Myomectomy Recovery- how do you know when you’ve done too much?

Congrats🙄. I'm also getting a myomectomy or the other one. How was your experience after the surgery? If you don't mind me asking🤔 How was the pain after you woke up? We're you able to walk the next day? How long did it take you to go the restroom or wash up by yourself?? I'm asking because I didn't won't them to put a catheter and the doctor was like you are not going to won't to walk 😔🙁😢😭😭. Also how long did you have to stay in the hospital? Is the pain unbearable after surgery?? How long did it take for the pain to ease after your surgery? I'm happy to hear that it's going great for you and m74474.

Before I write anything I would like to note that from what I’ve been reading of other people’s experience, the process seems very similar, but the recovery is as unique as we all are. I apologise now if I write anything too gooie.

My surgery was on a Thursday evening. I had spent all day thinking about it and hoping that I would be able to walk again. I have had difficulty walking for about six months and ended up off work because I just couldn’t move around enough to carry out my job any more. I’ve not even been able to walk more than 5-10 minuets without pain. I ended up shopping online and only going out if I drove myself and had very little walking to do the other end. 

Back to the surgery day. I was very lucky, as even though I was a NHS patient, I was sent to a private hospital. There were less patients and everyone had time to explain things well to me as we went along. This could be an impact on my experience as well, because it meant I felt very at ease, not pressured by anyone else or worried about other peoples illnesses. Sounds very selfish, but what I mean, is that I could just focus on myself and what I needed to do. I even had my own room and bathroom facilities. 

I went down to surgery about 6:10pm and remember waking up about 8:25pm. I was in and out of sleep all night. Not because of being in pain, but most likely the anaesthetic wearing off. A nurse came in and out during the night to take my blood pressure and temperature, and to give me painkillers. I was only on paracetamol that I remember, other than once or twice I had a small bag of fluid attached to my hand. I honestly don’t remember how much pain I was in. I just remember realising that each day I was in less pain than the day before. I was uncomfortable with the catheter and drain in place and this did restrict movement. 

On the Friday I was hungry but each time I ate I was really sick. By mid afternoon I was given anti sickness medication and by late afternoon I was able to eat something. I can only imagine that the sickness was due to the anaesthetic. Dispite feeling pretty tired I still managed to get up and walk 10-15 steps, not once but twice throughout the day. I also had the catheter removed around lunch time, which made moving around easier. It also meant I had to get myself to the toilet from this point. 

on the Saturday, I went for four walks around the ward, had a wash at the bathroom sink, took myself to the toilet each time, got myself dressed and even sat in a chair for a while. In the afternoon at some point I had the drain  removed. The nurses told me it was going to hurt and that it might be helpful to hold my fiancé’s hand. I’m not saying I wasn’t scared by this but equally I was definitely preparing for excruciating pain. I chatted to the nurses, they let me know what they were doing and once it got to pulling the drain out, they told me. I held my fiancé’s hand, closed my eyes and could just feel the tubing coming out. It honestly did not hurt, however it was the strangest feeling I have ever experienced. I’m not trying to say this doesn’t hurt for everyone. One of the nurses said the first time she took a drain out the poor lady was screaming in pain. I don’t say this to scare anyone, but to use as a comparison. I’ve decided I must have a very high pain tolerance, just from this. I could feel where the tubing had been for quite a while afterwards and it was a bit uncomfortable, but I wouldn’t say it hurt. But again this is only my experience, everyone is different. The main thing for me was now I was drain and catheter free. I could get myself around without any extra things to carry with me. 

By the Sunday I was up before breakfast and went for my first solo walk around the ward. I stayed out of bed all day. I had a shower, washed my hair, got dressed and even went for a walk to the cafe. I went with my fiancé using the lift to get downstairs and back up again. Each walk was better than the last. The more I walked the better if felt.

The most painful part for me was the first couple of days after surgery. This was not from the wound or anything physically obvious, but air gets put into the body during surgery. The air gets trapped and travels around the body. The air travelled up to my shoulders and was so painful I could have cried. however, I realised that the more mobile I was, the more the pain went away. It was the pain in my shoulders which stopped me from walking any further on those first couple of mini walks. But by the end of the Saturday, the pain was very minimal and I didn’t really notice it so much. I was allowed to go home on the Sunday afternoon. So in total I was in for less than three days. 

