One year out from Surgery - need hysterectomy - surgery date of April 8, 2016

Hello all!

I hope everyone is well!  I am just over one year out from roux-en-y surgery and have lost 120 pounds.  I was 290 now am 170 and still hoping to lose another 20 pounds or so.

I have severe adenomyosis and saw a gynecological surgeon on Wednesday.  He has recommended a hysterectomy.  Has anyone had a hysterectomy after gastric bypass surgery?  What can I expect?  I only have one ovary and he wants to keep that so I don't go into menopause at 41 but he wants to remove everything else including my cervix and fallopian tube.

The nurse has put down that I am allergic to NSAIDs so they don't give me any and my surgery date has been scheduled for April 8, 2016.

Your advice/tips/experiences would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

~Dreamy74

Hi,

I have not had my roux-en-y surgery yet, I have just started the process.  I did have a hysterectomy with left ovary removal at the end of August.  There was a great forum called hystersisters.com that was fantastic and very helpful for me. 

I believe I saw people there who had RNY surgery before their hysterectomies.  Speaking for me, it was the best thing I ever did.  I have my energy back that I didn't have for years.  Recovery was easy, just took a while due to easy exhaustion.  I was six weeks off work, and needed that time to fully recover.

Karen

I had a hysterectomy but not after RNY.  If they can do it vaginally, your recovery will be so much faster.  I was able to come home the same day as I had zero pain many hours after surgery so he said go home.  They took everything but my ovaries for the same reason as they want to leave you with yours.  I've had no issues at all, hysterectomy is very close to the best surgery I ever had.  Toss up between it, wls or ps as my all time best surgery for me.

I had a vaginal hysterectomy at age 31 due to severe endometriosis.  The doctor left 1 ovary and my cervix.  Ovary was left for hormones, and cervix was left because he felt no need to remove it.  The only thing is that I still have to have pap smears.  At the time (1995) he said that in Europe they do not remove the cervix, leaving the cervix allows your body to continue to produce it's own lubricant, and it helps to avoid vaginal prolapse.  I ended up having the other ovary removed 5 years later because my endometrioris had come back with a vengeance, but still left the cervix.  Not sure what advice would be regarding leaving the cervix today, but one thing I remember someone saying to me was "ONCE SOMETHING IS REMOVED, YOU CAN'T PUT IT BACK.  YOU CAN ALWAYS GO BACK AND REMOVE IT LATER IF NEEDED".

Vaginal hysterectomy is very similar to the laparascopic surgery done for our RNY, but they pull the uterus out through the vagina. 

You will be fine without NSAIDS - Percocet or Tylenol #3 will control your pain out of hospital. Don't lift anything heavy for a few weeks, and generally take it easy and you'll be good to go.

Good luck!

Pam

One year after my RNY I had a complete open hysterectomy. Unfortunately I ended up with an abdominal abscess. I have since done some reading and it appears this is common. That was far worse than the hysterectomy. Find out which way the surgery will be done and question them about the chance of an abscess. I personally know 2 other people who ended up with this.

As for pain they had some lovely non nsaid pills that took the pain away

Hello Dreamy74

I had a hysterectomy just short of a year after my RNY surgery - Jan 20 2015 rny Jan 4 2016 hysterectomy- and oddly enough had lost 120 lbs at the time too,  I had a hysterectomy because I had a tumour in my uterus that was the size of a small melon and it was growing, so my experience might be totally different from what you are going to experience.  I was on tumour shrinking drugs for 3 months pre op and had hope to be able to get vaginal hysterectomy, but that was not how it turned out.  I did however see several women come and have vaginal hysterectomies done and be good to go home the next day.  I don't know what specific questions you might have, or the like, but if you do please pm me.

Easy Peasy for me. I had a vaginal hystrectomy at one year post op myself. kept my ovaries. best decision ever. The surgeon kept trying to prescribe me ibuprofen for afterwards. I told him no. then he says "ok we will get them to give you ibuprofen suppository" I told him again, no. lol.. he just didnt understand it seemed. so when the nurses wanted to give it to me i refused. and they were ok with that

Hello everyone thank you for sharing and for your thoughtful replies.  I will definitely check out hystersisters website.

Pat I am so sorry to hear you had an abscess.  I am going to have mine done laparascopically but he did say if something were to be amiss he would switch gears and have to do an open surgery.  But I am hopeful that he will be able to do it laparascopically.  My belly will definitely be a road map after hehe what with the roux-en-y laparascopic scars hehe.

Does anyone have any tips or tricks for when I am in the hospital?  The Doctor's assistant is putting down that I am allergic to NSAIDs... I should be fine with morphine or tylenol #3 I am sure.  And they said they will keep me overnight - is there any way I can convince them to let me go home that day?  I hate being in the hospital and want to recover at home in my own bed.

He said I need 6 weeks off - do you guys think I may be able to return to work sooner?