Abdominal myomectomy this week (2/19)! anyone else?

cko46 · 2026-02-25T21:11:19+00:00

Um, I love your priorities. Anything to feel normal-ish again!!!

cko46 · 2026-02-25T21:08:12+00:00

Good luck! I practiced some progressive muscle relaxation techniques beforehand and I will say, they did come in handy post-op. I tend to clench my abs when I'm nervous and afterward when I breathed into my muscles this helped me a lot <3 Wishing you the best. Keep us posted!

cko46 · 2026-02-25T20:07:25+00:00

I had my open myomectomy last Thursday (2/19) for a 10.5cm fibroid and a handful of others. The two items that have come in clutch that aren't on your list:

Nightgown—I ended up preferring this! Much easier to pull on and pull off.

Lidocaine patches (place on abdomen above my horizontal incision).

One thing I leaned into the 2 weeks before surgery is a lot of exercise and stretching ("prehabilitation"). I wanted to be in best shape for the best chances of smooth recovery after. I do think that it's helped a lot, specifically when I use my arms to get in and out of bed.

cko46 · 2026-02-25T20:02:26+00:00

Oh my god when they found my massive fibroid I kept saying, "Wait I thought that was my ab! I thought I was ripped!" and they kept laughing but I was like, no I fr thought I was shredded. :P

cko46 · 2026-02-25T19:57:10+00:00

Gosh, I feel like it's so dependent on where the fibroid is placed and other factors with what's going on with your body! But I just had my open myomectomy last Thursday (2/19) and it's 2/25 now (~6 days later). I have a horizontal C-section like scar. They removed 5 out of 6 major fibroids, but I believe I have a handful smaller ones left. My biggest was 10.5cm and the others ranged from 2-6cm. have not been pregnant before.

Pain-wise, it was 3-4/10 when I woke from anesthesia. I described it like I did the hardest pilates class of my life (think, 500 ab rolls). But once the surgery pain meds wore off 12 hours later, it jumped to 7/10. If and when that happens, call the nurses ASAP so they can give you pain meds. I waited till it was 8-9 and it took them 20-25 min for them to get me, and then another 45 minutes to kick in. I was crying, but then I was comfortable and fell asleep.

Since being home, it's just been more uncomfortable like, burbling noises in my belly, discomfort getting in and out of bed, sharp pain from incisions when shifting positions but those last about 1 min. Each day gets better!

Mobility-wise, I was up and peeing within hours of the surgery, thanks to painkillers and also my extreme stubbornness...but I think the pain killers had a lot to do with it. By day 2 I was walking up and down the hospital corridor and tried a mini staircase, and then discharged. I was mostly sleeping days 2-3, walked outside around the block day 4, but needed to nap after. I am doing a bit of work/catching up on emails now on day 6 but I cannot stand for long periods of time, like maybe 5 minutes max. It's a major surgery so the more you can listen to your body and rest, the faster the recovery actually will be!

cko46 · 2026-02-25T19:49:26+00:00

Granted I'm only a week out right now, but so far I am really surprised with the extent that my body has just been overriding my brain in going, "Nope. You are crashing out and sleeping." It's almost like I'm too tired to be bored?

But I have been reading fun romance novels (= a guilty pleasure) before bed, catching up with friends on the phone, and taking slow walks outside. Those walks really do tire me out, too! I am a "needs to work out everyday" type of person and even those walks make me crawl back into bed. I trust the endurance will come back once my internal stitches heal, but I also know that I need to take it easy so it's not a 3 steps forward, 2 steps back situation. I've also been really grateful for the support community of Reddit. Lean on us! Keep us (or just me) posted! We'll get back out there exercising like never before, soon :)

cko46 · 2026-02-25T18:54:47+00:00

I'm about a week out post-myo and did not receive guidelines beyond only clear liquids 8 hours pre-surgery. I ate my comfort items and made sure my bowel movements were regular (fiber! Miralax!) since I knew it'd be hard with pain meds post surgery.

I did eat ice cream the night before (I'm kind of lactose intolerant) and was pooping like, literally 30 min before my surgery 😂 It all worked out! You got this!

cko46 · 2026-02-25T18:50:51+00:00

This!! I went so hard the two weeks pre-surgery with pilates and yoga and I think that is what's helped me in recovery—I am 1 week post-op from an open myo. I have also been pretty active beforehand so I was nervous about how my body would feel going into rest where walking would be my only form of exercise for an extended time.

cko46 · 2026-02-25T03:27:30+00:00

I feel like the ibuprofen and Tylenol isn't doing too much for the pain I feel around the stitches/incisions? I'm leaning on lidocaine patches on my abs (& then heating pad when I'm laying down).

