Hysterectomy Questions

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Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.

OK, the time has come to fight with my insurance company again over my need to have a TAH/BSO. I'm seeing my GYN this next week, and I've been faithfully charting my bleeding episodes over the entire past year (I don't call them "periods" anymore, because I more or less bleed all the time......this last episode went on for 24 straight days). Now I've got some questions.

1) How long is recovery time......REALLY? I'm 45 years old, no spring chicken but not exactly an old hen either, in decent health except for morbid obesity and HTN. I don't have anywhere near enough vacation time saved up to have this done, but neither can I see waiting another 6-12 months.

2) Vertical vs. "bikini" incision: My GYN says she'll do a vertical, but what is the benefit to this as opposed to the bikini? I've had 3 C-sections with this cut........why do I have to have my entire abdomen opened up, with the potential for wound dehiscence and other problems (not to mention PAIN in a new area)?

3) What, if anything, do I need to do to "prove" to my insurance companies (I have dual insurance) that I really need this operation? I've tried progesterone (made me psychotic), birth control pills (migraines), an endometrial ablation (worked for only about 5 months), and just tried waiting it out until menopause (which could go on another 5 years or more). Right now, I'm NOT anemic and I'm NOT suffering from unbearable pain.......but how on earth am I supposed to have anything even resembling a normal life (and forget having a sex life!) when I bleed almost all the time?!

Any help you can give me would be very much appreciated. Thank you!

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Specializes in Community Health Nurse.

You poor thing! ((((((hugs))))))) :kiss

I'm so tired I can't see straight, so must retire for the night now. Tomorrow I'll address your post when I'm wide awake as I have personal experience with what you share here. So, until tomorrow......nighty night. :kiss :zzzzz :zzzzz

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Specializes in Critical Care.

There is a wonderful website I found when I had mine. http://www.hystersisters.com

There is a lot of support and many of your questions will be answered. Good luck to you.

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Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.

Thanks, BadBird. I've visited there a few times, and they have a great support group. Most of the posters are laypeople, though, and I was wanting more of a nursing perspective........maybe because it's easier for me to deal with my own medical issues clinically rather than personally. I was thoroughly checked for cancer last winter and came up totally negative, so I'm not particularly worried about having some dread disease that's going to kill me in six months; rather, I handle health concerns better when I view them objectively instead of going "OMG, when is this *@#$ing bleeding ever gonna stop?!" or "How will my family survive if I'm off work for 8 weeks?":eek:

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MJ,

I tried to PM you about this but your box was full.

Get in touch with me if you get a chance.

Dave

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Specializes in Everything except surgery.

Sorry to hear you're going thru this, but I had the surg, and I didn't have my ovaries removed. My PCP was a women, who advised against it, d/t this would keep me from losing androgens, as long a my ovaries continue to function. Since you are otherwise healthy, it is something to consider. I also had my cervix left to prevent prolape of bladder, which means I have to continue having paps. But it was worth it to me.

I also returned to work, but did no lifting at 6 weeks, and I was several years older than you are now. In fact I was out looking for a new apartment iin 3 weeks, and moved prior to go to back to work. At 8 weeks, I felt better than I had felt in a very long time! You may not have any dibilating or acute sxs, except "bleeding episodes", but this is affecting your quality of life, and your mental well being.

I would go for it, and I think you will be glad you did! It is VERY freeing to not have to worry about have the continuous episodes of bleeding. And 4yrs later, I only have the hot flashes when I'm stressed, and I take NO meds whatsoever!

Best wishes for whatever you decide:)!

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Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.

Thanks, Brownie, and welcome back:D !!

I hadn't thought about leaving the cervix to prevent bladder prolapse.......I already have some incontinence, so it sounds like something I should consider, along with leaving at least one ovary in. So I'd have to continue with Paps.....big deal, they don't bother me. All I want is for this freakin' bleeding to STOP!!

