who have had successful surgery and quick recoveries don't stick around the site long enough to support others.  I intend to keep encouraging others as long as I can.  I am so grateful for the help I got here that I can only try to reciprocate.

Take care and let us know how you fare out - both you and Lorelli.  She is right - you can support each other.  I made a friend in the UK whose surgery was at the same time as mine so we were able to support each other.

Nickie