Myomectomy Surgery Journal: Post-surgery

I am soooo sorry.. I didn’t get to do a blog the week of my surgery. nor the week after..

I had my surgery November 30th 2009. I was at Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal, Canada. The whole staff was very professional and so nice. I was able to have a Abdominal Myomectomy surgery with Dr. Buckett (I’m giving you his name because he is the best).

The procedure was somewhat simple.. well for me at least. I was in full anesthesia (fully asleep, yessss!!!), so I was not aware of anything that was happening to me or what was done exactly. Before my surgery I was told that probably 4 to 5 fibroids would be removed for sure and 2 cystes in the ovaries. Before the surgery, I did not eat at all from the night before, and I was only able to drink CLEAR liquid (water, apple juice..etc..)..  I read the instruction paper, missing out the part where it said CLEAR!! So, when I got to the hospital (early at 6h30am which was my call in time), while I got changed and went to the operating room, one of the nurse or physician there (there was so many people you meet at the same time, it was a bit overwhelming), she asked me if I had only CLEAR LIQUID.. well I told her I only took a very tiny sip of the ARIZONA FRUIT PUNCH, they all looked at me scared and asked my what type of juice, if it had pulp etc..  I told and reassure them that it was a very tiny sip, just to moisture my lips and no pulp at 5am . So they took me to the operating room… If I had dranked more, they would’ve had to postpone the operation.

The only thing I remember before they put me to sleep, was that there was about 10 people around me, putting needles in my hands, strap my arms on the bed, preparing the equipment for the operation; I got a bit scared, so I started to pray. I told God that whatever is happening now, it is in HIS hands… next thing I know mask was on my face and I fell asleep.

When I woke up I was in another room, a new hospital jacket on me and I remember feeling very light, as if I was in heaven, I woke up actually smiling to the nurses around me. I remember feeling very thirsty… I was sooo afraid to look at my stomach because they have told me at first that the incision would be done vertically through my stomach, so I didn’t look. They took me to my room, switch beds and they gave me instructions on how to use the morphine shots, which was controlled. Every 7 minutes I was able to inject myself a new shot just by pressing a button. I guess that was a pretty big surgery I had, I know the intervals between shots varies depending of the pain they think you will have; I didn’t want to get the epidural injection, even though they said it won’t paralyze me.. NO WAY.

My mom was there through the whole process with me, so I was very grateful. She took the day off to be there for me, I owe her sooo much (teary eyes)… She was with me from morning through the evening. My dad came through as well to see if I was okay, and my brother, my cousin, my closest friends who could make it came through or called my brother to show their support, or txt or left messages on my cell, or even sent emails messages (which I was able to read after)… I am blessed(more teary eyes)!!!

I was not able to eat anything the first day.. ice only (barely water) and I peed through a tube that goes into a small plastic bag (forgot the name of it) which I barely felt in my body, so I pretty much didn’t do anything but laying in bed. Every 2 hours, a nurse or auxiliary nurse came to see me (during the night it was every 4 hours).

The good thing about the hospital stay: I was able to stay in the hospital for 4 days, the food was okay, I was pretty much able to eat anything, I had the bed on the window side, they gave me a respiratory type of machine where I had to blow in every hour, the staff was very nice, I had one neighbor in my room (well during the 4 days, I had 3 different patients sleeping on the other bed,  they all stayed only one night… I guess I had a huge surgery), I was able to rest, counting my blessings and reflect a lot, etc… The bad thing.. every 4 hours a staff is coming to see you, even during the night to take vital signs and giving you pills… well, I guess it was a good thing because they check on you to see you are alive… but, I didn’t want to stay because I didn’t really sleep a lot; I was resting a lot on my back, where I am not used to, but didn’t get a lot of sleep…. The second day they removed the “pee bag” off my body, so that it won’t get used to, let me tell you that the first time  you pee, it takes a few try, which I was told is normal. I was able to look at my stomach also when they removed the bandage, it was like a very low C section, they said that I will cure very quick and I had stapples that I will be able to have them removed a week later (16 little stapples in total). In the afternoon,  Dr Buckett took the time to come and see me in the afternoon, he sat with me and told me the procedure that was done and the results.

I pretty much had in total not 4 to 10 but 13 FIBROIDS all around my tummy area AND 2 CYSTES in the same ovary. It was a pretty long process, I lost a lot of blood but not enough to need blood transfusion. He also told me that I am very low in hemoglobin and I need to take more iron that he will prescribe for me.  He told me that I will be fine but really not to lift anything AT ALL, no work, bed rest for 6 weeks. I thanked him for everything because not many surgeons will take the time to see you AFTER you had your surgery done. I started  to walk in the evening to go to the restroom. On the third day, the morphine machine (aka “my best friend” as the nurses teased me with) and fluid bag was removed and they gave me a different pill for the pain. I told myself that I had to walk more.

On my 4rth day after surgery, or post-op, I was back home, the only thing I could do was laying on my back.. very little walking. I had my water, my prescriptions, I remember the first music that I heard playing on the radio at my house was Brandy “Right Here (Departed”, it made me smile and positive.

I didn’t took any pictures from the hospital. But, on my next blog,  I will show you a picture that one of my best friend took for me before going to the hospital and I will show you also the after pictures (probably 5 weeks post-op).

Leave comments or questions.

Thanks,

Bless

Miss Jhane