Recovery & Most Men Don't Make Good Nurses

                                      March 11, 2016

Before I went in for surgery, I had noticed Mallery seemed to be very hungry all the time. The internet said this could be a symptom of diabetes. I made an appointment to the veterinary and had a Senior Panel done. To my surprise, I was told she was doing extremely well considering her past and her kidney disease was stable. Now I could go to surgery and not worry about her. On my return home from the hospital, Joe said, "I can see why you get nothing done! It seemed all I did was take care of Mallery!"

Mallery gets 4 liquid supplements and one spray pump twice a day.

She gets 5 pills once a day wrapped in creme cheese and lunch meat, and one 1/4 pill wrapped the same way twice a day.

While I was gone, Joe took her to a veterinary just up the street, so they could administer the daily sub q fluids that I normally do. They only charge $5 each day.  At first were not charging him anything but he insisted he should pay something. We brought our on fluids that I ordered off the internet. My vet from Michigan sent an online prescription, so we could get her fluids at a better rate.

Then of course sometimes Mallery has to go outside every hour, because of her kidney disease. And to top all this off she has to have her homemade food that is frozen warmed up 2 times a day, Sometimes she rejects this food too, because it is not all beef! Yes she is very high maintenance.

So then I come home to add to his burden of someone else to care for. I was still on the pain pill, Percocet, but at a half dose every 4 hours, except at night and once a day with a full dose. Ten minutes after taking them, I would fall asleep. This is not normal for me. I never nap, even when I don't sleep at night. While I was in the hospital I was also taking Gas X, Stool Softeners, anti-nausea medicine. Shortly after getting home, I soon realized I needed to get  the Gax X, Stool Softeners, Suppositories, plus CearLax to get my system going. Dr.Max told me that this is the last thing that wakes up from anesthesia. I have done internet searches, and this seems to be the biggest complication of hysterectomies.

 I have a 6 inch incision below my bikini line, and I was being very careful to not hurt that area by not picking anything up over 8lbs, per Dr's. orders, and being careful getting in and out of bed. (The picture above is at 3 and 4 weeks). I didn't understate my home instructions, and didn't take off the Sterile-strips until day 10. I was suppose to remove them the day after I left the hospital. I think leaving them on so long may have caused the scar to thicken a bit. As every day went by, I could tell Joe was wearing down from the constant caring of us. On the 5th night at home, we had an incident that made me realize it was time to put the big girl pants on and kick it into gear. I won't bore you with the details, but I knew what all mothers and women realize. There is no time to be sick or for recovery. No one is ever going to take care of you, except you! I don't mean to be cynical or mean, but it is just the truth. If you have a husband who makes a good nurse, you are "Blessed". God made women the care takers, and that is just the way it is. At that point I started to do more of the things that needed to be done. I am sure my recovery has speed up because of it, to my benefit. My sister Nancy who is a nurse, had a hysterectomy a year earlier. She had told me her husband was not a good nurse, and she wouldn't want to be dying under his care. That statement came to my mind, and I had to agree.  After a week, I still was having nausea, and eating very little, so I called the Dr's office. The nurse called in some anti-nausea medicine and full strength Tylenol. She told me the pain medicine can cause nausea, so I could slowly switch over to Tylenol if I tolerated it. I am at  almost 4 week post surgery and doing really well except still taking Clearlax because we are on our way home to Michigan. I didn't want any of the cramping I have had due to being plugged up, while on the road. That would not be pleasant for either of us.  I have always been able to out walk Joe, but since surgery, when we walked to the mail boxes 2 blocks away in Gulf Shores, I had to keep asking him to slow down. I started back on hormones 2 days after getting back home from the hospital. I slept really well in the hospital when on the pain medicine, but as soon as I came off them at 1 1/2 weeks, I wasn't sleeping again. At 31/2 weeks, I have just started to sleep good again. It took a little longer for the hormones to kick in. At 61 and the removal of a hormone producing organ, I am sure it is going to take more hormones than before, to make me feel my best. I really felt my recovery would have been much harder than it has been. If anyone is considering this type of hysterectomy, my only recommendation is to find a doctor that does abdominal hysterectomies frequently. I was in and out of surgery in 45 minutes, and recovery has been relatively easy.