I'm Jo from Australia and I had my last surgery in April. During that surgery my ovaries were removed and many adhesions, including those around my bowel which had adhered to the abdominal cavity in about 5 different places. I still have many adhesions left, because my doctor felt that the 4 hours I was under was long enough. That was my third major surgery in 15 months.
It was a laperotomy, so pain from the incision site took about two weeks to settle down. Towards the end of June early July, I began to pick up quickly and had resumed many of my activities. I am a mother of four (three teenagers!!), I run a business from home, I'm the president of the School Parents & Friends, I also do volunteer work with cancer patients.
The hardest thing for me was not being able to drive for a few months after this last lot of surgery, I had to rely on my husband to take me every where.
A few weeks ago my pain level elevated and eventually affected my capacity to walk. My husband even had to help me to the bathroom, walking caused excrutiating pain. It turned out to be a very large cyst sitting on my vaginal vault & was drained Monday week ago in hospital, this last week the pain has reduced some what, but on waking this morning I felt some of the pains & signs I had when the cyst had started to form. My hope is that this is just residual pain & things will settle down again.
For the type of surgery you have had, you must remember that your body will take time to heal. My best advice for you is to be patient & kind to yourself, take time to rest and don't over tax yourself. If you wear make-up, have a shower first thing every morning, get fully dressed and put on your face! I promise you, it will help that feeling of "depression". We all go through a period of "what if's" after surgery....what IF I had left it for longer...waited, what IF I had more information & asked more questions....etc etc......all of this is a natural responce to the "major surgery" you and your body has just endured. Three weeks is at an early stage, give yourself a break, and set some small goals like....next week I will walk two blocks from my house......after that I will add an extra block to my walk....or this week I will see if I can do the light dusting, and sort some of the washing. Make sure that you are getting the help & support you need from family & friends. If you feel tired in the afternoon, lie down for half an hour....no longer, because a short rest is better, a longer one tends to zap your energy more.
Best wishes to you,Dianne, I hope your recovery starts to speed up from here, and I hope I have been of some help to you.
Love, hugs & cheers,
Jo (Australia)
-- Positive AffirmationSay this with your hands above your head (victory style) and repeat three times: I'm Alive I'm Alert I'm a LOT of fun!!
That should get you smiling!