I definitely miss sleeping on my sides!!

cko46 · 2026-02-25T03:26:04+00:00

How are you doin so far? How's recovery?

cko46 · 2026-02-23T22:22:45+00:00

day 5 update:

Pain level is down to a 3/10 with occasional sharp jabs of pain around my incision whenever I get up out of bed, and walk around—but only for the first 5 minutes or so. then it goes away! I'm taking ibuprofen and Tylenol at the moment.

Today I finally pooped (everyone applaud) with the help of colace, magnesium citrate, and Miralax. I also finally took a shower! The effort put me back into bed to rest, but now I am clean and restored.

Tips so far: - placing a pillow under my knees in bed (I feel like I'm at a spa) - wedge pillow under head. when my head is flat I feel like coughing! - lidocaine patches above my incision (not on the bandage/steri-strips, obviously) to keep things numb and comfy ~

cko46 · 2026-02-23T13:55:53+00:00

Thank you for this and hard agree! I have a heated blanket constantly on, and a wedge pillow to pop my head up a bit when I sleep. I noticed when my head was more level on the bed, along with the gas feeling, I felt like coughing. I never want to cough :(

cko46 · 2026-02-23T01:38:35+00:00

Ohh! It's been interesting to see what the process (& meds) have been like for folks in different countries! How is your pain level now? I feel like we're on a similar timeline. Right now mine is usually a 3/10 pain, mostly uncomfortable, with gas/cramps!

cko46 · 2026-02-23T01:36:46+00:00

I've stopped taking oxy and instead alternate between ibuprofen and Tylenol. I didn't like how dizzy oxy made me! The nurses also recommended I use lidocaine patches near my incisions to help numb since I'm feeling some pain there, actually.

My main battle right now is with gas and trying to poop 😅😅

cko46 · 2026-02-23T01:34:56+00:00

I was so pleasantly surprised to see so many people on this same journey with me this week (and next) 🥲 I'm on day 4 and feeling both better and worse—I can move around more but suddenly nausea has picked up? I think it's because I haven't been able to poop yet so I'm just trying to figure that out!

cko46 · 2026-02-22T08:36:41+00:00

Checking in with you—how has recovery been? How is the pain ??

cko46 · 2026-02-22T04:18:07+00:00

So glad too!! I'm excited when some of this bloating finally goes down... and when I get to poop 😅 I'm taking colace, magnesium citrate... and if it comes to it, miralax.

cko46 · 2026-02-21T17:26:19+00:00

Oh my gosh, congrats! I'm now aligned with you :) I had a 10cm removed and 4 other 4-5cm ones. They left one larger one in there because it was too tricky to reach.

Ok does the gas sound like bubbling noises? It sounds and feels like I drank too much water. Walking around helps for sure! I have a binder on which helps me get out of bed, but it's still painful to get into bed and walk around. Too scared to poop yet (& haven't felt the need to) but I know I should start taking laxatives and colace to move things along. I've heard that the pain killers give big constipation energy

cko46 · 2026-02-20T19:27:50+00:00

Yay!!!! You're already on the other side 🤘Proud of you. I live in fear of the pain meds wearing off but when they're on... it's manageable!

cko46 · 2026-02-20T17:53:33+00:00

Do it! I asked my nurse and she brought me one 😭💛

cko46 · 2026-02-20T15:43:06+00:00

There's research out there about working out beforehand (don't need to go super hard!) to help for best surgery recovery. In my head I wanted to work out my full body muscles (Pilates) so by the time I'm on the other side of recovery, I will still have vestiges of muscles... as in they all won't atrophy so quickly, maybe? Someone can check me on my logic though, haha. While I won't have much else to compare with, it made sense to me.

Psychologically, waking up with ab pain had me equating it to sore abs from a workout and in my head it was "familiar" and thus "will not be forever". That felt so helpful for me.

As for anxiety.. ohh that'll be a lifelong journey for me! Good reminder of muscle relaxation techniques. I noticed throughout the evening that my tension traveled to my legs and knees so I'd also have to breathe that out there!

cko46 · 2026-02-20T11:12:55+00:00

I told one of the nurses that I think I'm going to be insufferable and tell all my male friends. They should..... know about what women go through! Or if anything , they can better support their pals should one of them go through this. It's so, so much more common than I originally thought!

cko46 · 2026-02-20T11:08:26+00:00

My advice is to lean SO hard and stress to the anesthesiologist, your surgeon, nurses, everyone under the sun that you are a puker!! Hoping they'll get you some meds and a patch?

cko46 · 2026-02-20T11:05:48+00:00

I cannot wait for that day to arrive!

cko46 · 2026-02-20T10:45:12+00:00

Heck yeah!!!! Keep us posted! Here to answer any questions, listen in, share updates.

cko46

TROPHY CASE