u/dizzyinmyhead

I posted here and in r/hysterectomy a few times about how nervous and terrified I was for surgery and recovery. I’m happy to say I am not three days post—op!!

Yall have been a big help in getting me through to the surgery itself and I am so happy it’s over and done. Because yall were so helpful, I wanted to give my experience to hopefully help someone else who has questions like mine. Let me know if there’s any other things you’d like to know!

Surgery Day -

The day of the surgery went really smoothly. I did have a panic attack in pre-op when they were taking vitals and starting my IV, but they brought my partner back and he talked me down and I was okay from there.

The surgery itself went really well. My blood pressure got a little weird while I was under so they had to adjust my meds, but otherwise, it was completely routine. They gave me three IV Amari-nausea medications to prevent vomiting after and they worked. I’m not sure which ones they gave me, but I insisted I have nausea preventative because I have medical OCD and they listened.

It took me awhile to come out of deep sedation, but once I did, I was awake like a light switch. Once I woke up, they immediately took me off IV painkillers and put me on acetaminophen and ibuprofen and I haven’t been on anything harder since I was under and my pain has been managed.

It took me a second to be able to pee. I tried about three times and wasn’t able to until about six hours after surgery. They discharged me after I was able to pee. It did burn pretty badly the first couple of times and I wasn’t prepared for that, but now it’s back to normal.

Recovery -

Since I’ve been home, I’ve been doing really well. All of my spotting was done within 24 hours.

The first 24 hours I was a little sleepy and my throat was killing me, but the surgery pain was not bad. The pain that’s been the worst is the gas pain. It’s not terrible up in my shoulders, but I can constantly feel it moving around in my abdomen and it doesn’t “hurt” but it’s uncomfortable, like I have to poop but there’s nothing to poop out. I know there is nothing to poop out because I was able to poop at about 48 hours post-op. The stool softeners they gave me definitely….. softened things.

I’ve been sleeping well overnight and have only needed about one nap a day. Despite not being overly tired, I have had some significant brain fog (for the Pokémon fans, I kept calling Vaporeon Glaceon for some reason lol) and a bit of vertigo when I close my eyes. Apparently both of these things are relatively normal.

So far, my biggest limitation is bending. If something of mine falls on the floor, that’s where it stays until someone can get it for me.

I’ve been walking around the apartment every hour or so and it helps immensely with the discomfort from gas and my energy levels.

Today I felt well enough to help cook dinner and I’ve been working on a Lego all day. I’ve honestly been surprised about how good I feel. I’ve had harder to manage period pain than this.

So I had surgery last week and in the chaos, I missed the due date for my credit card payment. The due date for the minimum balance was July 2nd, but I did not pay until today (July 5th). I always pay the statement balance, not just the minimum balance, and the last payment date that I paid my statement balance was May 28th.

I’ve seen the info that anything paid within 30 days will not impact your credit score because that’s a late payment and not a missed payment, but I’m confused about where the 30 days starts to count from. Is it from when the payment was due or my last payment? Did I miss this payment or was I late paying it?

I’ve never been late on a credit card payment before, and while I don’t have a plan to extend my lines of credit or apply for any loans, I’m just confused on what to expect as far as credit score being impacted and how this will “count.” I know there’s nothing I can do about it at this point and I fully understand that I can’t undo what’s been done and I will do better going forward, but this was truly just a freak situation because of extenuating circumstances so I don’t foresee it happening again.

First off, I am not at all regretting my choice or changing my mind. I want and need this surgery and have always wanted it.

What I didn’t realize was how triggering it would be for my medical OCD and dysphoria. I knew it would be triggering to a certain degree and I would get nervous leading up to the surgery, but I’m having anxiety nightmares every night and have had more than one OCD spiral. My therapist and partner are helping me through all of this and my doctor knows about my medical OCD and has assured me that they’ll do everything they can to keep me safe and calm, but it just really sucks.

My brain is convinced that I’m going to have some horrible complication or that my surgeon/anesthesiologist won’t give me the nausea and anti-anxiety meds I requested or I won’t be able to pee after surgery or I won’t be able to handle the post-op pain or even that I’m suddenly going to become pregnant before the surgery and they’ll have to cancel.

Realistically, I know I can handle it and that those things are unlikely. I literally healed two broken arms at the same time this year, so it’s not like I’m a stranger to recovering or difficult health things. But the anticipation of surgery and not knowing what to expect and feeling like there’s so many different outcomes possible sucks.

I don’t really know why I’m posting this other than to shout into the void, but if you’re scared too, maybe we can be scared together.

Something I’m struggling with is deciding when to pursue top surgery. I do have chest dysphoria, but not in the way I see talked about a lot where you just want to rip them off your body. Mine is more of a general discomfort, but it’s livable. I know I would be more comfortable in my body without my chest though.

I’m pretty lucky in that (at this time) I’m in a work, financial, and familial situation where I can sort-of-kind-of do it when I want to, provided I can get on a surgeon’s schedule and nothing wild happens in my life. But this is now leaving me with choice paralysis that there’s a “right time.” How did you decide what the right time was for you?

I thought it might be helpful to provide an example of what my pre- and post-op doctor’s appointment schedule looks like for those who are wondering what the time commitment might be. This is just what it looks like for me, my conditions, and my doctor situation. Your process could vary, but this is what is scheduled for me and why.

To start with, I had my initial consult and request with my doctor in February. This is where we discussed all of my concerns, why I am perusing a hysterectomy and what my options were. I am scheduled for a laparoscopic removal of the cervix, uterus, and fallopian tubes. The plan is to retain both ovaries if they are healthy enough, but if not, I am retaining at least one. I currently have an IUD and they are removing the IUD during surgery. I am not required to have a cervical exam or PAP beforehand because my most recent PAP was within 365 days of the surgery. Due to previously documented medical issues, we are going the medically necessary route instead of gender-affirming route for insurance approval.

I have four doctors at this time: GYN who is performing surgery, Gender Affirming Care (GAC) specialist managing my hormones, Derm assisting with managing a skin concern in the surgical area, and my primary care doctor.

Pre-Op Plan with Dates:

May 18 - Internal Ultrasound to ensure everything is positioned as expected and get initial images of the ovary of concern.

June 1 - Ultrasound review appointment.

June 2 - Blood draw for GAC specialist.

June 15 - Meeting to discuss blood draw with GAC and confirm my hormone levels and blood counts are within safe levels.

June 22 - Blood draw for surgeon’s pre-op and surgery prep begins. Surgery prep means no alcohol or THC and begin Miralax regimen to prepare bowels.

June 23 - Meeting with surgeon to discuss surgery plan.

June 29 - Skin concern check with Derm.

**July 2 - Surgery date!! Reporting to outpatient surgery center 2 hours before appointment. Surgery is scheduled for two hours with a four hour recovery window and then I should be going home.

Post-Op Plan with Dates:

July 16 - Two week phone call with surgeon. Stop Miralax if everything is normal.

August 12 - Six week post-op appointment. Theoretically getting cleared.

August 17 - Health check-in with primary care to evaluate for any new or resolved concerns.

September - Dates TBD, but hormone check to make sure my levels are stabilizing with GAC.

I am taking a full two weeks off after surgery, then working from home for two weeks, then returning to work with restrictions at four weeks, then hopefully having restrictions lifted at six weeks.

Again, this is just what the next few months looks like for me. My hope is that it helps anyone who has had a hard time visualizing what preparation and follow up can look like, because I felt really in the dark about this kind of stuff until it was all laid out for me.