My friends, I have a surgery date for my hysterectomy. The countdown begins. I’m still confident this is the right decision, but I’m a lot more nervous than I thought I’d be.
It’s September 14th. A month away. Originally I wrote about having a hysterectomy at age 30, but my surgery was scheduled faster than I expected. I’ll be 29. My 30th birthday will be just 3 weeks afterwards. Talk about ringing in a whole new decade!
Yesterday, I had my preop appointment with my doctor. I had to listen to the list of possible complications. They’re not expecting anything to go wrong, but I still need to be “informed.” I also saw my hematologist to discuss my Von Willebrands disease. (More on that later.) The good thing is, we have an easy plan that will ensure I don’t have more bleeding than normal. We’ve covered everything necessary at this point.
But I have to make another decision regarding the details of the surgery. And when you have some people telling you one thing and others another thing, it’s hard. It’s not like I have any personal experience to draw from!
My procedure will be laparoscopic, which means I should have a shorter recovery time. There’s always a possibility that they will switch to an abdominal hysterectomy if I have a lot of scar tissue, but that seems unlikely, given that I’ve had a history of minimal scarring.
With a laparoscopic hysterectomy, I’ll be in the hospital for one night and recovery time is minimized. My doctor said that because I’m young and healthy, she expects that I’ll recover faster than when I had c-sections. That would be nice, because I bounced back fairly quickly after those.
I will be keeping my ovaries (no issues there) so I won’t need to worry about taking hormone-replacement therapy or any other meds. Essentially, I should through the surgery, recover, and go back to my life. Hopefully. Prayerfully.
I’m still nervous. It’s surgery. I’ll be put under with anesthesia for the first time ever. (All four of my c-sections were with epidurals/spinals.) And the recovery period will be tough, even if it is “minimal”.
As I said in my post here, I don’t do well with resting and letting other people take over. Even after I had Luke, I felt guilty with letting other people help with meals, laundry, the kids, etc. Looking back, I had no reason to! I was supposed to rest and after having had a 4th baby and a 4th c-section, I certainly needed to! But I’m so used to doing everything myself that stepping aside and taking care of myself is hard.
That being said, we have some plans to make this easier. My mom-in-law is flying in to take care of the kids for the first week. I am so blessed to have her. She’s amazing. She came up to help when I had Luke too and her stepping in to take care of the kids, take over the house temporarily, make meals, do laundry, all that stuff I usually do – made a huge difference in my recovery.
We’ve also decided to hire someone to clean the house once a week for September/October. That will be huge for me, as I can’t stand having a filthy house and it doesn’t take much to get it there with my brood. Nate is wonderful and will vacuum for me and do dishes, etc. but he will have enough to do already. And as crazy as it is (although you might be able to related!), I will rest and recover easier if my floors are vacuumed, the toilet is cleaned, etc.
When it comes to blogging, I’ve already started planning ahead – taking on less work for that time period, asking some blogging friends to guest post for me, etc. If you’re interested in guest posting, shoot me an email with your blog link – thanks! Of course my amazing review team will keep the reviews/giveaways coming too. I plan on taking a solid two weeks off, aside from posting occasional updates. (I won’t be able to not blog at all for that long!)
I know the Lord will take care of me and I know I’ll be in excellent hands. But still it’s hard to put those nerves aside.
Please pray for me. Thanks.
Read My Complete Hysterectomy Story here:
- Girl Talk in Too Much Detail
- Hysterectomy at Age 30?
- A Surgery Date – Hysterectomy
- I’m Afraid
- Two Days
- Home and Resting
- On the Mend
- My Story: Hysterectomy at Age 29
- Healing
- 7 Weeks Post Hysterectomy
- 6 Months Later…After My Hysterectomy
- 5 Years After a Hysterectomy [2018 Update]
Questions or comments? Feel free to email me at erika at livingwellmom . com (no spaces). I’ve received countless emails from women with similar stories to mine and I love hearing from you!
Sariah says
Praying for an easy procedure and a very easy and comfortable as possible recovery. ((hugs))
Erika says
Thanks, Sariah. It means a lot.
Michelle says
Good Luck! I will keep you in my thoughts that day!
Hope it all goes well and your recovery is quick!
xo
Erika says
Thanks, Michelle.
Mara says
Relax, if my 60 year old mom did it with no problems or regrets then youll be just fine. Up and running in no time 🙂 i know its natural to feel nervous but youve still got one month! Save the nerves for the last couple of days 😉
aurie says
I’m so glad that you’ll have help!! It’s more important that you rest and get better 🙂
I might be along this same path…my doctor is deciding between an ablation or this. Sigh.
Erika says
I’m sorry to hear that, Aurie. ((HUGS))
Jessica K says
I will be praying for you!
Erika says
Thanks, Jessica.
Kelsey Apley says
Wow, sounds like they are getting you all set up for that. I have faith all will go well and you will be back to your old self before you know it. Prayers your way!
Erika says
Thanks, Kelsey. I am sure it will too – I really need to just not think about it for the next couple weeks and I’ll be fine.
Carrie Phelps says
It sounds as though your surgeon is current in his/her choice of surgery. I had a partial hysterectomy at 35 years of age and was hospitalized for 5 days and left with much scarring. I can tell you that it’s rather wonderful not to menstruate following this. I only wish I had had a full hysterectomy as I sit here fighting yet another hot flash!
Best of luck to you.
Erika says
Thanks, Carrie. My doctor is amazing – she’s the same one who delivered my last 3 babies – and I completely trust her. That helps a lot. Thanks for sharing – it’s great to hear good stories!
Sue H. says
ERica,
You’re in God’s hands and that’s the best place to be in times like these. I know you’ll be ok. I don’t blame you for being nervous. I always thought I’d have to get one with all the female problems I had in the past but thank God I didn’t. If I can survive cancer I know I you to will be strong.Any woman who can survive raising 4 kids in my book is a super hero!
You’re in my prayers daily and I know God listens and hears each prayer.You’re also in my thoughts.Take Care.
Erika says
Thanks, Sue. That means so much – I needed to hear that. 🙂 ((HUGS))
Lynn Daws says
Good Luck on your Hysterectomy! I had a complete hysterectomy done when I was 38 and it was the BEST decision I could have EVER made! I have not regretted having it done for one second! They were hoping to do it laparoscopic but ended up doing it abdominally due to the amount of scar tissue I had from previous cyst removal off my ovary. I cant take hormone replacements because I have heart disease and I very rarely have hot flashes (had them the first day or two while in the hospital). You are young and healthy and should have no problems! You will be so happy after the surgery is done! Sending you healing thoughts!
Erika says
Thank you so much, Lynn! It’s so great to hear encouraging stories like yours! 🙂
Melissa M. says
You know we haven’t talked/seen each other in a LONG time when I stumble upon this post and had no clue this surgery was on the horizon…… Will be praying!
Erika says
Thank you, my friend! So thankful for you and glad we could catch up today!!!