Trigger alert: There is a graphic image from my surgery in the article. Don’t scroll down if you are too sensitive
This post is for all of you out there who might be suffering from fibroids and endometriosis and who, just like I did before my surgery, dread going under the knife. When I was in the process of mentally preparing for what I thought would be the most difficult thing I would ever have to go through in my life, I benefited greatly from the fantastic write-up by Helen in Wonderlust about her experience recovering from an open myomectomy.
I thought Helen’s recovery was rather smooth. I read stories shared by people in comments to her post as well as on other forums, and was prepared for the aftermath of my surgery to be painful, miserable and long.
To my great surprise, my recovery on all fronts proceeded much more smoothly and speedily than what I was prepared for. After my six-week post-op check-up, my surgeon wrote into his report that I had made a model recovery. So, I want to share with you some thoughts on what I think may have made the process so smooth for me.
Some basic facts
Let’ start with some context. I was 40 years old when the surgery took place. I had one 9.5-cm fibroid, one 7.5cm fibroid and endometriomas on both ovaries, one of which was big, old and ugly and glued to the largest fibroid, which was growing above it. My operation was planned and done privately because the NHS waiting list was insane and my symptoms were worsening, mostly because of the pressure the fibroids where exerting on my liver, lower back, intestines, and bladder. My symptoms, though, were still relatively mild (For more than a decade, I have successfully managed most of my endo symptoms through diet and lifestyle). Apart from the anxiety I had been suffering because of the very palpable lump in my abdomen, the condition was not affecting my everyday life too much.
The surgery was done through the bikini cut, which is the same way that C-sections are done. I lost about 600 ml of blood during the procedure, which I think is not that much for this type of a surgery. I had been on iron pills for years, so I didn’t get anemic and didn’t require a transfusion after the operation.
The surgery
When they first told me that a surgery was inevitable, I got a panic attack that lasted two weeks. That was over two years before I finally accepted the fact and went for the surgery. I had made quite some progress with my anxiety during those more than two years. But still, when they were wiring me up in the operating theater before the procedure, I was shaking with fear. Fortunately, all went well. I didn’t suffer from anaesthesia awareness, which was the nightmare scenario I dreaded, and both of my ovaries and my uterus survived the surgery intact.
If you are in London and looking for a surgeon to do your op, I can recommend Mr Pratik Shah. My experience with him on all levels was great. He was ready to answer all my pesky questions without patronizing me, and I sort of had an impression that he’d seen so many fibroids and endo-cyst during his career that my insides couldn’t surprise him.
Recovery milestones
Day 1 post-op
The first 24 hours were rough. The experience of absolute physical fragility and dependency on others was new to me. I wasn’t in too much pain, which seemed to have surprised both, myself and the night nurse who looked after me. But I barely slept the first night, mostly because of anxiety that my breathing will stop. I was hooked to a drip through a canula in my hand, I had an oxygen tube in my nose, a catheter was draining my bladder and a drainage tube was removing blood and I don’t know what else from inside my wound. On top of that, throughout the night, I had on the odd inflating stockings that pumped blood from my claves. All of that except for the canula was removed the morning after the surgery.
Breakfast the morning after the op was my first meal since the mandatory pre-op fast. Thanks to Helen’s post, I was aware that trapped intestinal gas can be a problem after the surgery that could cause a great deal of pain and discomfort. I heeded Helen’s advice and began drinking peppermint tea during my first night. It must have worked because I managed to avoid the trapped gas problem entirely.
After they unplugged me from all the machinery (the removal of the drainage tube from my wound was the worst), I was made to get up and go to the bathroom. Standing up at first was quite terrifying and it took some time and coaching to figure out how to get out of bed without hurting too much. The reclining hospital bed greatly facilitated this process. I soon found out that although the process of getting into the vertical position hurt, once I was on my feet, I was O.K.
