Recovery after Lap Surgery

Hi,

I am having lap surgery in a couple of weeks to remove endo and I was hoping that I could get some tips on what to expect afterwards. How bad is the pain, what helped the most and how much time you had off work etc?

TIA

I had a lap and dye done a couple of years back, plus they removed a layer off the inside of my uterus while they were there - Ugh!

I would say a week off work is enough for recovery. The pain wasn't terrible and was managed ok with panadol and as rianna08 said was just like period pain for a couple of days. I did find moving around uncomfortable with the stiches though and tended to hobble around half bent over for the first few days.

I found the worst thing was the pain I got from the gas as well. Mine sat in my shoulder/neck and was a killer. The best thing for that was a hot water bottle or wheat bag - made it much more bearable.

Also I just stocked up on trashy movies and spent a couple of days on the couch watching them

Edited by Mum2Sam

Tramadol and Paradex were my best friends after my lap!

I was flat on my back for 24 hours after, took me roughly 2ish weeks to recover but I had a toddler to run after so probably didn't help the recovery process. I ended up with an infection in two of my port hole sites but Antib's cleared them up within a week or so.

Otherwise it wasn't too bad, I agree with Sterryn & Rianna though in regards to the gas hanging around in your system, that was definitely the worst part here too.

Yup Jess is right about standing up to walk afterwards. I had to have a nurse come in and shower me the day after my op and I nearly fainted & had to be helped back to bed (still had the drain in me at that stage too).

And Jess also reminded me, the nausea! I had nausea for about 2-3 weeks on/off following my lap (mine was to remove large ovarian cyst). I'm racking my brain trying to think of the anti-nausea drug I was dosed up on...think it was called dyclophenic (or something along those lines)

Thanks for correcting me Rach - apart from the terrible attempt at spelling Diclofenic at least I remembered the name of one thing I was taking afterwards!

Panadol, Tramadol, Diclofenic/Voltaren and the anti-nausea drug whose name I can't remember. If it does come back to me, ill pop back in here to clarify. I'm pretty sure its a well-known/common one that I was given. Was very effective, worked almost instantly!

I had to stay in over night and yep I do recommend it. Especially if you are going private. Take advantage of the nurses etc.

Oh yeah hehe walking is a bit difficult for a few days for me too. I was all hunched over like an old granny

Little sal when is your lap booked? I'm scheduled to have one on the 17th sept which i'm really nervous about. Great thread. Nice to know what to expect. All the best or your surgery

lol sounds like a plan

Sal pleased your home and well. Yay for having Dh to run after you How did the surgery go did they remove all the endo??

It is classed as stage 2 and he removed the endo as well as bad adhesions on my bowel, I now have some lovely pics of my insides! Had my ovaries tied back otherwise they would stick back to where the adhesions were so have to go back and get the ties snipped in 3 mths. Said my fertility is all good as well, so a positive result overall. Will be even better when I can move again ;)