Final Post-Op Appointment

Hello all! Today was my 6 week (and final) post-op appointment. Dr. G wasn’t available to see me personally so I saw her nurse, Jennifer, instead. The “authority” change didn’t matter to me because I wasn’t expecting any exceptional outcomes, today was just a final box to check in the post-surgical arena. All went well and here are my takeaways:

1. I am healing well. The internal stitches are dissolving as expected and the external incision sites look great.
2. I can start working out again but she said that I should resume slowly so I don’t hurt myself since I’ve been inactive for weeks. My plan is to start with cardio and after a week or so I’ll build in a Sunday yoga class and then add weights. Recently I’ve noticed some random soreness in my shoulder and/or lower back. I’m not sure if it’s because I’ve been inactive, slept wrong or if it’s a side effect of the menopause (related to muscle/joint aches). We’ll see how this progresses over the next few weeks with my workouts and general getting-back-to-life movement.
3. I can resume lifting as normal (Jacob, groceries, taking the trash out (ugh!)) but should do it gradually. This would be fine if my husband wasn’t going on a business trip in 2 days – for 4 days. Oh well! I’ll just remind myself to bend with my knees…not my waist.
4. This one may be TMI (too much information) so skip it if you don’t want to know. When having intercourse for the first few times I should be wary of pain from pressure. Her suggestion is that I take the top position so that I can control my overall comfort level. In addition, I may have some spotting after intercourse but anything more than that is cause for a return visit to the doctor.

Outside of today’s appointment I can report that I’ve been doing well with the Replens. I don’t feel dry/sore anymore and I hope that this will continue to be a solution to the problem. I did ask Jennifer if I’d need to use it forever and she said “likely, yes”. Sigh.

I purchased a pretty (feminine) pill box to store my Estrogen pills. It’s not exactly what I was looking for but the size was key. When I use it in the morning I feel less like I’m taking medicine and that’s a good thing. Effect achieved!

I’ve also been taking the Maca Root daily (for hormonal balance/libido)…well…except I forgot to take my pills this morning. I don’t know if it’s menopause brain or just rushing to get out of the house with snow falling. Anyhow, I feel like there may be a spark of interest – or at least a lack of “please go away and don’t bother me”. That wasn’t easy to admit, or type, so please don’t think I’m be cavalier about the situation. I use humor to ease difficult topics.

Moving on…I have noticed another change since the surgery. Before the surgery I needed to wash my hair daily (at least wet and re-dry) because it would be too flat (not oily) on day-two and no amount of brushing would revive it. Now day-two hair looks good! This change indicates, to me, that the oils in my scalp have reduced. While this is a positive now, I wonder if my hair will be too dry in the coming years. Since I don’t color my hair (yet…we’ll see how the graying goes) I may be ok. Of course day-two hair will be rare if I’m working out daily because I cannot go without shampooing my hair after a workout. At the end of the day this is nothing to worry about…for now.

I’ve been lazy/obsessing about my weight. How odd is that statement? While I’ve been lazy about tracking my Weight Watchers I’ve also been obsessed with not gaining weight. I think I just needed to get today’s appointment out of the way so I can mentally and physically move on with my life. It’s not that I needed permission to do anything specific (related to food or light cardio exercise) but I saw the 6 week healing period as “downtime”. Time to get going again!