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Specializes in Everything except surgery.

Thank you and you're VERY welcome:D!!! I do pop in from time to time, but I think you know the reason I don't have much time to get online for now. My life has become quite busy, but hopefully by the end of the year, I will have a little more free time:).

And I totally hear you about the bleeding, as it was controling my life! I no longer have to worry about this, and believe me it is a welcome relief! I'm keep checking back to see how things are going. Take care of you:)!

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Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.

Thanks again, Brownie.........and take care of YOU!:kiss

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Specializes in Community Health Nurse.

Hi mjlrn97 :)

I apologize for being too pooped last night to stay awake long enough to respond to your very valid questions and concerns, and I would have forgot to do so today had I not seen this thread just now. The ol' mind.....I tell ya! ;)

Anyhoo.........Like you, I used to bleed like a river for days on end in my twenties. I had unbelievable back pain from it, and had no strength to do a day's task.

By the time I turned 28 years of age, it had become so unbearable for me the doctor suggested a hysterectomy. I wanted more consults as I wanted more babies, and I knew having a hysterectomy would put an end to that. :o So, I made appointments to see FIVE different Gyn docs (not OB/GYN....just GYNs only...very important for me to see a doctor whose time and attention in medicine was specifically devoted to his gyn patients and not constantly being called away to deliver babies, and earn more delivery $$$$ at my gyn-issues expense).

All five gyn specialists said the same thing as my long time ob/gyn (she delivered my last baby just 3 years before the surgery took place). That only made me :crying2: buckets of tears.

The doctor that I chose to do the surgery was the only one of the five male docs who respected my womanhood and had a bedside manner to go along with it. He was "THEE TOP DOG" in Gyn at that time. He took time to draw diagrams of the surgery, sit down for almost an hour answering my questions, etc. He is the one who ended up doing my surgery. He told me that he would leave my ovaries in as long as they were healthy (they were, so they are still in me and working just fine); that he would not tie down my tubes in conjunction with the bladder as he had known other docs to do. He told me he would leave my ovaries and bladder in suspension, and other than not bleeding and being in serious pain anymore, I would still feel like myself. And I did! :D

Everything he told me in that "hour sit down" talk was exactly what he did to me in surgery. Within three days after my surgery, I was up ready to run marathons around the hospital corridors. :chuckle I felt absolutely great! My sex life was even better, and remains so today.......no after affects there at all. I have never experienced "bladder incontinence" and still can tell when I would normally have a monthly period through my moods, my getting extremely horny around that time of month...only I don't have the bleeding.

The doctor removed only my uterus and cervix, but I'm still told by gyn docs to continue the pap smears once a year because of the lady partsl fluids that are present. Some gyn docs disagree with this train of thought, and some don't. My NP agrees that I should continue the annual pap smears, too, so I still get them once a year and they've all been negative thus far.

Hope this helps you decide in some way what you want to do. It is NOT your doctor's choice, but it is solely up to you.

By the way......My doc did a "bikini cut" on me, and it's hard to tell I even had surgery. No scars either!

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Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.

Awesome post, Renee! Thank you so much!

It's funny, how you can "know" about things in a clinical sense, then when you try to apply them to yourself, something gets lost in the translation. Maybe it's because doctors often think "Oh, you're a nurse, so you know all this stuff" and they don't realize they should EXPLAIN things to us as they would their other patients. I will definitely ask my GYN to go into more detail with me at this visit. Thanks again!

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Specializes in Community Health Nurse.

mj.............I was NOT a nurse at the time I had my hysterectomy. I was much more important than that....I was a full time mommy of three with a husband who many times made me think I had four kids. :chuckle

I had gone from being a patient for so many years of my life by then, that becoming a nurse only topped off what I knew would make me a good nurse once I became one. It was seven years after my surgery that I graduated from nursing school and passed my boards. So, when I tell patients that I really do understand how they feel being "the patient", I really mean it. :)

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