I was scared of it all. I had everything removed. I was cut open as well and even with the morphine drip I was in severe pain. For me the only thing I am happy about is no more monthly. Other than that I don't feel the same. I don't feel like myself. Honestly you wont remember much when you wake up or for the next day your so doped up you just cant.. I kept nodding off in mid sentence that's what everyone said. I wish you well. Big hugs for you.. You will be fine. I was really nervous and at the last minute wanted to up and leave right b4 surgery started.. But they gave me cocktails and I was out..

Welcome to DS shazzca. I had a total abdominal hysterectomy with ovarys and tubes removed in Feb. of 09. my periods were every 2 weeks for 2 years and in the end I was bleeding every day due to all the different meds I was trying to stop them. I had the same thing as you are going through. I had cysts on my left ovary that wouldnt stop bursting all the time. I had fibroids in my uterus, Adenomyosis, endometriosis and that was also found through biopsy inside my right ovary. I was told that was very rare. I was bed riden for 3 months prior to my hysterectomy. I was on strong pain medication every day. I was told by my doctor I would be in some pretty good pain when I wake up cause I had been taking so many pain killers that the medicine they give me wont work so well since my body has gotten use to it. It wasnt as bad as I thought. I did have pain though. When you wake up in recovery you will have pain right away but the recovery nurse will be there for you to give you morphine. You will also have a pain pump the first 24 hours that you will control. When you are in pain click the button. It wont let you over dose since thats controled as well. You will have leg pumps on to keep you from getting blood clots. They feel so good but you want to make sure they stay on you at all times. That evening I went for a walk up and down the hall. Just make sure you know your limits before you go to far cause you have to walk back from where you started.You wont feel like moving right after surgery. They will put you in bed by transfering you in a sheet. that I would say is the hardest part of moving after surgery.If your Dr is doing a total hysterectomy it usually means removing everything and at your age removing your ovarys wouldnt be such a bad thing. It just means putting your body through a forced menopause. I didnt waant my ovarys removed but I'm glad I did since I had endo inside them. If you have adenomyosis you more than likely have endo some where. They both go hand in hand.The reason why your Dr is doing the incision is cause he/she doesnt know what to expect when they go in and its less complications to do it this way. I am 38 and I am glad I had a total abdominal hysterectomy. It took me a long time to recover but it was so worth it. Your Dr will send out for a biopsy so you will know more details from that at your 2 week check up. After my surgery I was bleeding for one day and that was it. It's rare to be bleeding a lot from this but I'm not saying it could happen, it just doesnt happen to often. You need to relax some before your surgery. Dont read all the horror stories on the internet! Hysterectomys are one of the leading surgeys done on women every year. I know I sat there and thought "this is my body they are working on though" but you will be fine. You are looking into all the scary points ofa hysterectomy. You need to sit downand write out all the pros and cons and look them over. There is a reason why you need to have this done. I did this and it made me feel a little better. I know we all get the gitters before this and you can only have one hysterectomy. Do you have everything ready at home and to take to the hospital? if you need any info on what to take with you send me a message. I think I've got everything down pat from telling other women what not to forget. It will be harder on you after surgery if you forget. Your Dr wll talk with family members after surgery so make sure if they cant remember everything they have pen and paperready to write things down otherwise you wont find everything out till your check up and thats just as frustrating. Go in relaxed as hard as its going to be and you will do fine. If you think you cant let the nurse know and they can gve you something to relax. You dont want to go in tosurgery tense. I had to travel 2 hours for my hysterectomy. The drive back was horrible so take plenty of pillows if your driving. Put one under your bottom and one on your tummy. this will help with all the lovely bumps on the road.I will send you some info to help you for your post op at home. I know how you feel. I've been there. You take care and take it easy. You will get through this. Lots of hugs...xxxxxxxxxx Staci

I feel for you and know exactly what you are going through.
Due to large fibroids I had my complete hysterectomy, the incision was just like a c-section on July 6th 09 and I was so scared.
I was not afraid of the pain, discomfort or the recuperation, my fear was of the unknown such as the risk of the anaesthesia, any complications during the surgery, the feeling of not being in complete control of my body and senses, feeling vulnerable, etc.
My uterus, fallopian tubes, ovaries and cervix were removed. My vagina (at the very top where it joins with the cervix) was left unstitched and according to the doctor it will close itself in about 6 weeks.
Those who would be working on my body were very nice and gentle to me. The surgeon knew that I was so afraid and assured me that they would take very good care of me. They did!
When I woke up in the recovery room there were other beds with people and I heard moaning and the nurses running around catering to the people. As soon as I asked for water, it came to me in a second or two. The nurse is by your side until you are completely awake and ready to be moved to your room. Once I was in my room, I didnt want to be left alone and kept telling my husband and my sister to stay with me which they did.
The bleeding was very minimal, not like when you have a period at all. They changed my pad in the first day and I was asked to get up on the second day and do everything by myself since this was supposed to be good for me. Bleeding stoped on the 3rd day. It is very painful to get up from bed but I would lift up the bed to a sitting position and slowly put my legs on the outside and sit up using my elbows to hoist my self up. At home is more of a challenge since I dont have a hospital bed. Sometimes when its very sore my husband helps me up by just giving me his arm for support.
I would like to end by saying that I prayed much and had many people praying for me when I went in and I know that God was very present with me during and after my surgery. I will take it upon myself to pray for you starting now and I know that you will be fine. I read Psalm 91 and that helped a lot and if you have a bible and are of Christian faith, do read it. God bless. Please let me know how you made out. forgiven@live.ca (Neusa)