I began to eat a bit, but was extremely weak. The nurse took my blood pressure every two hours, which remained very low throughout the day. A friend who came to see me was a bit concerned about the value on the monitor, but I was too tired to even look. I was drifting off to sleep throughout the day, but gradually I started to feel better. After my friend left, I even managed a mini-walk around the ward.
They fed me all sorts of painkillers and laxatives. In combination with the peppermint tea, the laxatives worked perfectly, and I was not only trapped gas-free but also constipation-free.
Since I had woken up from anesthesia, I was also talking the homeopathic remedy arnica. My surgeon recommended it to me, saying he had seen people taking it and having good recoveries with it. Think what you will about homeopathy, it might be just placebo, but when it comes to recovering from a major surgery, I’d use anything to recover fast.
I slept like a baby my second night at hospital and woke up into my second post-op day considerably more optimistic.
Day 2 post-op: going home
On my second post-op morning, the nurse removed the canula, which was hugely liberating. From then on, I was making regular rounds around the ward, eating salads, which they finally allowed me to have, chilling, watching the coronation and waiting for my surgeon to come and discharge me.
In my take-home goodie bag were two extra pairs of compression stockings against embolism (wear them for six weeks), ten days-worth of anti-clotting injections (have someone inject them into your stomach daily if you can’t do it yourself), some more laxatives and codeine-based painkillers. I was in no pain, so I asked whether I could use paracetamol instead as I didn’t like the idea of taking codeine. The nurse said paracetamol wouldn’t be enough. But I tried anyway, and it turned out to be pretty much enough for me. From day three or four, I was only taking paracetamol at night and was without any pain medication throughout the day.
At home recovery week 1
The first three days following my discharge from hospital, I stayed with a friend. To my surprise, I found myself stronger than I had expected. I was shuffling rather than walking. Coughing, and laughing was excruciating (It’s not easy to avoid coughing after a surgery because the tube they stick down your throat to ventilate you during general anesthesia causes irritation. In the early days, I made sure there was always a glass of water within reach and that I had a packet of lemon and honey lozenges in my dressing gown pocket to sooth the irritation.)
Other than that, I felt unexpectedly self-sufficient. I could walk up and down the stairs without problems. I could help in the kitchen a bit. And we even managed a little shuffle around the block in my pyjamas.
Although I wasn’t in pain, my abdomen was swollen, so I virtually lived in my loose pyjamas bottoms for something like ten days. They sat on my hips and put no pressure on the delicate area around my incision, so I was perfectly comfortable.
When walking and moving around, I began focusing on counteracting my inclination to hunch forward — an instinct to protect the incision. Straightening your back is not going to hurt. It might tug a little but at least all those muscles don’t shorten too much.
I had a little bit of vaginal bleeding in the first few days. I was told to expect that, so I wasn’t worried.
I started doing the exercises prescribed by the hospital physiotherapist. Simple pelvic tilts and lifts, and knee rolls. First, I was doing just one set of each. By the end of week 1, I worked up to three sets.
Once I got back home, I put myself on a power diet of loads of protein and vegetables to get myself back to shape. (I will describe my pre-op and post-op diet in more detail in a separate section at the end of this article).
I was still very tired, weak and fragile. Every morning I would shuffle out and sit in the garden with a mug of bone broth. I had my surgery in early May. The weather was nice. I would soak up the sun and admire the blue bells adorning the flower beds. I felt like a 90-year-old, just watching the world go round, completely disinterested in the grind of my normal reality.
My face was pale, and our cat was visibly suspicious of me. I began taking short walks. Just three minutes down the road to a health-food shop to get a small bar of dark chocolate. I would gradually increase the duration of these walks, but at first, they were extremely draining. Often, I would need to take a two-hour nap after such exertion. But I had no pain. With the help of the laxatives my bowels were working well. My housemate was taking care of my blood thinning injections. So I just took life easy.
Six days after my surgery, my housemate removed the wound dressing, which made me feel a little more fragile and unprotected for a while. But the incision looked good, so I quickly got used to the new sensation.
