Myomectomy recovery question
Hi:

I had a myomectomy (9 fibroids) three weeks ago, and I have a few questions that I was hoping someone could answer for me.

1) When is it okay to have sex again? This is a question I haven't asked my doctor, but if one engages in activities other than vaginal sex, are these activities dangerous? can you be hurting yourself even if yr not feeling pain from sexual activities?

2) I am driving and working, and I started after two weeks of recovery, but I sometimes worry that I am pushing myself too hard. One day i'll feel great, the next day terrible. Normal? And is it normal to feel instense aching one day, nothing the next day?

3) While my scar is fading, there is a couple weird dips from my belly to my pelvic area, which I assume are there because of swelling, but I am hoping they will go away. Is there anyone out there who can tell me what to expect in terms of appearance in the next couple months?

4) I have been doing some light activities, dishes, laundry -- this is okay, right?

5) Any suggested exercises?

I feel like I am really in the dark here. I was released from the hospital with a sheet that said walk 4 times a day and rest. I would appreciate any response or advice. I have a second dr's appt in three weeks.

Thanks so much

Hi and welcome to the board!

I would definitely call your doctor and ask these questions but I will try to answer them based on my experience.

1) When is it okay to have sex again? I would treat it like a c-section and not engage in intercourse for a minimum of 6 weeks. Depending on how major your surgery was it could be longer. Definitly call your doctor before you engage in anything. TMI- but an orgasm could be damaging after this surgery.

2) I am driving and working, and I started after two weeks of recovery, but I sometimes worry that I am pushing myself too hard. One day i'll feel great, the next day terrible. Normal? And is it normal to feel instense aching one day, nothing the next day? I was on a 2 month bed rest after my myomoctomy- so working and driving after 2 weeks seems to be totally pushing it. If you feel pain- SIT DOWN and rest. I suspecting you needed to be on bed rest for the 3 weeks until your appointment- then you'd probably be told if you need more or they would release you to work. I fear you shouldn't be at work. I had to get a written permission slip from my doctor first.

3) While my scar is fading, there is a couple weird dips from my belly to my pelvic area, which I assume are there because of swelling, but I am hoping they will go away. Is there anyone out there who can tell me what to expect in terms of appearance in the next couple months? In the next couple months it will fade- unless there is an infection etc. They will check it at that 3 week appointment. Call the doctor if it is red, painful or has anything gooping out of it.

4) I have been doing some light activities, dishes, laundry -- this is okay, right? Again- I was on bed rest for 2 months- no cleaning nothing. It is major abdomonial surgery.

5) Any suggested exercises? NONE Again...call your doctor. I wouldn't do anything to damage yourself. I wasn't able to exercise for 10 months. or TTC for 10 months. So you really need to get these questions answered ASAP.

Please call your doctor and let me know what he/she says about all of this. Good luck with everything- rest and take care of yourself.

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I recently had a myomectomy almost 4 weeks ago. The recovery has been challenging, but fine. All of a sudden I have been feeling pressure or some kind of movement in my uterious or cervics area. Is this normal and what is it exactly? My sister suggested that it probably is my uterious moving down to its normal place; however, I never knew during the surgery that the uterious would be heightened.

Hi!
I hope recovery is going well.

Since it is major abdominal surgery I suspect you will be feeling some pulling and tugging. It could be your muscles and the sensitive scar area. I'd call your doc just in case. Hang in there!

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Hi everyone! I thought I'd leave my story here, as this site really helped get me through the last few nervous days leading up to the surgery.

Basically, I thought I had 4 fibroids and a polyp going into the surgery, but it turns out the doctor took out about 8. The biggest one was 6cm, while the others were 2-4cm and less.

The whole experience turned out to be fine-- the surgery lasted about an hour and by an hour after that I was up in my room, awake and chatting with my husband. I was fortunate that my incision was not that big, so my healing has been remarkably fast. I'm at the two week mark tomorrow, and hardly have any discomfort, have driven already, and walked around a country fair for 4 hours yesterday. That said, every surgery is different and for some people, walking around for hours on end would land them back in the hospital, so definitely be careful! I'm still not lifting anything heavier than a gallon of milk.

I don't know if anyone's ever shared these tips, but here are some I can think of:

-Before surgery, ask the doctor who'll be doing it whether you'll be sewn up layer-by-layer. Apparently, a lot of people these days sew the bottom layer and the top layer and leave the middle ones to fuse themselves. This'll make for more pain and longer healing times and possible internal scarring, from what I understand.

-Try to be as fit as possible before the surgery. Strong abs and back muscles will come in handy soon!

