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New lumpy feeling 13 weeks post op

Posted , 9 users are following.

elizabeth43211
elizabeth43211

Hi all, I'm 13 weeks post op TVH and anterior and posterior vaginal repairs and was doing well generally, but last  week I went back to work full hours (3 days) and looked after my grandchildren with my husband on another day ( he did the lifting) and yesterday and today I feel very swollen and 'lumpy' and it is uncomfortable to sit. I feel when standing as if things down below have 'dropped' a bit and I'm wondering if I have caused some injury to my repairs. When I climbed down off the bleachers at the swimming pool last week I felt a few sharp pains in the lower abdomen. My daughter always tells me that I'm using muscles I haven't used for ages but I still worry. Anyone else feeling swelling and lumpiness about this number of weeks post op? I know it is easy to do too much but I had been feeling pretty good at 12 weeks and now I don't. 

0 likes, 36 replies

36 Replies

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  • jane91365
    jane91365 elizabeth43211

    Posted

    I thought I was the only one with bum ache! I am 3 weeks post op for anterior and posterior prolapse. I felt I was getting somewhere until this morning, went in the car driving for the first time and covered a suitcase with fabric for my craft stuff and now I have a very sore backside!!! I do want to get better and try and do too much then go backwards. I found myself in tears last night with frustration, considering early retirement but want to be fit to enjoy it.

     I'm finding this sooo hard!

    • chris00938
      chris00938 jane91365

      Posted

      Oh Jane, so sorry this is getting to you, but this is such early days.  Just give it time, don't do too much, give your body a chance to heal and the time will come when you are as fit as a fiddle!:-)  Chin up:-)
    • Merlion
      Merlion jane91365

      Posted

      Hi Jane, please don't despair. There are a lot of good recovery stories out there from these ops too. I'm 5 months post op but still find that driving agravates my problem and gives me 'bum ache' too for a couple of days afterwards but I have to drive for my job. It will get easier xx
    • jane91365
      jane91365 Merlion

      Posted

      Thanks Chris and Merlion, It's great to have encouragement from others that have been through similar experiences. My husband does not fully understand I don't think, and gets fed up with my moaning. It's all to do with positive mental attitude perhaps and not doing too much too soon. I have a very busy job leading a primary school when at work and am not used to being so inactive. I have been horizonatl on the sofa with pain killers and the pain has now gone.

      thanks for the advice.

    • chris00938
      chris00938 jane91365

      Posted

      It's so easy for a husband not to realise just what a big op this is and how careful you have to be and your job sounds quite demanding, but I'm SO pleased the pain has now gone, but do take it easy:-)))  Look after yourself:_
    • 1jackie1
      1jackie1 jane91365

      Posted

      hi jane we spoke in the early days of our opps im just over 4 wks now not driven yet ,,, still get belly ach if i do to much havnt attempted to drive yet as i still feel sore inside with stomach ach if you get me .... im still using laxatives as cant go otherwise very uncomfortable otherwise that gets me down as will i ever beable to go normally again ...... do you feel a lump inside your vagina opening as i do as if the prolapse is bk im thinkin its swelling from or hoping it is .... 2 wks to go for as they say you can have sex but if this doesnt go away then how can you lol few things there goin on that had me in tears yesturday also o your not on your own .... hopefully give each other feed bk as i had same opp as you but on the 10th sept
    • joan98163
      joan98163 chris00938

      Posted

      I must say my husband has been amazing , I never told him anything until knew I needed the op I kept it to my self but since the op he's one in a million , he's one of these who does a lot of research and he's only just today insisted he's taking another week off work he knows i dont moan and suffer in silence but understands from doing his own research I'm 11/2 week post op , we av 2 young boys to look after and I know u can't manage on my own
    • chris00938
      chris00938 joan98163

      Posted

      Joan, that is lovely about your husband.  Mine is supportive like that too, and it makes so much difference emotionally as well as physically:-)  Good on him:-)
    • jane91365
      jane91365 1jackie1

      Posted

      I am still using laxatives twice a day cos if I don't I think it would be very painful. I also keep wondering if I will ever be normal again. Are you feeling the stitches inside yet? I can, sometimes they pull and I want to scratch them. Does that mean they are about to come out? I felt some swelling the other day when I did too much walking but has gone now. Have you been brave to have a look yet? I did and it was purple! I am not thinking about sex yet, too much like barbed wire! 
    • elizabeth43211
      elizabeth43211 jane91365

      Posted

      Hi Jane, please don't despair, you are very early days and it will all gradually improve.w If you get pain it is because you have overdone things so try to rest as much as you can. It's worth it to give it your best shot so you don't have to go through it again. I've tried really hard to do that but have had my ups and downs. Guess that's why this whole experience has been quite a psychological one as well as a physical one.
    • 1jackie1
      1jackie1 jane91365

