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[phdbliss]

Any lady forumites out there who have been through one? How long was your recovery time? Did anyone manage to have the procedure and recover while teaching full-time? It looks like this could be a possibility for me in the not-so-distant future - so I'm just wondering what I might expect. Any thoughts at all would be helpful.

[infopri]

I haven't had one, abdangst, but my mother, her sister, and their mother all did.  As I recall, recovery time was about six weeks for my mother.  She did not work during that time--but she was very happy to have the time off, and not just because of the surgery.  After the recovery period, she felt better than she'd felt in years (because the surgery cured some health problems).

Sorry I don't have more information.  It was more than 30 years ago, so my memory is a bit fuzzy.

[mimi1]

I have not had one myself, but I know several people who have.  Most of them felt they needed the full six weeks off to recuperate and could not have managed working FT during their recovery. 

[ursula]

My mother's recovery time, before going back to complete normalcy, was 3-4 weeks. But that was 30 years ago.

[gail_force]

I had one mid-March of last year (to include repair of pelvic organs) and then flew across country for a campus interview less than 3 weeks later and did fine. I felt pretty good after about a week but it took another 2 for a more normal work capacity. Excercise couldn't begin for about 6 though.

[gennimom]

My mother was out of the hospital in two days, and she was up and around pretty quick. I think it is similar to recovery after a C-section, which is about 6 weeks. I had just an ovary out and it took the stuffing out of me for about 2 weeks. Any time they remove a body part, the recovery will be a little longer than just a look see at the same parts.

[amlithist]

My sister had hers (laproscopic) about 10 years ago and was up around the house by week's end, back to work mid-the next week (she's a nurse, working cardiac ICU back then). 

Of course, as a nurse, she probably had access to the good drugs they keep for themselves and won't give to me....   ;-)

[octoprof]

Any lady forumites out there who have been through one? How long was your recovery time? Did anyone manage to have the procedure and recover while teaching full-time? It looks like this could be a possibility for me in the not-so-distant future - so I'm just wondering what I might expect. Any thoughts at all would be helpful.

I took three planned weeks off of work.  I could have taken less, probably, since my job isn't a physical one.  It was during a semester (semi-emergency, couldn't be put off to the end of semester) but the timing let us plan ahead for what to do with classes.

Felt pretty normal at 3 weeks, started exercising at 6.

[phdbliss]

Thanks all - especially octoprof - based on your answer it looks like I might be able to schedule it (if it turns out to be what happens) over the winter break after exams, recover over the break, and then head back for the spring semester. I hate the idea of not exercising for 6 weeks, but I guess that's the way it goes. Thanks again!

[ideagirl]

Any lady forumites out there who have been through one? How long was your recovery time? Did anyone manage to have the procedure and recover while teaching full-time? It looks like this could be a possibility for me in the not-so-distant future - so I'm just wondering what I might expect. Any thoughts at all would be helpful.

Don't do it without contacting these people:
http://www.hersfoundation.org/

The Hers Foundation is a nonprofit started by a prominent Philadelphia woman who got a "routine" hysterectomy and has been living with the appalling results ever since. She started the nonprofit because she felt, as did every other woman she spoke with on the subject, that she hadn't been adequately informed beforehand about what the alternatives were and what the risks were. (One of the major risks, by the way, is permanent partial to total loss of sexual sensation.) Anyway, the Hers Foundation exists to fill that information gap--i.e. to provide women with information on all the alternatives and all the risks, so that at least you go into the decision fully informed and convinced (if you decide to go for the operation) that you really do need to get it.

Here are some more links:
CNN - Hysterectomy not always needed for fibroids
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/conditions/03/01/BK.fibroids/index.html

CNN - Two thirds of hysterectomies in this country are unnecessary
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/03/03/healthmag.hysterectomy/index.html

[secretweapon]

Abdangst, I am so sorry to read this.  I remember you posting that you had some health worries, and I hope you don't have to have a hysterectomy.  I don't know anything about your situation but I would echo Ideagirl in saying that physicians seem quite divided on hysterectomies nowadays.  At your age I am guessing this is not "routine", but I hope your doctor is suggesting this as a very last resort.  *hugs*

[octoprof]

That reminds me, don't let them take your ovaries unless they have a very good reason (like cancer is there or something). I had a very strong discussion with my doc about this before the surgery.