-The nurses and doctors are right when they tell you to walk around ASAP. I walked the morning after the surgery and actually found that once I was up, it wasn't that painful. Things that WERE painful: Getting up from bed, trying to go to the bathroom, coughing, sneezing, laughing- yeouch!!

-Sleep as flat as possible. I don't know if it makes a difference, but I put the hospital bed flat, so that my stomach muscles could get used to healing while my body is straight, not bent over either in bed or standing.

-After you get home, stay on a simple, soft diet for a while- eggs, oatmeal, jello, soup. Reintroduce meats slowly. I also stayed off carbonated drinks for more than a week. My digestive system kicked into gear only on day 3 (the first morning I was home, and after I'd eaten some chicken and rice and spinach the night before).

-Be prepared to be tired! At the hospital, they'll wake you up every 2 hours to take your vital signs. Once you're home, nap whenever you feel like it. For me, breakfast would make me drowsy and nap for 2 hours, but after lunch I'd be fine to stay awake until bedtime. Weird!

-Discharges: Being the idiot I am, I didn't consider that there would be something like a mini-period after this. What's more mysterious is I've also had a week of a whole lot of cervical mucus too. I'll be asking the nurse about this at my next post-op appointment. It seems to have gone away only today (day 13 post-op).

-Despite taking 8 fibroids out of me, I'm neither thinner nor fatter. Probably my stomach is a tiny bit flatter than before the surgery, but it's hard to tell. I don't have any kind of muffin top or grapefruit-sized crater, so I guess that's good.

I'm now at the stage of wondering how big my scar is (it's under steri-strips right now), and whether it will fade with time. It's low enough that it doesn't really matter, but I'm curious. Guess I'll stock up on Mederma and see what it does.

All in all, I'm really glad I've done this, despite that first difficult week of recovery. My doctor thinks my uterus is in great shape now, so we'll see how it heals up from here. Good luck to everyone! :-)

Thank you for sharing your story! You had some great advice. Good luck with the rest of your recovery and let us know when you get pg!

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Hi all, I am so glad I found this forum.
I had my abdominal myomectomy last week monday - it was a really challenging experience. Everything was fine prior to the surgery and the last thing I remember during the anaesthesia was thinking, "I feel like I am floating". Waking up after surgery however, I was greeted by searing pain, gosh, those first few hours were awful ! Once the pethidine kicked in things improved, I just slept and slept.

The first post op day I was able to sit out of bed. The second post op day I was able to tidy myself and walk around - I felt much stronger and my doctor discharged me. My full bowel fuunctions did not return until about 4 days post op - I was eating fruits and vegetables and drinking lots of water but nothing happened until I started drinking warm water to try to stimulate peristaltic waves - well it worked.

The Doc said that she removed a minimum of 7 fibroids, one very large one and other smaller ones. In the first week and a half after the op my abdomen was bloated and really tender, but I noticed this week that much of that is resolving. I found that an ice pack really helped with that.

I started driving 1 week post op and I really have been moving up and down on the road quite a bit - that probably accounts for why I have been feeling tired and having some left lower abdominal pains since yesterday, I am now in bed and determined to stay as close to it as possible, at least for the next week. Another thing that I noticed this week was dizziness when ever i got out of bed (but my Doc said I did not lose much blood intra op), i have not felt it today so hopefully its gone. I am currently taking, iron tabs, vit E tabs and a multivitamin.

One thing that really concerned me was that my wound was not fully sealed - one little part had not sealed and there was a brownish liquid oozing from it, but no pus. I went for my first post op visit this monday and my doc gave me an antibiotic powder to use- the oozing has more or less stopped, but the area is still not fully sealed - if it looks the same way on monday I am going back to the doc.

Unlike another post that I read, I found that lying slightly propped up on a pillow with my legs also on a pillow helped to relax my lower abdominal muscles and eased some of the discomfort, but everyone has to find what works for them.

Has anyone else noticed that their sex drive has come back with a vengeance. I certainly have experienced that and lying in bed makes it harder. I have not been engaging in vaginal sex, but unfortunately I have had 3 orgasms in the last 2 days and after reading your posts I am now afraid that I may have hurt myself - I have to try and distract myself for the next 4 weeks.

Remember - don't cross your legs in bed and do your leg exercises to prevent clots.

Hi and welcome to the board!
I hope your recovery is quick! If you feel some pain it may be telling you to stop and rest.
I'm not a doctor but I wouldn't worry about the orgasms. Unless you felt a lot of pain afterwards. I would try to refrain from them and ask your doctor if it is ok or not. The uterine walls need to heal so I'd ask.

Are you going to ttc? When did they say you can start if you do plan to?

Good luck!

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