10 days post Laparoscopic Hysterectomy

My sleep has slowly been getting better. For example I finally am well enough to comfortably sleep on my side. I

had slowly transitioned from sleeping on my couch for the first 4 to 5 nights after returning from the hospital. Eventually was able to sleep on my bed, still sleeping on my back. And for the past 2 nights I been decently sleeping on my side.

But my sleep isn’t back to my average of 6 to 7 hours yet. At least I finally am sleeping longer than 2 hours, in one go instead of spreading it out throughout the day. I had at least two days where I came close to 8 hours, but that was due to my crashing out after not having good sleep for a while.

Now I’m at a decent 4 hours of sleep and I try to force myself to sleep an extra 2. I already have sleeping issues before surgery but I really need to get enough rest since I’m still in recovery.

It doesn’t help that I overworked myself a bit here and there. For someone who’s supposed to be resting I’m awful at it. I can’t stay still and the lack of control really gets to me. Which is something I’m still working on since these behaviors are habits that I learned thanks to my trauma.

I stopped taking pain meds roughly 4 days after surgery. It would have been 3 days, but the effects of the stool softener gave me the runs the day after I stopped taking pain meds. Which hurt so I had to take pain meds for the aftermath. Either way, my pain levels were pretty much in the 1 range out of 10.

When it comes to bleeding, the kind I was informed would happen, it’s not super bad. Sometimes I don’t bleed at all. But when I overwork myself is when I have spotting. Another reason and reminder that I need to take it easy. But it’s so difficult.

At least my bowel has improved. Compared to the 3rd after surgery when I finally was able to release, it has become slowly easier. Same goes for everything else. After 9 days from surgery I stopped tracking my bowels because of how easy it became.

I’m being gross but I wish information like this was available when I was doing research before my surgery. On days I overwhelm myself I become very weak and my energy levels shoots down to 10%. So, I have to be careful when and how I use my energy.

After 5 days from surgery cleaning myself had become easier. It was a struggle to wipe my behind the first time because I was avoiding twisting my torso, like I normally do. I try hard not to do extreme moments that would effect my stitches and surgery sight.

During this time I been very grateful that I had worked out a lot. From having the leg strength to do squats. Which helped with getting on the toilet, the bed, the couch, a chair, and even being able to reach things slightly out of reach if you were able to ben forward.

I also had worked out my arms and shoulders. Which helps me lift my body so I don’t have to crunch my abdomen. Thankfully my physical therapist taught me the log roll technique to get out of bed. That technique requires lots of arm strength and full body coordination.

Since you need to move your hip and shoulders at the same time to bypass the abdomen. Basically using your bent knees and shoulders to become a turtle. Because you have to use your whole body weight to get onto your side. Once on your side you have to use momentum and upper body strength to get you in a sitting position.

Since I had used the hospital bed to my advantage during my overnight stay, I figured out a way to repeat that process at home. I had used my office chair to give my the same leverage as the side bars of the hospital bed. If you don’t have upper body strength, having some sort of unmovable support next your bed helps greatly.

It’s a good thing I like wearing tank tops, because that helped keep my clothes from scratching at my surgical sight. Sure, the stitches are covered in glue but if something catches it becomes very itchy, sometime painful.

I did notice that most of my itching spots were around the surgical area, which confused me. But I’ll take it as just how my body was reacting to everything.

Now when it came to coughing and sneezing I fought every moment to not do so. For the first few days after coming home I used honey to stop me from coughing. After that, I would do a control scratching my throat to try to spit out any mucus. I don’t know how to explain this.

Either way, it was difficult to not cough but I managed. I especially was horrified at the idea of coughing and sneezing because I would have bad cough and sneezes. Like I would do so heavily. And since I heard enough horror stories, I didn’t want to risk anything.

Yesterday and today I did a control cough. Like I took deep breaths and tried my best to control where my cough was coming from. I can’t say it’s easy, but after learning to breathe from my stomach during physical therapy and continuing the practice during Mindfulness group, I have a better understanding of how to tell where something is coming from within my own body.

I have meditated before and know the practice very well. But having the refresher during therapy and group, it help greatly during my recovery. It’s not easy to feel or control your muscles, but it helps to know enough to know how to go about doing certain things.

Last night I finally was able to hand wash dishes all by myself. I’m not doing that again. I almost broke a few things. But I took my time and tried to be extra careful. I did had to stop multiple times to rest. Either way, I did it.

I’m glad I had games and knitting to keep me busy. But because I get anxiety easy it would be best if I had found a way to sleep in my room since day one. So, when I go through top surgery I would have to sleep in my room, no matter what, so I don’t catch an anxiety attack because of my cat.

I’m glad I didn’t bruise as much as I thought I would. Especially with how badly I swale during my wisdom teeth recovery.

Overall, after 10 days things slowly been getting better. Been able to do certain tasks that are vital for my mental and physical health. I still need to rest since I’m not even close to 50% recovered. But at least I am acknowledge where I currently stand (or sit lol).