My main focus throughout has been getting up and about and being physically active. Not stretching or carrying anything g heavy, but just moving around. I found that once out of hospital, sitting on the sofa was too uncomfortable. So I sat at the table for the first week or so. My concentration was and still is pretty poor. I’m not sure how much of this is recovery or how much is just that I need to retrain my brain to focus better. I’ve been off work since beginning of January,and have only had to worry about looking after myself. So a mixture of both could be my problem. 

I would say say that this is a planned operation, so it’s a perfect opportunity to organise as many things as possible before going into hospital. I prepared two weeks of hot meals and froze them for when I got home. This is great because I just get one put each day and let them defrost, I just heat them up again. The energy, effort and thought that goes into each meal, can be exhausting after the surgery. I’m really glad I prepared meals. I also did a very simple shop about a week after coming out of hospital. Just things that I could leave on the side/in the cupboards that are quick and easy to prepare. Bread, beans, the types of food you just add boiling water too. Easy stuff, but enough to make you feel independent enough to do it yourself when you want it. It doesn’t need lots of thinking about how to prepare it, it doesn’t take long and definitely and more importantly doesn’t use too much energy. I would say I went for my first solo shop Friday just gone. It’s a 10 minuet walk from my house, so intotal took about 35 minutes. For the first time in months I was able to keep a steady pace at walking. Uphill and downhill. Completely unavoidable  as I live at the top of a steep hill. I was pretty impressed and really happy at the freedom I now have. 

I have to say say that I have had a huge network of people around me throughout all of this. Family and friends. It’s amazing at the number of lovely cards, messages, flowers, visitors bringing meals, people asking how I am when they see me. Not to forget that I was even given somewhere to stay while I was initially recovering. I feel very lucky to have so many caring people around me. I honestly thought I was going to end  at home looking after myself. I know it’s not uncommon for people to live as I do, but it does make you realise that even if you think your alone, you never truly are and the care and concern from those around me have really helped with the whole process for me. I am very lucky and it’s enabled me just to focus on what I need to do to get myself back to normal again. I am out a person to focus on myself usually and it’s very hard to get my head round this part of looking after myself, but I really feel that I actually needed this time to switch off from everything and take care of myself for a change. If you get the chance too, take this as an opportunity to completely relax and find yourself a bit. Sounds odd maybe, but honestly if nothing else it takes your mind off things and gives you focus. Drink plenty of water and keep moving where you can, but rest as much as you can take. I’m a fidgety person and love being on the go all the time, so it very tricky for me to rest, but the opportunity is there. It’s a strange almost positive kind of chance to make changes, look after yourself and find what’s important. 

Hi Teaandbiccy, I think I found my ‘tipping point’ the other day. I went back to work part time on Monday. I’m working afternoons for now. I work with children, so quite an energetic job. However, 5his week is still the Easter holidays and only a few children are in. We took the children to do some music and movement on Wednesday, and I decided in my wisdom to lead the group of 2-4 year olds through a variety of songs and dances with scarves, mixed up with deep breathing and stories and a picnic tea. I had two other staff with me too. I thought I was fine at the time and felt great for being able to do some of the things I e not been able too for months. However, over night I had bad stomach cramps and in the morning ended up with diarrhoea and vomiting quite badly for about 6 hours. I attempted to go to work as I felt bad taking time off sick so soon after going back, but I came home again within the hour and slept for 2 solid hours. I’m still taking it easy now, although I did go back to work yesterday. I still feel sick and having mild stomachache but nothing like it was on Thursday. I can’t  be sure it’s down to dancing with the children, but there isn’t a big going around, no one else is sick, I keep a food diary anyway and there’s nothing different or unusual about the foods I ate on Wednesday. I can pretty much say for sure it was most likely the dancing. I’ll be thinking twice before I do that again. It’ll be a while I’m sure 😉

Just seen your comment. I'm now 26 days post op. I felt great a couple hours before i left the hospital i was their 3 days. My surgery lasted 5 hours. They wanted me to stay their another day but i wanted to go home. Surprisingly i didn't feel much pain but when it came it was excruciating. The doctors didn't won't to give me stronger meds😡😠. Making excuses as to why they didn't give me stronger meds talking about becoming addicted to meds so they gave me like 3 or 4 meds that wasn't that strong but i guess taking them together made them stronger ( BULLS**T😒 So i didn't have strong meds like most people get when they have surgery or meds like I've read on here after people had myomectomys😒. My experience sucked at the hospital all the nurses sucked and the doctors😑😡.My back hurts alot when i'm walking and my stomach. I want to work but i don't think I'm ready. But i really hope when tge 2 month nark hit i would feel alot better. Do you have pain and pulling aroung your groin????