Week 2: Getting stronger
During my second week post-op, I gradually increased the length of my walks. I was told by the physio that I shouldn’t walk for more than 30 minutes in one go. But the weather was lovely, the park next to my house was in its full late-spring bloom, and I wanted to enjoy it. I would at least try to take breaks, but by the end of Week 2, I was doing my regular pre-op lunchtime walks of around 45-minutes, just walking slower.
I also discovered that there were many exercises that I could do without hurting my incision, so I began with gentle yoga workouts, focusing on maintaining leg and upper body strength and gentle stretching.
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During my second post-surgery week, I ditched the paracetamol, ran out of laxatives and finished my anti-clotting injections. I still had to wear the compression socks, but life was quickly returning to normal.
Once I was off the prescription meds, I started taking my supplements again – vitamin D, B complex and iron, to replenish the nutrients I lost with those 600 millilitres of blood during the surgery.
Two weeks after the surgery, I got my period, exactly as it should have arrived, which surprised me. It was quite heavy. I would get another period another two weeks later. I felt a little hormonally dysregulated for several months after the surgery, which I attributed to the shock my ovaries had suffered when stripped off those endo-cysts. For several months, I was suffering from symptoms of estrogen dominance (mostly breast tenderness), which I had previously eliminated with diet. Fortunately, things returned back to normal eventually.
Week 3,4,5,6: Stronger and stronger
Halfway through week 3, I returned to work (I work from home, sitting at a desk, so it wasn’t too demanding). I felt ready to work. The excessive fatigue had subsided by that time. I began having bouts of feeling really well, and I had to hold myself back to not overdo my exercises.
My abdomen was still quite swollen and my incision tender. But I found that I could do quite a lot of conditioning to maintain my muscle mass without putting pressure on my stomach. Soon, I was doing 40-minute to 1-hour gentle yoga/soft conditioning sessions nearly every day.
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I continued with my recovery power diet.
By the end of Week 6, the end of my official primary recovery period, I had long forgotten about the 30-minute walking limit and was ready to face my surgeon for my post-op appointment.
He remarked that I was doing obviously well and wrote into my post-op report that I had made a model recovery. I still should avoid intense exercise, he added. I was ready to take things up a notch but it took a few more months to get back to normal.
Week 7 and onwards: recovering from the recovery
In my day-to-day life, I had nearly forgotten that I had a surgery by that time and would almost feel surprised when people inquired about my well-being.
I began working on recovering from the recovery and increased the intensity of my workouts. Two months after my surgery, I started doing handstands and more intense conditioning and stretching to regain my pre-op flexibility. Back bending was quite uncomfortable at first and getting into my bridge seemed impossible. But once again, I was positively surprised with the speed of my progress.
My surgeon reassured me that no amount of stretching would hurt the incision at that stage, so I kept at it. My abs were tight, and the stretches felt intense. But gradually, things were loosening up.
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A little more than two months after my surgery, I went on holiday and had no problems lifting my suitcase while boarding and alighting the train (a small suitcase that was).
To regain strength in my abs, I started with gentle crunches and added girl push-ups to build up my upper body strength.
Three months post-op and beyond
After three months, I added an occasional run but it took me a while to build up the level of regularity with my workouts that I aimed at. It’s hard to say whether that had anything to do with my surgery or with many other things going on in my life at that time.
At the time of writing this post, I am seven months post-op and trying to get into a routine of daily hour to hour-and-a-half workouts that combine running, yoga and acrobatic drills.
Looking back at the surgery and the recovery, I have almost forgotten all about it and feel it barely caused any significant disruption to my life. My periods are pretty much as they were before the surgery, that is slightly heavier but perfectly pain-free, and my hormones feel the same as before the op.
A note on mental well-being after a surgery
When you research what to expect after a major surgery, you’ll find that a lot of people report suffering from some form of depressive symptoms in the aftermath of general anaesthesia.
