Linda Lane
Hi, I have a tvh-bso 11-30-99 (total vagina hysterectomy-bilateral oompherectomy- ie ovaries, etc out). So it all came out. I had had an injury on the ovaries which apparently suppressed or blasted estrogen and when the surgery was completed, it was a relief to not be blasted each month with excess estrogen. My mind cleared up and energy picked up etc. Apparently my adrenal glands which convert progesterone to estrogen were adequate for me because since surgery I have not had one hot flash and am not on ERT supplements though I did my homework in case down stream that changed. Most women out there seeem to need to reevaluate their ERT/HRT needs about every six months. Its important to understand how ERT might impact you, too. For some women, it impacts them a huge amount. My experience was very good also in terms of nerves which were not severed. I have (skin)sensitivity vs the numbness (that I have heard so many abdominals gals talk about --including my mom) If it doesn't come back within 2 years of surgery, it probably won't. My mom never regained her abdominal skin nerves and it impacted her in private ways, too. Also, she was stitched up strangely so she had scar plus a wierd puckering, very embarrassing to her. I never could talk her into some plastic surgery. I didn't want to be in that position, I am young and I want to continue having a full life. I am ok though my husband was supportive of me getting whatever I needed if there had been any problem. If the ovaries go, it changes everything. One online group of ladies I checked into are still looking for the answers that will make their lives ok again. My heart really goes out to them. My local neighbors up and down the street who have had this surgery are all fine and live decent full lives, as I do. I do regularly exercise, eat healthy etc and my bone density looks excellent. The doctor is everything to the success of the surgery and the less that is messed with seems to be key to lasting success. Of the gals I know LAVH seems to be less traumatic (unless the doctor is an idiot) vs abdominal surgeries. As long as major endo or adhesions aren't involved, vaginal (when done by a good doctor as I had) is easiest to recover from though all of them take a solid year to regain full energy from everything that was taken. (Of course, a neighbor whose is fully Korean found abdominal no problem...very strong lady, I was so impressed) If ovaries stay, the doctor can impact the blood flow to it and most apparently do because they just don't know enough yet about how the ovaries work. I own a library of books on this and they all say that usually ovaries fail within 6 months to 5 years. Others just say they don't know why so many fail in this time period. Sometimes the ovaries that are left never restart because perhaps related to surgical shock. I have run across two women whose ovaries grew back (twice!). Amazing stories. Obviously their blood flow, etc, wasn't having any problems! They will likely not lose their ovaries...and no one knows why. Some of my particular problem involved the ovaries so it wasn't a question for me whether to keep them (and the uterus was the same). Some women swear by abdominals saying they want their doctor to be able to see inside well enough. My doctor told me the more that was cut, the more chance for adhesions later on and only in major challenges like existing endo would he do more than vaginal. (Even then, he only ever did LAVH saying that he thought abdominals were ancient technology and so much harder on the women to survive). If the abdominal gets cut open, there are 7 layers to heal through. One lady's doctor said it takes the first 6 weeks to heal up 60% of the surgical cuts/absented areas and the rest of the year to heal up the rest. Healing 1 - 2" cuts is a lot easier than 6-15" which women out there told me they have. One lady took the record at 27". Two things in many of those ladies showed up: 1. no nerves sensivity in the skin area where the surgery was at and around it and no connection when breasts are touched to a counter point in the clitoris (sorry if this is too frank). Of these women, orgasms for them did not continue. Again it depends on tbe connection being severed. There is so much still that is not known about hysterectomies even as we have learned tons. I would urge caution unless you feel this is what is right for you. I know I felt a surprising amount of grief over ending my baby bearing days (I was age 37) and yet I also feel like I was given my life back to me. I am apparently somewhat lucky though not the only lucky one out there. Online usually in hyst groups you will meet the ones who were not so lucky. I weeded through and compared everything I could find. This is a major surgery. It is a surgery that most people (unless they have had it) consider boring routine and hence that you should be up and kicking immediately. It takes weeks to be fully up and kicking and the amount of sleep to recover is huge. Lifting weight too early is usually one thing that seemed to cause a lot of women adhesion problems (if they were going to have them) so I took steps so I had pairs of hands bringing me water, pushing a vacuum cleaner around etc while I focused on things like walking (lots!). If you decide to go with it, the better shape you are going into it, the easier it is to get back to that condition afterwards. One lady broke horses for a living and 6 weeks afterwards, she was back riding them again. Amazing lady. Be sure to check out hystercity.com because it gives the worst possible (abdominal) with suggestions on how to do well pre and post surgery. The TVH I had was so much easier than they described but I took their admonitions seriously and it ended up giving me time to grieve and so on when the physical part wasn't so extensive. This surgery is definitely a personal decision because it changes everything forever. For me, that seems to be a step in the right direction. I began my research for the master's degree by focusing on women, hysterectomies and ERT. Learning everything sure helped me to make up my mind whether to do it. The one thing I have heard over and over is to do your own research -because we are all unique and someone else might not look at what you need. Good luck whatever you choose. Linda