Recovery: Week 3 (Aug 3–10)

By the end of week 3 my itching was minimal (tolerable without any antihistamines) and I started feeling much better overall. I had more energy and felt like the surgery was finally worthwhile. I initially thought I was healing really slowly, but I got my full surgical report and pathology back and learned my surgery was much more complex than I thought. That’s given me a lot more patience with my body and gratitude it’s been healing and not getting infected!

My digestive issues were showing the most improvement (no bloating after meals and regular bowel movements for the first time ever) with significantly less pain during a bowel movement, and thanks to triphala (taking it twice a day) my bowel habits have normalized and are definitely regular (I went from going once or twice a week—if that—to once or twice a day). While I’m glad to see this improvement, I won’t see much other improvement in my other pre-surgery symptoms for a while.

My triphala. I take 2 two times a day and it's great for regularity.

Because I’m on the depo shot which has stopped my periods (until who knows when) I won’t see improvement in terms of irregularity, PMS pain, or flow until the shot wears off and my periods return. I’ve heard though that the first few periods after endo surgery are horrible though, so even though I hate the side effects of the hormones, I’m glad I don’t have to deal with that pain. However, the shot has made me spot/breakthrough bleed since I got it 10 weeks ago, so it’s kind of hard to determine at this point what’s bleeding from surgery and what’s bleeding from the hormones, but at least it’s not painful.

My other symptom was painful sex. At my post-op appointment I was cleared of all restrictions and told I could have sex as soon as I felt up to it. I don’t feel up to it yet, so I don’t know if that pain is gone yet (but it really should be).

I started driving myself again which was exhausting and painful at first (Utah drivers make me clench my abs and that hurts), but each day it’s gotten easier thanks to increased strength and the pillow/blanket I still keep between me and my seatbelt.

Other symptoms of note are my glue from my incisions finally started loosening and peeling up so I just trimmed it back as needed to prevent it snagging on anything. I also still can’t wear any clothes that compress my abdomen (no leggings unless they’re rolled down, tighter dresses/skirts, or LDS garments), but I’m hopeful that will change soon. And I also took it a little too hard one day and was up and doing more than usual because I was finally feeling a lot better. I think the key is to keep taking it slow because the next day I paid for it—I was pretty sore again and bleeding a bit heavier and it was all fresh blood. Fortunately I have an infrared heating pad that helps reduce inflammation and feels really nice on my belly.