      Posted

      hi jane sorry for late reply, i still take senna tablets 2 at night as like you i dont think i would manage other wise ... awful isnt it and scary..... i dont think iv felt the stitches i feel pain then i no i need to rest ., i have looked twice now and had a slight feel but it looks like i have no hole anymore lol so as for sex not sure that looks possible at mo ... i rang my surgeon today to spk about that problem and i am goin to see her on 27th oct this month instead of end of december which i thought was to long .. the thought od sex at the mo is a deffo no no lol
  • nickie54687
    nickie54687 elizabeth43211

    Posted

    Hi Elizabeth,

    I am sorry you are having these problems - we are all so different.  I am in Canada so we are given different post-op instructions here. Having said that, I am 71 and had a hysterectomy with anterior and posterior repairs on July 3.  I resumed driving localy after two weeks and everywhere after 3 weeks.  I returned to my 3 day a week job at 4 weeks.  I had several problems in the first two weeks  which have all cleared up (constipation, pain, swelling, etc).  I am the main caregiver for my husband who is severely disabled.  We live in the country so I do all the maintenance around the house.  I have to lift the heavy salt bags for our water conditioner and the gravel bags soon for the ice on the laneway.  I had one blood clot which bothered me for a couple of weeks but that has gone as well.  My surgeon is 99% sure all is well but I am having a cystocopy on November 10th to confirm this.  After this, I will be dismissed.  I should add, my best friend had the same surgery some 20 years ago and had no problems at all.

    I am ony writing this to let you know that we are all different and if you have concerns, contact your doctor.  I think I called about 10 times in the first two weeks and of course again when I had blood in the urine - the blood clot passing.  My operation was done by one of the top uro-gynocologists in my area of Canada.  She used the new mesh and I have no concerns about that.  The failure rate for this surgery is very small if you have no other health issues - which I did not.  I am writing this to give hope to those on this forum that some of us do appear to come out of it so much better off and with no long-term complications.

    This site is great for supporting one another.  We all worry when something is "different" but it can usually be sorted out.

    Take care all and good luck.

    Nickie

    • elizabeth43211
      elizabeth43211 nickie54687

      Posted

      What a lovely reply Nickie, I really appreciate you taking the time to write to me and to wish everyone well as they recover. You have the care of your husband and maintenance around the house and because you can manage that I'm impressed and feel encouraged that I am probably less fragile than I think I am. Sorry you had the blood clot to deal with. Yes our instructions post op are different as mine are so much stricter and I've been told I should never lift over 10 kgs for the rest of my life, to never get constipated or lift anything very heavy. Perhaps that's because my own tissues were used, not mesh for reinforcement? But maybe just the way it's done here. I'm in my 60's and am very grateful to have had the operation; not dealing with a rectocele is wonderful. I will call my doctor again, more useful than worrying. I wish you all the best, keep on being so well, and thank you for your thoughtful and encouraging reply. Hope your cystoscopy goes well. Elizabeth
  • ann86198
    ann86198 elizabeth43211

    Posted

    Hi, Ann here you don't know how relieved I feel reading your notes, not because your having discomfort but because I feel normal now.  I'm 9week vag vault and posterial repair and feel sore and very lumpy all the time I went to 6 week check and she said it was all ok and gave me some cream to use internally but it hasn't helped.  I also have tummy pains occasionally. Going back to her next week so will find out if anything has gone wrong I find mentally it is a real struggle I'm 62 and thankfully I'm retired but the days can be very hard to get through.  Hope you improve soon,  
    • elizabeth43211
      elizabeth43211 ann86198

      Posted

      Hi Ann and everyone, well this is what has happened: I rang the secretary of the surgeon a week ago because I could still feel the lumpiness and was feeling desperate. But I had to convince her for a bit that I don't feel right, that I feel swelling and can see something down there. She asked how many weeks I am etc. I eventually got an appt for next week. In the meantime at work I asked a GP in passing if I should still feel swelling and she said no so I made an appt at my GP's for the next morning. He's not my usual but was so kind to me, told me I'm not crazy and said he found I have what is called 'proud' healing because it stands up, it's over-healing or granulation tissue and it's what I can see and feel. It needs to be treated by the surgeon with silver nitrate so I'm glad I'm going back. Such a relief, my repairs are still good too! So there was a reason for the 'lumpy' feeling after all...
    • ann86198
      ann86198 elizabeth43211

      Posted

      Wow, so glad for you that you stuck to your guns and saw the doc, just shows it doesn't pay to just accept what everyone else says, we are different .  Good luck next week I've got an appointment Wednesday so hope I get some sort of result too.  Isn't it weird how that lumpy feeling is so dehabilitating, you just can't seem to get on with normal life, I've just reached 10 weeks post op and yep also very frustrated, perhaps we all need to advise the professionals on how they should give out more post op info, especially on the length of time it takes to heal,  6 weeks is so ridiculous and it doesn't sound like any other ladies have healed anywhere near that soon. Good,luck
    • chris00938
      chris00938 elizabeth43211

      Posted

      Well done for getting this sorted Elizabeth.  So sorry to hear you need it treating, but it sounds as though it should be straightforward.  Why is it so difficult to find these things out and no warnings to understand what's happening!  I'm so pleased for you that the repairs are good though:-)
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