Week 6/Day 37 (Sunday) - I can see the light...

This Friday will mark the end of 6 weeks post surgery, and I'm feeling 97%. This past week I've been filled with energy and feeling like I can actually use it.

First, I survived the period from Hell. In addition to the killer cramps, it was super heavy. I hope that's a surgery side effect and not my new normal.

My daily life is mostly back to usual. I am doing my daily work commute, during rush hour, and working full days; I have full range of motion; and I'm not on any kind of drug, powerful or mild.

Since I still don't have the OK to do physical activity like jogging, Pilates, or sex (going nuts, here! Richard, too!), I've been doing torso stretching/leg strengthening moves + fast-paced walks for exercise. I'm proud to say I'm back to overtaking the average walker. Despite the frustration, I can tell that my body's not ready for the bigger stuff yet.

My only complaint is an occasional twinge in my lower right (similar to the ligament pains I mentioned in an earlier post); it's been going at it for a bit tonight.

For the record, I'm posting a timeline of my visual healing, as my scars are now looking much better and probably close to their permanent recovery place.

Day 1 - Saturday, Oct. 13 (Fresh wound padding)

Day 3 - Monday, Oct. 15 (Steri-Strips)

Day 14 - Friday, Oct. 26 (Scabs)

Day 37 - Sunday, Nov. 18 (Scars)

That all for this week. I'll check in again once my full 6 weeks are up.

Sayonara.

Day 17 (Monday) - Part 2: Scarring

One of my scabs came off today while I was pulling up my pants (yes, I can button my pants again!), the one over my smallest incision.

Looks pretty good, but as expected, there's a small, visible scar.

Upper left, scab still over healing incision;
Lower right, scar left from incision.

I have other scars, but from external injuries, not full incisions, so they are much less dense and barely noticeable to the touch. They're also on firmer parts of the body (leg, hand, etc.).

It's strange to run my fingers over this one and feel such a hard, tiny lump in the middle of such a soft area of the body.

I assume the one in my belly button won't be visible, but no doubt I'll be unveiling three more of these surgery reminders in the days to come....perhaps by Halloween!

Day 17 (Monday) - Road & Recovery

I expect my posts will become less frequent from here forward.

It's nice knowing that I am over the physically hardest part of my recovery, and that I'll be back to work tomorrow (if only from home). But I will continue to blog about important milestones and thoughts up until week 6, at by which point I should be completely back to my personal normal.

Yesterday was a pretty low key day. The biggest event was making a Costco run with Richard for things we've been needing given today's storm warning for Hurricane Sandy.

I drove for the first time since pre-op days, which felt OK and was better than bracing myself while Richard drove, wonderful as he is. However, for as good as I've been feeling, I learned the hard way that there is a movement I am not yet ready to do: The Twist.

Without thinking twice I did a super full turn and stretch at my waist to see while backing out of our parking space at Costco (a mad house)—you know the posture, one arm around the back of the passenger seat. Owww.

Any incision tenderness left was revived to the fullest.  But hey, the days have been more boring lately without as much pain to fill the time, so it added a little excitement. ;-)

"After a fall such as this, I shall think nothing of tumbling downstairs!"

- Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll

Day 15 (Saturday)

Being so in tune to my core these past couple of weeks has been quite an eye-opening experience.

It is amazing how much energy and muscle goes into even the simplest actions, like sitting. I'm not going to say I took these things for granted—my abs and back are the body parts I take best care of when I'm healthy because I know a lot depends on a strong core. But I definitely didn't appreciate this to the fullest.

Case in point: Richard and I went out to dinner tonight for the first time since my operation, which was wonderful. But after an hour or so of being in our booth I had to turn to him and say, "I need to leave, I can't sit here anymore." I just couldn't maintain the posture.

Definitely the right decision to wait another week before going back into the office.

Sayonara.

Day 14 (Friday) - Part 2: Post-Op

Looks like I am going to spend one more week at home.

I will still be working, but remotely. My mind is ready, but Doc says my insides need a little extra strengthening time before exposing my core to the daily office posture. I'm inclined to agree after my commute trial run.

I was completely winded after the 1/2 milk walk and subway ride into Boston. I wasn't expecting this since I've walked over a mile on each of the past three days. I was wiped by the time I got home.

Still, I am healing well. My incisions look great (her words not mine), though she cleaned two of them out with peroxide which was uncomfortable (both of them) and made me really squeamish (belly button one).