I do remember that after I returned home, I had this weird feeling that I wasn’t totally sure whether I wanted to return into my life. I have CPTSD from my childhood, and life had certainly come with more than a fair share of difficulties for me. I am used to my moods being a little up and down. It’s my normal. For this reason, I can’t say whether whatever emotional upheavals I was experiencing after my surgery were a result of the surgery or my general process of going through emotional stuff from the past. I don’t think I was psychologically in a worse place than before the surgery, but things were happening on that front for sure. In fact, I decided to leave my job three months after my surgery because I concluded that things just weren’t totally right there.
What I think made my recovery so smooth?
- Pre-op fitness
When I was deciding on the surgery, I chose not to try and have my fibroids shrunk by hormonal medication that would put me into temporary menopause. The reasoning for the medication was that maybe I could have the surgery done laparoscopically, which is less traumatic for the body. I read through the list of side-effect and immediately knew that THAT was not for me. I am high risk for depression, mood swings and insomnia, but I am really good at taking care of myself. I knew that my body would get me through the aftermath of the surgery, as long as I remained my usual self before the op. And that’s exactly what happened.
What specifically helped me, I believe, apart from having a great surgeon and losing only a manageable amount of blood, was my upper body strength and above-average level of fitness. I am a huge believer in exercise that engages your entire body and prevents muscular imbalances. It’s easy for me. I have loved gymnastics ever since I was a child, and my usual workout is a blend of yoga and acrobatics. I spend a lot of time doing handstands, deep back-bends and targeted conditioning so that I don’t hurt myself in my acrobatic attempts. As a result, even with the wound in my abdominals, I had a pretty good amount of muscle mass around my core, back, sides and even the rest of my abs that life post-op wasn’t too hard and getting physically active again felt like my body’s natural need.
In fact, I was doing yoga stretches on my hospital bed up until the moment they came to take me to the theater. I like to think that helped a little too.
I do believe that my physical fitness also helped keep my symptoms at bay for quite a long time before the op. Deep stretching that increases blood flow in the pelvic region always felt good. I think it flushes out the toxins that the fibroids and the endometriosis produce.
I am not an extra passionate runner, but I developed a linking for it in recent years and especially in winter like to go for a 30-minute run several times a week before my conditioning/acrobatics workout.
2. Pre-op diet
Many years ago, I started this blog hoping to chart my successful journey controlling endometriosis through diet. That journey has not been the 100% miraculous success that I had hope for. BUT. By following an anti-inflammatory diet based on the Wahls Protocol, I managed to eliminate most of my symptoms.
I was 31 when I was diagnosed. At that time, the fibroids were small and there was an endo-cyst only on one of my ovaries. Still, at that time, I was in extreme pain at the beginning of every period. I also suffered from what appeared as symptoms of estrogen dominance, which in my case manifested as extreme breast tenderness during the second half of my cycle.
By the time I had the surgery, the fibroids had grown substantially and there were endo-cysts on both of my ovaries. Yet, my periods were mostly pain-free.
3. Super diet post-op
After the surgery, you are recommended to eat foods that can be easily digested to prevent strain during bowel movement. I was mostly taking care of myself since the fifth day post op, so I focused on food that doesn’t need too much preparation: a lot of veggies, mostly in the form of salads and good quality protein. I stocked up on smoked salmon, chicken liver and bone broth to replenish the nutrients that I had lost due to the bleeding, and to provide my body with the building blocks needed for the post-op repair work.
I was trying to stick as much to my anti-inflammatory way of eating, which means avoiding sugar, gluten and processed foods as much as possible. I am generally alcohol-free and my only vice is dark chocolate and nakd bars.
4. Not using pain meds in my normal life
Perhaps the most pleasant surprise in the entire post-op period was the fact that I was pretty much pain-free. There was discomfort while standing up in the early days, but once I was on my feet, I was fine.
From Day 3, I was taking only one or two paracetamol tablets at night for better sleep. (Despite the hospital nurse’s prediction that I would need codeine tablets)
Why was I in so little pain? I don’t know. I assume, partly, that my pain-meds receptors are very sensitive since I rarely ever take pain meds in my normal life. I also don’t drink alcohol or take anything else that could blunt my response to these drugs.
