u/Responsible-Lake-405

I'm 3 days shy of 12 wpo (everything gone except ovaries) and my husband and I decided to try sex. I was cleared for everything at my 6 wpo appointment, but I was too scared.

But this morning we did it! Slowly and a bit hesitantly - I was super nervous but just wanting to get the first time out of the way.

It was a success! No blood, no pain, no cramping! It felt good, but my nervousness prevented any orgasm.

He did tell me that he felt the stitch line at the top of my cuff and that it felt weird and he maybe felt some stitches still in there. But he said other than that, everything felt the same, no shortened vaginal canal or anything.

For me, it felt pretty much the same, other than me being tense and nervous. I'm feeling that once I get further along in the healing journey, enough to let go, it'll be back to normal.

I've been having a bit of a freak out the past couple of days. I'm 4 wpo for TLH, everything gone except ovaries. I'm 47 and have been in horrific perimenopause for about 6 years and am on HTT. Despite the horrific description, the past 6 months, I've been feeling like the mental mindfuck of perimenopause has been leveling off.

I've have had a very smooth and uneventful recovery so far, pain for the most part has been minimal after the first week. I had a 2 wpo check and all good, cleared to do IMHO too much, but I'm still taking it sorta way. I've been walking daily, including going clothes shopping, cleaning my apartment and watering plants every Saturday, but I've been rigorous about not lifting anything heavy, my husband does all that. I've been confident in my recovery.

But the past few days or maybe past week, I've been getting odd aches and light pain in my abdomen that comes and goes. When it happens, I scale back and rest, trying to listen to my body. My laproscopic surgery included 3 incisions and my uterus was brought out of my belly button. Lately I've been getting discomfort above my belly button, several inches above it, almost to the bottom of my ribs. For a day or two, if felt like a small lump and my husband felt it too, though you can't see it. But then it went away.

My mind went to potential hernia, but again it went away. I anticipated lumps close to the incisions, especially around the belly button since it was a rainbow bruising the first week, that obviously had an instrument moving around more than the side incisions. (I've had several melanoma wide local excisions in the past and they also formed lumpy scar tissue for the first couple months and then flattened out - I figure this could be the same). *I have zero spotting or bleeding last the first 3-4 days and no fever.*

I've read that random aches and even minor pains in the abdomen are normal. Logically, I'm telling myself that this could be normal.

But I find myself freaking out..I'm terrified of developing a hernia and needing more surgery to poke it back in. I don't want mesh in my body; both my parents have had multiple hernias and have smooth surgeries and recoveries, though over time the meshes started to bother them. They were both much older than me when they got their hernias.

But emotionally I'm scared and terrified, more than pre-op, more than when they wheeled me into tht OR. I don't know what's going on with me mentally, emotionally. I'm fine in the morning, but this comes up mostly at night, like a wild version of sundowners. I frequently find myself on the verge of tears. I've always been a catastrophizer but was shocked I didn't catastrophize pre-op or even in the first weeks of recovery. But now, I can't concentrate (I'm also ADHD if that says anything).

Why am I doing this, freaking out?! Has this happened to anyone else,. especially when your 4+ weeks our and every has been going smooth?

I want to stick my head in the sand until 6 months have passed. Any advice or words of encouragement would be helpful.

I'm 3.5 wpo and everything's been going pretty smooth except when my bladder gets full, if I don't pee almost immediately it starts to feel painful. That goes away once I pee and everything's fine, but it can be really inconvenient. At home, no big deal, I just go the toilet, but if I'm out and about, I don't always have access to a toilet and have to hurry to get wherever.

Has anyone else had this happen?

I had my 2 week post-op appointment. My surgery was robotic laproscopic, uterus, cervix, tubes and a cystectomy for a few cycts on my left ovary.

My Dr removed the skin glue and inspected my abdominal incisions, went over my pathology report, and pointed out what was what on my surgery photos (she'd given those photos to my husband after my surgery was completed but of course he didn't remember what anything was).

Everything's been going pretty good, minimal pain, mostly just sore like I did 100 sit-ups. So, she cleared me for the following:

- take a bath or swim

- cardio exercises including elliptical, running, biking

- stretches of any kind

- sleeping on my stomach if comfortable

I'm still prohibited from:

- heavy lifting

- core exercises

I had asked if I could use an elliptical and that's when she told me I could do any kind of cardio, including running. That really surprised me. But I'm a nervous Nelly, so will refrain from running until after the 6 week post-op check.

