Alyssa’s Abdominal Hysterectomy

Abdominal Hysterectomy
Age at Surgery 43
Location: Kent, WA/USA

About two-three years ago, I started to have very heavy periods. Then they started to get painful and closer together. It seemed like I was bleeding all the time. About a year ago I received a uterine ablation to stop the bleeding. I had a tubal ligation several years before which can possibly cause a complication with this procedure. It turns out that I then had the complication last May. From that point on I had severe pain every time I got my period (like I was going into labor). Needless to say, no pain medications would be prescribed from my doctor so I had to suffer through it for a couple days each month while waiting for my surgery. Due to COVID it took awhile to get this surgery scheduled at the end of September 2020. I didn’t think I could go through another period by this point, I don’t think the doctors realized how painful this was.

I was scheduled for a laparoscopic same day procedure. Unfortunately, I had complications. When I woke up I found out that I had been cut open both vertically and horizontally (that looks cute) and stapled back together. Apparently, my Uterus and Bladder were stuck together and during the separation the bladder was nicked. There was also an issue with one of my utterers – string possibly wrapped around it. These organs were stuck together due to endometriosis which I didn’t know I had. They had to bring in a urologist during my surgery which extended the time to 6 hours. After my bladder was repaired I had to wear a catheter for two weeks following the surgery. I also had a stent in my ureter for 4 weeks. I was never so happy to get that catheter removed (yuck). I was in the hospital for two nights. The staples were in for two weeks and they started to hurt after a week.

Although this was all a big pain I was happy that it was discovered and repaired at the same time. I was very thankful that I didn’t have a secondary surgery. It was a difficult first couple of weeks, it was better after the catheter and staples were removed. I was able to telework after a week so this took my mind off thinking about the surgery. I couldn’t move around a lot anyway, might as well do something with my mind. I think this helped me. I just stopped working when I got tired and took a nap. At seven weeks I was cleared for all activities.

I’m glad I had the hysterectomy. I no longer have a period and I’m no longer in pain. I had to stop exercising last summer due to the pain. I’m slowly returning to this by walking a couple miles around the neighborhood with the dog. I have some soreness near all my incisions, but they are healing. My stomach is larger than I would like, but hopefully I can get that under control. I’m hoping when life gets back to normal after COVID I can enjoy it and do some fun things now that I am free from bleeding and pain. Hooray!

I have two wonderful kids, so having a hysterectomy was not a big decision for me as I no longer needed the organ. I still have my ovaries, so I’m not experiencing any menopause side effects. I wish I had just done this instead of the uterine ablation. I’m thinking if I had the laparoscopy that the recovery would of been a lot quicker but glad it’s done.

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