[phdbliss]

Thanks octoprof, secretweapon and ideagirl.

You're right, secretweapon, - I'm only 30. I just had my second biopsy this week and so far, the doc (a very nice, thoughtful woman whom I trust very much) thinks it doesn't look good - that I'll probably have to have another piece of my cervix excised to get rid of the possibility of cancer - right now it's carcinoma-in-situ. The quick return of the cells (I just had an excision in January - and they're already back) is not a good sign. Also originally the cells were just cervical - now they're endocervical, so there's potential that they're spreading into the uterus as I'm typing this. Argh! It's scary when you feel like you have no control over what's happening to your body! 

The good thing for me is that when it comes to childbearing, I've always been on the fence anyway - never sure if I wanted to have my own given my crazy family's DNA and overpopulation - so it's not a devastating loss for me in that regard. Whether or not I have the hysterectomy, I may not be able to have children. At the very least, I could continue to have my cervix excised to a point where I wouldn't be able to carry to term anyway. And the excisions are disruptive - a month of recovery, inactivity, and general malaise. It's terrible. If a hysterectomy would eliminate the problem, it makes it worthwhile in my view.

On the other hand, I don't want to go through the surgery, recovery, and overall disruption to my life if it's not going to get rid of the cancer potential - I also hate the idea of it disrupting my life more permanently with the health problems. Thank you for all of the info - I'd be interested to know what complications anyone has personally witnessed...

[mccfan]

FWIW, I have not had a hysterectomy, though I do remember when my mother had hers.  I have read that the primary cause of sexual side effects is the removal of the ovaries along with the uterus.  Keeping your ovaries helps maintain some hormonal balance that contributes something positive to sexual desire.

I think if I had the kind of cancer diagnosis that you have, I would take the path you are taking.  This isn't just a case of fibroids which might be reduced by cutting off their blood flow or somethimg similar.  Cancer scares me.  I wish you all the luck with taking care of this.

[ideagirl]

That reminds me, don't let them take your ovaries unless they have a very good reason (like cancer is there or something). I had a very strong discussion with my doc about this before the surgery.

That's actually one of the big issues, apparently--for whatever reason, surgeons are over-eager to pop out the ovaries too, since they're already in there operating. Can you imagine, if a man had--say--carcinoma in situ on the glans of his penis, a doctor saying "well, since we're dealing with that, we might as well chop your balls off too"?! Not gonna happen. So why do it with ovaries?

Total loss of all natural sources of the female hormones the ovaries produce, and the other hormones that they--in tandem with the pituitary gland et al--help regulate, that's a big deal! It's not simply a matter of going into menopause at thirty (as if that could be called "simple"). Menopause doesn't abruptly and totally stop all hormone production and regulation by the ovaries, it's a much subtler process.

So yes, I would agree: Abdangst should make sure she and her surgeon are on the same page about this, and she should get it in writing. Unfortunately, the contract the hospital will provide will say (I can guarantee this) something to the effect that the ovaries won't be removed unless the doctor, during the operation, decides that they should be. This is why any woman in this situation needs to make sure she and the surgeon are on the same page: what's the definition of "determining, during the operation, that the ovaries 'should be' removed"? If ovarian cancer, for example, is a concern, what testing can be done beforehand (e.g. blood tests) to figure out if there's cancer? What methods, short of removing them, exist to test for that? These are all questions that need to be answered before surgery.

And I really hope I don't sound alarmist--most of the time things are okay, most of the time surgeons don't radically harm people. But if that small percentage of people harmed includes YOU, well... I'm sure you see my point. I still vividly remember a news item I read over a decade ago--a young woman went in for a hysterectomy, and when the surgeon opened her up he saw that she was in the early stages of pregnancy. She didn't know this; no one had done a pregnancy test, because she'd been having fertility problems for years so no one even imagined she could be pregnant. So, did he do the right thing, and wake her up to ask whether she wanted to keep the baby? No. He removed her uterus, and when she woke up he told her and her husband words to the effect of, "By the way, you were pregnant, but you're not anymore..." !!!!!!!!!
They were devastated. That happened in the UK, but it could happen anywhere. Can you imagine?!?!

So I'm not trying to be alarmist--I'm just trying to say that the small percentage of people who have major problems after hysterectomy, and the small percentage of doctors who are that cavalier about their patients, well, they're small percentages, but they're real people, and you don't want to be among that number.