Apparently, ovaries go into shock after a hysterectomy. Their blood supply is affected when the uterine arteries are disconnected, and they no longer have the hormonal mother ship (the uterus itself) to communicate with. Typically, they resume functioning after a couple months. Meanwhile, omg! Yesterday my hormones hit me like a hurricane. I was achy and had a difficult day. No one in my family came to check on me except for when Ben woke up in the morning. At 2:00, I had to remind him that he said he would make me lunch. It's like I was invisible for the whole day. My teenage children are supposed to be focusing on me, but I think they forgot about me. So I burst into tears in the middle of the kitchen (ironically, while Matt was cooking our dinner) and announced that no one loved me as much as I deserved and asked how the people I had carried beneath my heart for so many months could be so heartless in return. (Even I had to roll my eyes at myself.) They all came and gave me hugs and told me how much they loved me and would take care of me and all rolled their eyes at each other when they thought I wouldn't see.
Today's projects:
- Try to channel my hormonal outbursts in more productive ways (i.e., thinking ahead of time about what I want to have happen so they do what I want out of guilt).
- Poop. Yes, this is TMI, but I still have Christmas dinner inside me and it's time. I think today's my lucky day. With the new-found space inside me, my intestines are trying to rearrange myself and haven't yet figured out how to function again.
I can't believe the surgery is finally over. The day of the surgery was quite difficult. I vomited quite a few times throughout the day, due to either the general anesthesia or the morphine--and this was with the anti-nausea meds. The nurses didn't even try to get me up and to the bathroom until around midnight. I made it there, almost fainted, and then threw up. So the catheter stayed with me for a while. By 4 am I was able to walk all the way to the bathroom and back to the bed, and when I could do it again at 6 we removed the catheter. It was amazing how much better I felt from one day to the next. I was able to go home by 10:30 the morning after surgery. Now I'm 3 days post-op. I'm achier today than I was yesterday, but that's normal as the general anesthesia works its way out of my system.
I didn't nap yesterday or today, so I hope I can sleep well tonight.
