April 24, 2014

Six Weeks Later – My Davinci Robotic Hysterectomy

Hi, everyone! How can it be that tomorrow marks six weeks since my surgery? SIX WEEKS! Where does the time go? So how am I doing? Well, let me tell you about my Davinci robotic hysterectomy recovery! You can read all about the actual surgery here. Note: sorry photos are missing – paid someone to do an update and well, that didn’t go so well. Working on the fix. Thanks for your patience.

Davinci robotic hysterectomy recovery – the REAL DEAL

I am doing GREAT. I saw Dr. G on April 15th. The week prior I had a dream that he was examining me and said, “Sorry, you’ll have to wait another week to have sex.” And then he said, “Just kidding! You’re all good to go.” I told him, “AHHH! Don’t do that to me!”

So I went in, excitedly, and ready for the all clear. Dr. G performed my exam and declared me healed. For those wondering, yes, it was an internal exam. Honestly, last time he performed one it hurt terribly. This time I could barely feel anything. He did mention to take it a little easy because while I’m healed from the incisions and stitches, things could still be a little swollen internally.

He felt my ovaries during the exam and I was joking about how the eggs now have nowhere to go. I continued joking around, “What if they just float to my hands or something?” In all seriousness, for those wondering, as Dr. G explained, if every egg a woman released from now until the end of her cycles was collected and put on top of each other, it would be no bigger than a speck of dust. The body reabsorbs them and it’s fine. Regarding the ovaries themselves, because I had my fallopian tubes removed, you might ask, “So now your ovaries are just floating?” No, no. They’re also anchored in the body by other ligaments so they don’t move or “float”.

I made my appointment for my well woman exam in May and went on my very merry way.

Sufficed to say, that was a great night.

Davinci robotic hysterectomy recovery – exercise

I’ve started working out again – just gradually easing back in. I find motivation is still somewhat lacking when it comes to actually just go work out, but I’m getting there. I need a workout buddy who wakes up early!

On the elliptical. I didn’t want to stop to take the picture, so it came out blurry. And woo 5:00am workouts suck, but it is good to come home from the office and not to have to do one! Yes my face looks like a cherry.

In celebration that I COULD finally get on the bike again, that weekend we hopped on Sound of Madness (yes, bikers name their bikes) and took off to Palm Springs with friends for Easter Brunch. Allow me to show off the new 14″ Paul Yaffe bars and new grips:

Sound of Madness and the new bars

Pit stop in San Ysidro:

Tangent: If you’d like to ride along for when we came down the mountain, into Palm Springs, here’s part of the ride. Of course, a bug got on the Go-Pro haha. He wanted to ride, too! If you skip to halfway through and watch for just a minute, you’ll get the gist.

I couldn’t be more grateful. I kept waiting for pain, cramps, nausea and migraines this month. They, of course, never arrived. I didn’t want to trust that this freedom is real – but it is! It is like I have been given a whole new life! I am just so happy there are no words worthy of describing the feeling.

I will certainly keep everyone updated periodically, no pun intended. Thank you for all of the kind words, the support and encouragement. For any women on their own journeys, please don’t ever hesitate to contact me with questions or for information.

The Davinci robotic hysterectomy recovery journey may be coming to an end, but this new sweet abandon is just the beginning!