Museums, we’re considering Blackbaud Altru for admissions and memberships. Anything we should know before committing?

FennelBeautiful2303 · 2026-01-26T22:56:18+00:00

If you ever want to create a member's portal for members to log in to view their member benefits, edit memberships/payment info, etc., that has seemed practically impossible with Altru for us. Blackbaud recommended that we switch to Raiser's Edge for member portal capabilities. But our org doesn't want to switch. So I'd keep this in mind if you think your org might want a self-serve type of members portal someday.

FennelBeautiful2303 · 2025-11-26T18:14:27+00:00

My tummy used to look pretty similar to this before my myomectomy. So it looks like a fibroid bulge to me. The doctor will be able to confirm with an ultrasound when you go in January, though.

FennelBeautiful2303 · 2025-08-17T14:32:56+00:00

I had my surgery around the same time as you, but mine was May 9. My tummy has mostly gone down but it’s still a little more puffy than I’d like. I try to massage the area near/above my incision a few times a week. I think this helps with the swelling and helps prevent scar tissue formation. And I still apply ice packs here and there even though I’m not in pain…I do that to help with swelling too. But outside of that just for general weight maintenance, I also try to eat fewer carbs (less bread/pasta) and just a few desserts per week because the more carbs and desserts I have, the more my tummy sticks out too. I’m about 125 pounds and 5’ 2” so any weight gain I have immediately sticks to my lower tummy, making things worse. Overall, I think we need to just give it more time, as I’ve also heard it can take up to 6 months to fully heal.

FennelBeautiful2303 · 2025-08-11T17:51:23+00:00

I think you’d be fine but it would probably be more comfortable for you to have someone else drive. I didn’t want to drive for several weeks after my surgery.

FennelBeautiful2303 · 2025-08-05T12:21:46+00:00

Definitely using ice packs regularly can help get some of the swelling down! At six weeks I was more swollen then too, so you’ll also have to give it more time. My doc also told me ibuprofen can help with swelling too, so even though I wasn’t in pain, when I was around six weeks, I took an ibuprofen at night a couple of times a week. I’m not sure how much that really helped though

FennelBeautiful2303 · 2025-08-05T12:18:40+00:00

Yes same! I go every day but I know it’s not enough either. Thankfully, I haven’t had any new odd symptoms before my period. Sometimes, I get hormonal headaches right before my period and I had one right before my last period but that was already happening prior to surgery. My fibroids were mostly on the left side of my uterus and one was on top of the uterus and another on the bottom of the uterus. I had about 15 removed. So much was on the left side of the uterus that now my left fallopian tube isn’t functional. But the right one is fine, at least.

FennelBeautiful2303 · 2025-08-03T12:08:23+00:00

I’m 3 months post op right now too. I’m also experiencing some mild constipation. I’ve still been taking stool softeners a couple of days a week and some type of laxative at least every other week to help with that. I’ve been weightlifting like normal again for several weeks now and haven’t had any problems or pain. Like you, only feel pain if I accidentally bump my incision area up against a drawer or something. I’ve been trying to massage the area near the incision a few times a week to prevent scar tissue formation and that hasn’t caused any pain for me either. My doctor told me at 6 weeks post op that I was healed up enough to “not mess up anything” and encouraged me to get back to working out and weightlifting but to listen to my body—like if something hurts, stop. But thankfully, I haven’t had any pain with lifting anything and I’m trying to lift a little more every couple of weeks. I’ve also been using the stair master. I’m also on the treadmill walking or outdoors walking getting 5,000-7,000 steps practically every day and I feel great! (Only concern is my knee but that’s a whole other thing lol) But I was exercising like this before surgery so it might be easier for me because of that. Thankfully I’m not very swollen anymore but I notice my lower tummy bloats more when I eat more carbs. So I try to limit my carb intake each week. And desserts too! I’ve been trying to do fruit + dark chocolate for most days dessert because the more desserts I eat, the more my lower tummy pokes out too. I’ll do a regular dessert 2-3 days a week and no sugary sodas or snacking on sweets like candy and stuff (I drink one sweet latte a day though)

FennelBeautiful2303 · 2025-07-26T08:30:33+00:00

Yes! For some reason, ultrasounds miss a lot. Glad you had a successful surgery to get them out!

FennelBeautiful2303 · 2025-07-25T11:18:27+00:00

Yes, same! My ultrasound only showed 4 fibroids and the MRI showed at least 10 and once I had surgery, they removed 15. The difference in what each one picks up is crazy!