5. Building up iron stores
How you feel after your surgery depends a great deal on how the surgery goes. How much blood you lose during the operation will have a great effect on how you feel and how long it takes for your to regain strength.
If you have a chance, choose a good surgeon. Also, if you can, you don’t wait with the surgery for the fibroids to get super big. Mine were quite large but the surgeons still managed to remove them through the bikini cut. To remove larger fibroids, they need to do a vertical incision, which is larger and takes more time to heal.
Also, the larger the fibroids, the more bruising on the uterus, which is another source of pain and discomfort after a myomectomy.
The longer and more complicated the surgery, the more blood loss you are likely to experience.
Even in the best case, there will most likely be some blood loss during a myomectomy. For this reason, it’s wise to build up your iron stores before the surgery and begin taking your iron tablets as soon as your doctors allows you to after the surgery. If you have fibroids and endo, your periods are most likely on the heavier side, so taking a gentle iron tablet should be part of your routine to prevent anemia anyway. The body stores iron in the form of ferritin. If your ferritin stores are high enough, the body has reserves and you are less likely to become anemic after the surgery
6. Having done my research and being prepared for a difficult recovery
I believe that having a proper understanding of how serious the surgery is and knowing what to expect afterwards is extremely important for a smooth recovery process. If you prepare for discomfort and pain, you will not be surprised if you feel miserable. If you plan for being weak and fragile, you can arrange for support in the days after your surgery.
I was prepared for the aftermath to be much worse than it was. My surgeon was not sugar-coating it for me and was preparing me for the possible worst outcomes, including a lot of pain (myomectomies are in general much more painful than C-sections because the uterus is all stitched up an heavily bruised. The fibroids are inside the uterine wall and the surgeons have to peel that uterine wall off as of they were peeling an orange. The inside of the uterine wall where the fibroid once was can develop hematomas, which take a long time to heal and can cause a lot of pain. Thankfully, none of that was my experience.)
I was virtually prepared for two weeks of misery and two to three-month disruption to my life. Except for Day 1, however, my recovery journey was a pleasant and speedy surprise, which certainly enhanced my mental well-being post-op.
7. Having had the op in late spring
I initially disliked the idea of having the surgery in early May as I thought the recovery would ruin my entire summer. But there were many positives in going through my recovery in this part of the year. The weeks after my surgery were mild and pleasant, the park near my home was green and inviting, and it was easy to make myself go out and do my recommended amount of walking. In fact, it was difficult to keep myself from overdoing it.
Instead of being stuck in my bedroom watching Netflix (which I did too, but in moderation), I could also enjoy the sunshine in the garden, sitting on the lawn and breathing fresh air.
8. Showering the incision with cold water
I don’t enjoy cold showers, but I believe in them. Yet, after a surgery, I think it’s good to take things easy. I remember that showering and washing my hair was quite tiring at the beginning, but I soon began enjoying showering my incision with lukewarm and moderately cold water. The incision feels very alive in the weeks after the surgery, and I felt that cold water was doing something good.
To sum up
If your fibroids are growing larger and it’s becoming obvious that whatever natural treatment you’ve been following is not stopping the process, find a good doctor who is ready to answer all your question and doesn’t patronize you. Once you know what awaits you, try to get yourself into the best shape physically and mentally so that your body and mind are in a good place to get you through it.
Once you’re out of the hospital, make sure you have some support in the first days to see how you’re doing. Perfect your diet, do the exercises recommended by the physio, take it easy, work on your mental health, do your walking and listen to your body.
Good luck, and let me know how it went for you.
Tereza's Health Blog 
Thanks for sharing, being honest and detailed. I can ID with you as one who went through aortic valve replacement (open heart) surgery and then into cardiogenic shock a week later. It was a long, rough road of 90 days in hospitals and rehab. The worst parts: hallucinations from the anesthesia and pain medication and learning to walk again. You are brave, strong woman and you will help many other women with your post. Continue to heal and write. All the best.
