• Women skiers, this is the place for you -- an online community without the male-orientation you'll find in conventional ski magazines and internet ski forums. At TheSkiDiva.com, you can connect with other women to talk about skiing in a way that you can relate to, about things that you find of interest. Be sure to join our community to participate (women only, please!). Registration is fast and simple. Just be sure to add [email protected] to your address book so your registration activation emails won't be routed as spam. And please give careful consideration to your user name -- it will not be changed once your registration is confirmed.

Total Hysterectomy Fears

11694s

Diva in Training
8/20/19 Had a total robotic hysterectomy. I have a stitched up vaginal cuff that is still healing at 7 weeks post op, told to wait 2 more weeks for more healing, don't lift anything over a gallon of milk still.

I hear the nightmare stories of vaginal cuff tears and intestines coming out the vagina.
Sooooo...here's my fear....how do I return to skiing? I mean...I'm freaking out over the possibility that mogul skiing, tree skiing, going off cliffs, etc etc will result in a dire trip to ER because the impact caused my cuff to tear..
Is there hope??? Ladies???

They have magic numbers like 6-8 weeks, 12 weeks...when and how do I know it's safe is a question they don't seem to be able to definitively answer, other than "I put a lot of stitches in", and you can ski. Ok fine, but how safe is it?
 

Christy

Angel Diva
Have you looked at the website/message board Hystersisters? That can be a really good resource for this kind of thing. Unfortunately the people that spend the most time there are the people that maybe had more complications and so needed more support, so it might not always be a balanced picture of outcomes. But it might help. I had a hysterectomy (kept my ovaries though) but I haven't heard of a cuff tear so I guess maybe I didn't have that?
 

Susan L

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Hysterectomy may be in the future for me and I was just discussing about recovery time with my husband. He is not an obgyn but he performs surgeries. My obgyn said 12 weeks minimum and my husband said I should be looking at 4 months for full recovery. I did ask him about vaginal cuff tears and although that is possible, it is extremely rare that the intestines will come out.
 

SallyCat

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Cuff tears are pretty rare (less than 1% of all hysterectomies, I've read). I had an abdominal hyst five years ago and was cleared for all activity after 8 weeks after a routine follow-up exam with the surgeon. No complications and I resumed running a couple of weeks later.

Depending on where you are, there's at least another month and a half until ski season, so as long as you're following post-op guidelines and are cleared by the doc, there doesn't seem to be any reason to be worried about a complication that is statistically very improbable.

Christy is absolutely right about Hystersisters: It is a great resource, but the content is very skewed toward people who have had problems. If you're anxious already it may be something you want to approach with caution.
 

Tvan

Angel Diva
+1 on Christy and SallyCat’s comments about Hystersisters. I had a robotic hysterectomy in March of 2013. Best. Decison. Ever. We discovered that I had endometriosis through the pathology report - which explained a lot!

I was back at work in 3 weeks and running at 6 weeks. Because of the timing, I was more than ready to ski the following season, and I still thank the universe that I can live without pain!

As SallyCat said, if you follow the doctor’s protocol, you’re likely to have a good outcome.
 

11694s

Diva in Training
Update: I am now 11 weeks post up and still spotting. Ski season has begun BUT not for me. I'm so upset the doctor never explained to me the long term ramifications otherwise I never ever would have acted and had surgery. The reason I did is I was at high risk based on family history of ovarian cancer and they detected a complex cyst on ultrasound so I thought I had cancer and had to act fast, worst decision of my life, worst.
 

Tvan

Angel Diva
I’m so sorry to hear that you are having a rough recovery. :( Sending healing thoughts to you.
 

Christy

Angel Diva
Has Hystersisters been a good resource? I'm sorry you are recovering more slowly than expected. It sounds like they removed your ovaries, and you and I had very different reasons for surgery, so I can't comment on whether this was the right move or not. But this has to be the low point. Also I think you are in the norm here if you aren't skiing yet. Most of us aren't.
 

newboots

Angel Diva
The best thing my surgeon did when I had abdominal surgery (removal of an endometrioma) was to warn me that depression after surgery is common. It helped immeasurably when I did get overwhelmed and depressed.

Of course, I have no idea how quickly or well you are recovering, but a cancer scare followed by major surgery and a longer-than-expected recovery is an incredible set of stresses. Be kind to yourself. Don’t beat yourself up; you‘ve been through enough! I hope you are fully healed and skiing soon!
 

IceHeeler

Angel Diva
After my hysterectomy, the surgeon wouldn't give a referral for physical therapy. I'm grateful my insurance company agreed to cover it without his referral. I feel it helped the most post-surgery. I was also super depressed for six months post-surgery and had to go on anti-anxiety medication until my hormones leveled out. The good news is once I got through that first few months, I have had nothing but good things to say about the surgery. Not having cancer anymore is also pretty terrific.
 

just jane

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I’m sorry you’re still struggling, @11694s

I had a hysterectomy... I think 3 or 4 years ago now, and it was the best thing ever. I didn’t have cancer so had some flexibility in scheduling and decided for mid-fall to ensure max recovery time before ski season, and minimal infringement on late-summer outdoor fun. I was on the slopes by Christmas and thought that was great.

I also found that hystersisters was a great resource except that a lot of the women posting there, in addition to being more likely to have complications, aren’t particularly active and couldn’t provide as much advice/support around that urge to get back! out! as! soon! as! possible! Still it was super helpful.

I think the best thing is to try and have patience. You can most likely still have a nearly full ski season, and you may just need to give your body a little bit more time. Better to take the time now and heal fully than push it too fast. Abdominal surgery - even a laparoscopic hysterectomy - is a really big deal.
 

Latest posts

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
26,237
Messages
497,679
Members
8,503
Latest member
MermaidKelly
Top