Blurry (i.e. less gross) photo of my healing incisions

Got some info on some of my questions:

• First, not that they weren't anticipating it, but my fibroid/tumor was confirmed to be benign. It was also 10cm (4 inch) ball all around; now I have dimensions. 
• Because of placement, they didn't have to cut all the way through my uterus to remove it--very good *, but unusual for a fibroid at this stage. They did still have to cut away at layers to get to and detach the fibroid: it was growing off the outside my uterus, but smooth muscle had grown all around it, sandwiching it in. The backside of my uterus is in the process of strengthening and re-growing smooth muscle.
• Forgot to ask about weight gain, but that was just curiosity. 
• A lot of the gas pains I'm still having (not to mention hypersensitivity to my bladder) is because there's suddenly extra room in there. My pieces are all slowly moving back into place as they re-learn where they belong. In the meantime, any trapped gas has to find a creative path out. 
• Finally, the small pains I've been having in my lower sides are likely some of the ligaments that hold my uterus in place; they, too, are healing.

So many working parts!

Bodies sure can be gross, but they're also amazing.

Sayonara.

* Because they did not have to cut open and stitch back together any part of the uterus, if I were ever pregnant I could likely labor no problem, vs. automatic cesarean.

Day 14 (Friday) - Week 3!

Today is both the end of my second week post-surgery and the day of my (first? only?) post-operative  appointment with my surgeon.

Yesterday was very busy--ended up having two overnight guests! So I didn't have time to post. But despite the busy day, staying up very late and getting only 6 hours of sleep, I woke up feeling quite strong in my core--like my old self at moments.

I'm hoping to get positive feedback on my recovery so far at today's appointment. I will also ask about what my body is going through at this point in the healing process, so I can be in tune to that--especially if I decide to start work back in the office on Monday.

Questions for today:

• How much was my uterus cut open to get the fibroid out, and how was it stitched back together?
• What about the surgery/post-surgery caused me to add so much initial weight? 
• I'm still having some piercing pangs from trapped gas. Normal?
• What are the occasional internal pains in the lower right and left of my pelvis?

I'm sure there will be more, but these are currently on my mind.

My surgeon is also a regular practicing Ob/Gyn, so I may ask if she is accepting new patients. I've loved her since day one, and after going through something so...intimate, it might be nice to build on that doctor/patient relationship if it's an option. We will see.

Wish me luck!

Day 11 (Tues) - Part 2: Anatomy Lesson

Well, I've just spent the past hour re-learning female pelvic anatomy.

My last true reproductive anatomy lesson was probably in 8th grade (mind you, through my Unitarian church's Sunday School About Your Sexuality course--middle school was useless for sex ed).

By Fabiform, Wikimedia Commons: License Info

More specifically, I have been reviewing the precise location of everything surrounding my uterus so I can try to make sense of the pains I still have.

NOTE: There are far more graphic drawings than this out there; I'm trying to keep things as G-rated as possible.

To give you a sense of my ex-fibroid in context of this drawing, imagine a large, round mass drawn in at the middle-backside of the uterus. That's where my fibroid was. And it was even larger than my uterus.

(I hope to get a copy of one of my pre-surgery ultrasounds. Another woman, whose fibroid recovery blog I came across, managed to get one.)

Unfortunately, my anatomy review hasn't been helpful. There's nothing I can find located where I still have pains: very lower right and left, about level with the pubic bone (not shown here), which falls in front of the bladder.

I have to assume these pains are my incisions still healing internally. The area on my right hurts the most, which is also my largest incision, and maybe the spot through which they removed the fibroid, piece by piece. Ick.

Day 1 (Saturday)

It is my first full day home after my surgery.

I am the now happy survivor of a robotic-assisted laparoscopic (minimally invasive) myomectomy (surgical fibroid removal). Not so happy yesterday....

Yesterday, Friday, I left home at 5am, arrived at Faulkner Hospital at 6am, and went under/into surgery around 7:30am.

I totally freaked out before going under, as anticipated. I cried. They brought in my husband, Richard, and Mom to calm me (which I was told I wouldn't have been able to do at Brigham & Women's), though I think it just made things worse because I wanted to make them proud. My doctor/surgeon calmed me more than anyone else. She was wonderful.

I woke up in recovery for the first time around 1:30pm. I slept on and off for another hour or so, and then was joined in recovery by Richard and Mom.

My surgery took an hour longer than expected because my fibroid was much larger than they thought - about the size of a grapefruit (last ultrasound suggested the size of a large apple or orange). An extra hour under general anesthesia = longer time getting back to normal afterwards. Ugh.

Richard and Mom waited patiently while I built up both enough 1) fluid in my body (was catheterized throughout surgery) and 2) control of my abdomen muscles to be able to pee on my own. Never thought it could be so hard to pee.

Home by 5pm. What a long day, and I was out for most of it! Much longer for my company, to whom I'm incredibly thankful for staying so close by.