Upcoming Laparoscopy Robot Assisted Hysterectomy

I had a laparoscopic hysterectomy in September. Best freaking day of my life and I'm still salty I had to wait until my 50's for it to be approved. I'm happier, healthier, and my quality of live is indescribably better in just about every way now that my life isn't consumed with symptoms. Take all the recovery time you can and follow the instructions exactly. I paid attention to what they said and had virtually no pain or other complications. Like @claireychn074, post-op gas was crazy and walk as much as you can without wearing yourself out or pushing too hard. I started out walking to the corner and back and by the end of my time off, the dog and I would be out for an hour and a half or longer. My surgeon said the walking was the number one thing I could do for my recovery. Luckily (or not!) I have a dog and no yard, so I really didn't have a choice about getting up and moving at least a little bit, which also helped me get up and around. I also took a cranberry supplement to ward off a UTI. Apparently those aren't uncommon as your bladder and other organs get themselves settled after the surgery.

I'd stock up on some favorite books to read. I thought I'd be binging all the shows I never have the time or patience to sit through. I ended up sleeping so much that I never finished an episode or a movie and when I woke up I had no clue what the algorithm had me watching! It was easier to find my place in a book than a show, so I read a ton. It was great!

Food: I stocked up on a lot of easy to prep comfort-type foods. What I also did was move all of the pans and other food and kitchen stuff that I have to bend over to reach to the dining room table so I wouldn't have to bend and lift (note: I life alone, so this might not be necessary if you have someone to help with that kind of stuff). Protein drinks were recommended, so I had one of those a day. What I didn't stock up on that I ended up having my sister run out for was yucky stomach food. I was sick for about 4 days from the anesthesia. I was prescribed Zofran, which helped a lot, but I was totally on the stomach bug diet. Chicken or veggie broth and noodle soups, ginger ale, crackers, all that kind of stuff were all I wanted/could tolerate the first few days and I hadn't anticipated that.

I did not keep my ovaries or cervix, largely to mitigate any future cancer risk. I'm doing HRT, including vaginal cream. I don't know what the cream alone would do, but my mother went through all of peri with just topical cream, so I'd imagine the cream would at least be somewhat effective. When I haven't had an estrogen patch on, I start getting hot flashes mostly, but they're manageable, if somewhat annoying. Before my surgery, I was using an herbal blend for hot flashes that worked really well from a company called Bonafide. I highly recommend checking them out, especially if you're going a non-HRT route. They're a little spendy, but also actually worked, so it was worth it to me.

I know there are a lot of stories out there about rough recoveries and frankly, scaremongering. I found a lot of helpful hints online about things to help prepare that were useful, but also a lot of stuff about weird complications. I'm happy to share my completely unremarkable recovery to hopefully ease some of your nerves.

Thank you so much for sharing! :)

I'm taking a chance on replying, as this may not be relevant.

It's a word about menopause: That's another thing that's catastrophized online, focusing on all the problems. That's extra true recently, because marketers who want to sell us a cure are hitting it hard these days.

I'm not minimizing that a number of women have bad side effects.

I'm just here to report ONE experience with hard-stop menopause, i.e, no peri, with no HRT or cream. There was some unpleasantness from menopause, but it wasn't intolerable. Symptomatic relief helped - strategies, not meds.

Chemotherapy for breast cancer put me in menopause over the course of about a month in my mid-40s. I still had ovaries, but spent 7.5 years taking anti-estrogen drugs of one type or another. The first 2.5 years, it was a drug that partially mimics some estrogen effects, so maybe fewer of certain menopause side effects than from oophorectomy, not sure. The final 5 years, it was a drug that effectively shuts down estrogen production outside the ovaries, and of course the ovaries were not functional at that point. Conceptually, it's sort of a hyper-menopausal state, without the usual post-menopause estrogen from fat cells and others because that production is medically blocked.

I was lucky. It wasn't remotely intolerable, though not a joy every second of course. I often wonder whether completely skipping peri - which you may also do if you go with the oophorectomy - mitigated some symptoms others experience in menopause.

I can't take HRT for obvious reasons: My cancer was estrogen fed per pathology report. My understanding is that I could use cream, but I don't want to if I can avoid it, and so far I can without major difficulty.

Every individual differs. I'm not saying what your experience may be, just suggesting that there's quite a range of possibilities, and the more severe, dramatic end of the scale seems to get more publicity and attention . . . understandably so. If you can keep an open mind, that may help - IME mindset matters to some extent in symptomology, not just in this case but in general. I don't see a benefit in expecting bad experiences, other than ones we may need to plan for, for logistical/practical reasons.

I have full osteoporosis at this point, and I think that 2nd anti-estrogen drug is among the causes, after nearly 25 years in menopause (I'm 69). That menopausal status indicated that my ovaries had pretty much entirely shut down soon after chemo, confirmed by tests.

The HRT - for me - would bring significant risk increase for metastatic cancer recurrence. That outweighs the risks of menopause side effects in my case, including bone and heart risks.

Alive with osteoporosis is a better start on my day than the results of metastatic breast cancer. I had stage III breast cancer, locally advanced, 5 tumors on the left plus one positive lymph node, one tumor on the right. I'm lucky to be alive and with no evidence of cancer at this point.

I'm not trying to tell you - or anyone - not to take HRT. It can be extremely helpful for many women. Even a family history of cancer may not contraindicate HRT. The details of that history matter in an individual way, a thing to discuss with your medical team. If you have a medical oncologist available, that would be relevant expertise, but OB/Gyn doctors also can be good sources.

I also see reaching and staying at a healthy weight, being active with exercise, and getting overall good nutrition as contributors to reduced cancer risk and better cardiovascular health for me, but also for everyone. My blood lipids, blood pressure and other measurable factors have been very good in the years since weight loss, though not great before. Bones, not so great now. 🤷‍♀️

I can't think of anything to add. Everything I can think of has been addressed.

I keep a list on the fridge of easy quick healthy things to eat. Like TV dinners, nearby restaurants, deli foods at grocery stores. It got used a lot for a couple of months. Also a similar grocery list beside it. It got used a little, too.

I wish I had hired someone to clean my house a few times. Hindsight is 20-20.

I never wear dresses. I bought one loose dress to wear home from the hospital. I wore it or my housecoat for a month or so to avoid waistbands.

I was 72, so no question of keeping any female body parts.