Sunday, August 29, 2010

Life without a uterus....

Thanks to all of you who have personally been following my journey from being "whole" to losing the "factory."  HA!  Someone said I'm an "it" now, no, not quite.  Still have those ovaries to remind me regularly that I am in fact female!

Life has not returned to normal.  Not yet.  While the blessing of having DaVinci surgery means you're back on your feet sooner, those feet are not steady.  There is still the daily struggle of pain, brain fog, and exhaustion.   Who knew 3 hours of anesthesia could render me even more blonde than I'd been prior?  The question is, will my brain cells ever recover, or is this like when you have a baby and you permanently donate those brain cells to them?

My running career is on hold.  I am thankful to be able to walk one mile on the treadmill now.  And the nightly walk around the block with the dogs.  I do think back to the first night when I couldn't even stand up for more than 30 seconds!  Or the first days home when I had to ascend and descend the stairs sideways (yes, like a crab) to avoid the strain on my ab muscles.  It's a process, they keep telling me.

"THEY" is the Hyster-sisters website.  To anyone having the fun of considering, going through, or recovering from a hysterectomy, this is the place for you.  To find the information you need, the support you crave, the friends to laugh with along the way.  Checking in here both pre and post op has been the only way I have gotten through the last 3 weeks.

I must send out a huge thank you to my husband, who waited on me hand and foot when I returned home from the hospital.  He has totally been there for me through this nasty recovery process (and the couple days before which were no picnic either.)

Promises to be back soon and share real chaos.  Like the fact that my house hasn't been cleaned since pre-surgery.  Ron has learned how to run the dishwasher.  Laundry?  What's that?