well i don't know if this heps any but i just had my surgery july 1st and everything went perfect. i was scared beyond scared, i couldn't sleep for weeks with worry, had nightmares, waking up in cold sweats, i was in complete hysterics! i had never had a surgery before so i was worried with the exact things you are. but i kept telling myself this is the second most performed procedure in the world!!! so with that trust your doctor and just try and relax. believe me when i was in the hospital and they were wheeling me down the hall i told the nurse i might just change my mind and run down the hallway to the parking lot. but i needed the surgery just like i am sure you do to. so please don't worry, there won't be complications, i even gave blood before hand just in case and the doc said i barely bled a bit! which is ironic since thats what my problem was for!!! but you won't get blood clots, the hospital will do their best to prevent that, they even put these boot like things over my lower legs that squeeze over and over to make sure you dont. it was nice cause they were warm and massaging. plus they get you up pretty quickly so thats the least of the worries. also after it hurt getting up the first time but thats to be expected but you get pain meds and you can push through it. plus the more you move the better you will feel. they tell you that the more you move the quicker the recovery, and its the truth. on the fourth day of recovery for me i was at the mall!!! and i am a huger worry wart about everything!!! so please don't worry!! we all will be praying for you and you will do great!!!

also i had very little bleeding for two days after, and i mean lttle, just spotting mixed with discharge, thats it! and i left my cervix. the doc cauterized mine so i only had my uterus removed. and i felt great waking up from the anesthectic. you feel no pain and you are just sleepy thats it:) i actually felt cozy lol!!! good luck!!!!

Wow thank you so much everyone.....! what gems you are....! I am so grateful for the time you all spent in witting me back like this, you cant imagine how much this helps me in facing my surgery tomorrow.... I was feeling so utterly alone...... no on to talk to at all and I feel a type of sisterhood with all of you now... silly ehh...?
The final countdown begins and if I'm allowed to use my cell phone in the hospital I will log onto this site and let you all know how I did.. Shazz xxx

good luck to you!!!!

Hello everyone I made it! I am feeling pretty rough at the moment. I had my uterus, cervix and one ovaryt and tune removed and have no idea why they took my ovary...., I was hoping I would get 2 keep my cervix as well so that sucks! Man I feel like ice been hith by a freight train!! Why doesn't morphine stop the pain,? It only dulls it which was a total shock to me..!? How come? Lol. Now I'm just scared of getting blood clots or infection..... Any advice on that one? They have given me 2 injections of Heparin now.... So hope that doesn't mean that they r concerned about me....?

no that med is totally normal, and thats good so they can prevent anything from happening, its great they are being cautious! and morphine sucks lol!!!! they give us diladid in the hospitas here,l which is supposivley three times higher then morphine????? well it worked great, but don't worry in a few days you won't need any meds......i can't believe they took all that out of you! your lucky though!! i wanted my cervix out but they wouldn't, so i still have a chance of bleeding, they cauterized my cervix tip but who knows, its always a possibility if the lining grows back, so in that case i will have the surgery again cause i am not bleeding for the rest of my life!!! anyway i am glad your doing good and you made it!!lol!

I am glad everything is going well for you. Take things slow and easy. You have a lot of stitches inside you as well. The morphine only takes the edge off but thats about it. Keep up on what your Dr says you cant do when you get home. Let us know how things are going. Your still looking at a long road for recovery having abdominal hysterectomy. Ialsofelt like I was hit by a mack truck! It was a shock to me as well when I came out of recovery. I wish I were still sleeping...lol. keep your leg wraps on as long as you can. How long are you in the hospital? I had to stay 2 days and that was enough for me. Take care..xx Staci

What r leg wraps? They didn't send me home with anything but a prescription for tylenol 3 s which I don't like taking at all for the caffeine in it... Ouch I'm hurting tonight!

hello i just had a lAVH last wednesday so im not sure how much help i will be as i didnt need to be cut open but the doctor did leave the cervix in for me i cant really explain why and when i woke up from anesthesia i was not a happy camper from being in pain in an unfamiliar place...and the fact that my mother couldnt miss days of our lives to be there for me didnt help so i think if things would have been diff i probably wouldnt have been so upset right away. for me moving was awful because of all of the gas but every woman is diff ive heard of some who wernt even bothered by the gas lucky ducks lol. they put these compression type stockings on your legs so i wouldnt worry too much about blood clots in your legs and i used this breathing device to help protect against blood clots in the lungs. for me i havnt really had any bleeding or discharge at all which kind of weirds me out...i hope you are not traveling alone!!! i can say dont worry but thats not my place and u wouldnt stop just because i said so anyways lol for me i was counting down the hours until my procedure because i had it for my endometriosis that was extremely painful...but i have to say that i was blown away at how rough my recovery is. all i can say is i hope you dont worry yourself sick and good luck!!! hope this helps

oh goodness guess im a little late lol i joined yesterday my bad lolololol
to answer your question tho i think the leg wraps they re reffering to are compression socks that diabetics use i am wearing them right now to help with my leg cramps that were keeping me up at night