Hysterectomy Recovery: Day 9, 10, 11

It's been a better few days here on the recovery front! On Wednesday, I was hit with the WORST fatigue I've dealt with in a long time. At around 11am, I forced myself to stay up for a while to eat and hydrate, and then I finally gave in to a nap around 3:45p or so. I thought I'd be asleep for just a few hours... I was out until nearly 7pm. So needless to say, I was up a little later Wednesday night than I intended to be. But I suppose not a bad day.

Thursday, yesterday, has probably been least amount of pain I've had since the surgery. I was confident that yesterday could be my last day on Norco. When I'm not moving, I sometimes forget that I've had surgery. Then once I'm moving, I remember all over again. But that's a wonderful sign!

As it turns out, I actually forgot to take a Norco at the said time today before lunch, realized it 20 minutes later, and because I was up out of bed, I totally forgot again until 2 hours later. My pain had not changed even a little. Yes, there is still pain but I wasn't counting down the minutes until my next dose like all the previous days. So with that knowledge, I took a Tylenol instead of Norco and we're going to see how that bodes as the Norco is leaving my body. It'll take some hours for it to totally leave but hopefully I can JUST stay on the Tylenol.

From the photos attached here on this blog, I'm seeing a big difference in my mid-abdomen! Nothing much below the belly-button has changed but it looks like the high to mid area is down quite a lot in terms of bloat! I can never really tell until I'm looking at photos. Mirrors and perception are very cruel to me so it always feels like the bloat and swelling are the same and that I'll never feel/look normal ever again. I'm constantly trying to be kind to myself and staying logical... If I can do this twice before, I can do it again. And I'll probably have to do it down the road again. But at least I know what to expect and how to handle it.

I was finally able to start eating more whole foods a few days ago. The nausea has come back a few times but I think both episodes were due to overheating more than actual queasiness of my stomach. As soon as I was able to chill (literally), it passed within minutes.

I'm happy with where I am overall right now. I'm still just in bed, watching movies and reading books, doing my best not to cause any setbacks or make this recovery any more difficult than it needs to be. I'm very grateful for all your kind words and good vibes. They've truly helped immensely.

<3 E