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Thank you for your message. I am sorry that you’ve been through such a traumatic experience. Mine was clearly nothing compared to that. I hope you’ve made a full recovery. Life really does have a tendency to get rough. It’s scary.
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Ver scary. They called me the miracle man and it was clearly because of prayer and God’s grace I survived and healed. My heart had emotionally and physically been broken by narcissistic abuse. God did a complete healing work. Take care and be healed.
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I am glad you’ve recovered. It must have been a very intense experience. Were you clinically dead? Do you remember anything?
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Yes, although no major organs other than my heart shut down. My heart was not pumping any blood, so I was on an external pump for five weeks. I was on a ventilator and developed antibiotic-resistant pneumonia. I experienced horrible things during those weeks of unconsciousness, hanging between life and death. Hellish stuff, being tortured by the former employers who eliminated my position in a political move. I saw my ex-wife murder my grandson (the ex was a covert cerebral narcissist). I saw my father murdered. I saw my pets killed. I saw my wife doing all manner of horrible things. And the whole time was tied down in a bed with all manner of constraints, locked inside a storage container with doors. Torture after torture. I still have flashbacks and those memories are more vivid that anything that is real. The medical people just brushed it all off, but it was all very real to me. It took months for my mind to adjust to reality, but there are still times I think I am actually dead and what I am living is just a dream. The experience has pushed me closer to God, if that was hell, there was no way I want to be in it for eternity. I am finding peace in reading the Gospels in The Message paraphrase and prayer. I was a Christian before all of this, but I had divorced my wife to marry the covert narc, a huge mistake. I think the guilt and shame of that had a lot to do with my punishments. I am not a Catholic, but maybe I slipped into Purgatory, or some form of it. I still have trouble sleeping and terrible nightmares; never a good dream. And, tomorrow, I face more medical tests and possible surgeries. Very scary. But, your post was comforting. Thank you.
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That all sounds terrifying. It sounds like you are suffering from PTSD as a result of all that. I hope your upcoming medical procedures go well. It is awful that we live in a world where there is so much suffering inflicted by humans on other humans. In fact, it appears to me that humans are the chief cause of suffering in the world. Interesting idea about living in a dream. I think Carl Jung was describing something similar after his near death experience. It is also interesting how the unconscious magnifies the reality. I remember when I was recovering from a relationship with a narc and still in the dark about the nature of all that, I had repeated dreams where I saw him as some dark figure with a permanently disfigured face. Like something inside of me knew what he was all about when I was still in the dark about it cognitively.
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Narcissistic abuse messes with your heart and mind. It is like Satan has been given full access to your inner being. And you will never be the same after that. You will heal with time, but that door has been opened and evil has taken note of each weakness and vulnerability. Yes, I had PTSD and cognitive dissonance. I live a very isolated life and there is no one except my dear wife to whom I can talk. Plus, I am very hard of hearing, which isolates me further. More details on my long road to recovery are on my blog at thefeathercottage.com. Please take care and shield yourself from evil with God’s love. It is our only hope as mankind. We are indeed so cruel to each other. All these trials have made me a my empathetic person and eager to participate in the Kingdom that is coming. Evil will be destroyed. There will be no death. I practice the latter in my daily life by being a vegan. There can’t be meat in a kingdom where eternal life exists for all. No more dying, no more pain, no more evil! No more bloodshed of man or mammal. Lion and lamb lying down together! The symbolism of that is so beautiful!
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I wish I could be a vegetarian but my IBS unfortunately flares up when I eat too much soy. Is a better world possible? I would like to hope but it seems to me that there are too many people who are willing enablers. And hence, scapegoats end up marginalized over and over again. We need to be grateful that thanks to the internet, we can connect with others with similar experiences and gain strength and validation from that. Take good care of yourself…
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You, too. I have IBS and don’t eat much soy, but there are many alternatives to soy for protein.
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