open mymectomy

Hi Jay59548,

I had open myomectomy in May. I wanted it so I may be a bit biased. I did not qualify for laparascopic but I still would have gone for open myo if I was offered the former. I am also a veteran cesarean section patient. THat said, the experience was not as brutal as I expected. Mine lasted three hours because of all the little critters they had to remove. I did not bleed. My fibroids were mostly intramural. I did not experience pain as much because my doctor inserted a pain pump into the incision site. I carried teh pump with me for a good 7 days. Once the pump was removed, I did not need the oral pain meds I was given. I had to do medical travel for this surgery (a 5 hour flight). I was able to get on the plane on Day 8 and fly back home. My first period was barely there. THe second was a hose. The third was a smaller hose. The fourth one even better. My surgeon advised that the uterus does out of the ordinary things when healing from this kind of major surgery. The heavy periods was one of them. My cycle used to be 21 days from last day to the first day of the next period. Since the surgery I am now doing 28 to 29 days between cycles. I do not miss my periods and I am glad for the longer cycle. I hope this helps. I am currently able to do pilates. I started this abdominal training in September. It is helping me strengthen my abdominal muscles. Hope this helps.

i had a open myomectomy in july to remove fibroids. 19 were removed. i too was very scared about the pain i would wake up to but i woke in recovery with no immediate pain!!! i had a spinal tap as well as general because i expressed my fears to anethetist. the combination worked well for me. i had a push button pain med after when i got back to hospital bed & that worked well to keep pain under control. i took panadol & asprin by day 3 after surgery. recovery took time, by week 4 movement was almost back to normal. my surgical scar is not bad & looks neat but i unfortunately have an additional scar above where i was cut due to bruising & that scar is raised. happy to help with further questions

Yes. I forgot about the scar. it's at the bikini line and barely there. it is about 6 inches long. I also did not use the Scaraway cream my doctor asked me to use. But eve n then you have to be doing an eye scan there to see it.

i had a vertical incision open myo last June, so am over a year healing now. Is the best thing I did, I feel like a new woman now. Fibroids were 19cm & 11cm weighing over a kilo... hence the vertical incision.

Op was less complex than they originally thought, took only an hour and no bleeding. I had the works pain killer wise, with an epidural and morpheine drip. I think I could have managed with less, as the morpheine made me feel retched, nauseous and itchy. I stopped using it by the evening and was fine on paracetemol and ibruprofen from the next day. I was unfortunate enough that my first period came on day 3 post op, and the cramps and hormones meant I was a crying wreck! The nurses were lovely though and said its normal for your hormones to go crazy after a couple of days anyway.

I left hospital on day 4, which was good as you're a bit bored by that point and nice to den in and recover in your own bed. It does take a long while before you are back to normal, but the difference in how you feel week on week is very noticeable. I took 3 months off work, which was good as even when you are mobile again I found I tired very easily and wasnt quite my usual self. I have a full on stressful job, so needed my full strength.

Scarwise, mine has healed really nicely. It's visible, but faint and white now. Again, you need to be patient and look after it. I used silicone strips for months afterwards and as soon as the incision had healed started a daily routine of massage and stretching the scar so it didnt tighten and to ensure it didnt stick internally. Google it for instructions. This isnt just for aesthetics either, it helps stop adhesions which can cause you pain and problems in the future.

Good luck with the op, leave the worrying about the procedure to the experts and focus on what you need to do to recover and heal well! x

Thank you very much i will be stop overthinking it

I had a myomectomy about seven weeks ago. Recovery is not fun, but let me tell you, it helped me SO MUCH! I had at least 23 fibroids (I think the doctor stopped counting after a while) which were essentially taking over my abdomen. My uterus was so enlarged and my bladder was being squished as a result.Here's what to expect:

You'll need to take laxatives the night before. Unpleasant, but trust me, you WANT to be cleaned out, especially since you probably won't be able to move your bowels for a few days following the procedure.

The procedure itself may take several hours, depending on how bad the fibroids are. When you wake up, you will most likely have an IV pump for pain medication and a catheter so you won't need to get up to go to the toilet.

You will probably be in he hospital for approximately 2-4 days. You will need assistance from the nurses to get in and out of bed, especially to go to the toilet after the catheter is removed. Let your doctor know immediately if the pain medication makes you nauseous--I could hardly eat during my second day in the hospital because of this. It's also best to try and get up and have the nurses assist you in taking a walk down the hall if you're able. Do NOT be alarmed if you need a blood transfusion, as you will understandably lose a lot of blood during the procedure (I needed two bags of blood during my third day in the hospital). However, your doctor will most likely prescribe you medication before the procedure to prevent excessive bleeding.

When you go home, the most important thing during the recovery process is PATIENCE. It will be quite difficult to get in and out of bed and on and off the couch, so be sure to have a family member, significant other, etc. assist you. You'll need constant care for a while. (I live by myself, so I stayed with my parents for a few days immediately upon my release from the hospital.) Stairs will be a HUGE no-no, so be sure to stay downstairs if you live somewhere that's two stories.

It will take about 3-4 weeks until you can drive again. It will take about a month until you can return to work and resume your normal schedule. It will also take about 4 weeks to resume your normal walking pace. Until then, TAKE IT SLOW. To get out of bed or off the couch, I recommend a barrel roll. If you have a lounge chair (especially one that contours to your back), I highly recommend laying on and sleeping in one for a few weeks. I wasn't able to lay on my side for about 4 weeks, which my back was NOT happy about, especially since I have scoliosis. It's amazing how much we take our abdominal muscles for granted.

As for moving your bowels, don't expect to do so while you're in the hospital--this is perfectly normal. After you're released, it's super important that you eat prunes and use stool softeners because you don't want to have to push (in fact, you WON'T be able to push). I got extremely lucky in this department--my stool was really loose for about 6 weeks following my surgery.

The most important thing is to NOT lift anything heavy. My lifting limit is still about 4 pounds. (My boyfriend still comes over all the time to assist me with laundry, food shopping, etc.)

Physical therapy is highly recommended. My PT showed me gentle core exercises to strengthen the abdominal muscles and as you heal, more exercises can be added on. Also, after about 3 weeks, it's important to massage and work your scar, otherwise little knots will develop underneath it and make the skin tighter. My doctor had me wear these surgical strips over the scar for about two weeks. I didn't have any stitches or sutures, which was pretty cool--they used glue, which eventually peeled and came off over time.

Any other questions, please feel free to ask, and good luck!