Has anyone else's surgeon been this permissive after 2 weeks?

I'm 10 dpo from a robotic laproscopic total hysterectomy where they removed my uterus, etc through my belly button. Everything's gone swimmingly so far, every uneventful, almost easy.

I got up this morning, felt okay, showered, ate breakfast and as I was *slowly* making my bed, I felt like I had a scratch on my belly. I lift my shirt and my belly button incision is very lightly bleeding or maybe more like oozing.

Cue freakout. I call my Drs office and they asked me to send pictures via the portal, which I do. Now I'm waiting for them to call me back.

Has this happened to anyone else?

I did a search but couldn't find this specifically - what sunscreens don't rub off onto other things - clothes, car doors, chair arms, couches, etc.

Most posts focus on how a sunscreen feels on the skin, but not if it stays there. I've tried so many different brands and my car is smeared with sunscreen and it's a big reason why I skip.

I'm located in the US.

For the ADHD ladies, when did y'all restart your ADHD meds? I take Adderall and the pharmacist put the fear of god in me to not take Adderall at the same time as oxycodone. I'm 7 dpo and took my last oxy on 2 dpo. Now I'm taking occasional ibuprofen and Tylenol. I also take a baby aspirin daily to prevent blood clots due to family history.

I want to restart my Adderall because I have the attention span of a goldfish and want to do "something" during recovery, like read a book, crochet, watch - actually pay attention to - a TV show or a movie. I can't focus on *anything* other than Doom scrolling.

When did others restart?

I had a robotic laproscopic total hysterectomy and they brought everything out of my belly button, not my vagina. Nonetheless, I have a vaginal cuff to close up where the cervix had been.

Today my vagina feels weird. It hasn't been in pain at any time since the surgery but at some point today it started to feel, I'm not really sure how to describe it, pinched? Tickled? There's been a bit of external (vulvar) itchiness, but that doesn't bother me too much. But after not feeling any pain or anything really around the vagina for 5 days (all of my pain has been in the abdominal area and around the belly button), it's kind of freaking me out.

There's no blood today. The first few days i spotted a bit but nothing today.

I've walked a bit, and did a few dishes, but for the most part I've been parked on the couch. I can't imagine I over did anything.

Has anyone else felt their vagina feel like weird or odd?

Does anyone use a symptom or recovery tracker to track when they take their medications, how they're feeling, BMs, etc? I want something to track how everything goes post-op and am curious what's out there. Even a spreadsheet I can print out will do.

My surgery is in 2 days. I've had chronic constipation for 20+ years and take psyllium fiber capsules daily for all of those years. A few months ago, my gastro Dr added colace to my daily regimen. To prepare for surgery, my surgeon and nurses told me to start miralax a week in advance to help me get through post-op constipation, and I checked with my gastro Dr and he agreed. Well, 5 days into miralax I am constipated! Moreso than before! I know miralax requires substantial fluid intake, so I've been tracking my water and have been drinking 3 liters of water per day - and that doesn't include coffee, OJ, and the occasional soda. I keep feeling like I have to go but only maybe a tiny bit comes out that is exceptionally soft and even watery.

Now I'm terrified of post-op constipation. Should I stop the miralax? Anyone else experience this?

I'm in perimenopause and because I had crazy night sweats, insufferable insomnia, skyrocketing anxiety, whiplash mood swings and overwhelming bouts of rage, my confidence plummeted so deep that I quit what had been my "dream job" because I was crying daily. In my distress, my gyno prescribed me HRT (transdermal estradiol patches + progesterone), even though I still had regular periods. Bless her. It helped so much - I feel capable again.

I have a hysterectomy scheduled in 10 days (uterus, cervix, tubes, and maybe left ovary, TBD during surgery). I'm nervous about ovarian failure and being thrown into surgical menopause. I'm already pretty close (I'm 5 years into peri with 3 years to go to hit when my mom went into menopause) already so maybe the transition wouldn't be too bad. My gyno did say the the HRT should help smooth the transition if it does happen, but I just can't go back to where I was. I absolutely lost myself and it was debilitating. Has anyone else in peri had a hysterectomy while already on HRT and did it help? Especially if you either had your ovaries removed or experienced ovarian failure? TBH this is one of my biggest fears around it. Peri has been monstrous - I'm also ADHD which may be why it's been particularly bad for me. I'd love to hear stories/ experiences.