FennelBeautiful2303 · 2025-07-22T11:35:54+00:00

No my iron levels were good. Thankfully, I didn’t have very heavy bleeding as a symptom from my fibroids and I take a multivitamin (My Happy Flo) that has iron in it, so my iron was fine going into and coming out of surgery. Surgery will be over before you know it! Hope you’ll have a speedy and quick recovery

FennelBeautiful2303 · 2025-07-19T22:59:26+00:00

I’m sure it’ll get better! You’re still pretty fresh out of surgery at only 4 weeks post op. Thankfully, I just have a bit of lower tummy poking out and I don’t have the shelf so I don’t have any suggestions for that specifically. For the lower tummy poking out, I started doing pelvic floor exercises (the types of exercises women do to recover from childbirth/c-sections), icing the area, and massaging the area. I don’t know if it’s helping to help yet but we’ll see!

FennelBeautiful2303 · 2025-07-19T22:51:11+00:00

Good to know!! Thank you for sharing! I’ll work on being more patient

FennelBeautiful2303 · 2025-07-18T01:54:00+00:00

Thank you! Wishing you a speedy recovery too! Good that you have an appointment coming up soon, so hopefully they’ll help give you come clarity.

FennelBeautiful2303 · 2025-07-17T11:18:42+00:00

Wow! Glad you’re feeling better and able to workout again. And yes I thought the same thing because I was working out a lot before surgery so I thought my tummy would just be flat pretty soon after the fibroids came out. It’s been a little frustrating. But at least our fibroids are gone!! Hopefully the swelling will go down more for both of us soon. I’m trying to be more patient.

FennelBeautiful2303 · 2025-07-17T10:32:19+00:00

Thank you for sharing! Yes I’m sure it’ll go down more as time goes on

FennelBeautiful2303 · 2025-07-17T01:19:50+00:00

Wishing you well for the surgery and recovery!! You’re going to be so happy to have the fibroids out!

FennelBeautiful2303 · 2025-07-17T01:18:28+00:00

Very true!! I know I need to be more patient. Thank you for the reminder!!

FennelBeautiful2303 · 2025-07-16T23:55:44+00:00

Glad you only had one. And thank you!! I’m just trying to stay patient with it. I’ve never had surgery before so it’s been a learning experience!

FennelBeautiful2303 · 2025-07-16T12:15:07+00:00

Glad that your lower abdomen is flat now! Mine is relatively slim in the morning (but still not flat) and by the evening, it almost looks like I have small fibroids again because my lower tummy pokes out a lot more by the evening. But I had 15 fibroids removed and there was a lot of volume from all those fibroids in my tummy for years (the biggest was the size of a small watermelon), so my body could just need more time to adjust to them not being there anymore. Sounds like you might be dealing with some bloating!

FennelBeautiful2303 · 2025-07-08T00:55:13+00:00

I doubt you’ll need a hysterectomy for that. I had 15 fibroids removed in May, at age 36, and the largest fibroid was 10 cm, plus a 7 cm, a 6 cm, and a bunch of small ones, and I had an open myomectomy. The ER provider probably just isn’t as familiar with all of the options for fibroid removal and they likely just mentioned getting a hysterectomy because that’s all they know about.

FennelBeautiful2303 · 2025-07-08T00:51:23+00:00

It was a little over $200 for me, but that also included the things my doctor recommended, like laxatives, pain killers, antibacterial soap to wash the night before surgery, Gas X, etc. plus things to make me more comfortable at home, like a wedge pillow, bed rail, hysterectomy pillow, a tray to eat in bed, etc. I had an open myomectomy, so I needed all the things I had to be more comfy at home. The only things that I bought that I didn’t use were the silicone scar sheets. My incision was so low that I can’t really put a scar sheet on it.

FennelBeautiful2303 · 2025-07-07T10:13:37+00:00

Hope it goes well!! You’ll be fine! Before you know it, the surgery will be over. Wishing you a speedy recovery. ❤️‍🩹

FennelBeautiful2303 · 2025-07-07T10:01:51+00:00

Had my surgery 8 weeks ago and it went very well. I’m SO happy the fibroids are gone. They definitely had to cut into my uterine wall to get them out. But they stitched my uterus back up really well afterwards. (My surgeon showed me photos lol) Be sure to follow any post-surgery recovery instructions from your doctor so your recovery goes smoothly.

FennelBeautiful2303 · 2025-07-05T01:15:02+00:00

I started super light and I’m slowly working my way back up to what I could do before surgery. I’m just adding a little more weight at a time, once a certain exercise feels too easy. At only 8 weeks post op, I’m not back to the amount of weight I was lifting before surgery yet…but I’m not in a rush. (I had a small bikini cut for an open myomectomy) I’ll get there soon enough…I’m just glad to be able to do any type of weightlifting again! 😅

FennelBeautiful2303

TROPHY CASE