For those of you who are post op what do you wish you had known before the surgery?

Lissa, any tips for me as I will be doing about a 7hr flight 3 days after surgery? I am going to MX for surgery & flying from San Diego to Newark NJ right after!

Lissa gave great tips (as usual!) but I wanted to reassure you that you can make the trip, too. I flew from Frankfurt, Germany to San Diego to have my surgery with Dr. Aceves. I only received one additional dose of Lovenox before traveling.

Have the attendant bring you a large bottle of Water the first time they come around and sip, sip, sip. I had to ask them to bring me room temperature water because the cold caused spasms at first and they were happy to help. Also, walk, move, shuffle your feet, move around as much as possible. And DO NOT cross your legs on the flight home, either.

You'll be fine!

~Cheri

I understand' date=' its hard to know what caused it, but if you feel more at ease by changing then do. I would suggest you find out more about the cooper IUD, here is something I found from the FDA

"In the 2 largest clinical trials with ParaGard® (see ADVERSE REACTIONS, Table 2), menstrual changes were the most common medical reason for discontinuation of ParaGard®. Discontinuation rates for pain and bleeding combined are highest in the first year of use and diminish thereafter. The percentage of women who discontinued ParaGard® because of bleeding problems or pain during these studies ranged from 11.9% in the first year to 2.2 % in year 9. Women complaining of heavy vaginal bleeding should be evaluated and treated, and may need to discontinue ParaGard®. (See ADVERSE REACTIONS.)". For me 12% chance of heavy vaginal bleeding is too much, since I LOVE not having a period! but maybe for you is not, just compare them well before changing.

I will and thank you for this information

And on the IUD - it's hard to say how your body will react to any type of birth control after surgery. Browse for threads on this one - I know I created one on Mirena and several of us were discussing it on a different thread. Some of us are perfectly happy with what we use prior to surgery but post op, have an issue. Or in my case, I had my Mirena put in post op and LOVED it...except I couldn't lose weight while it was in. Now that I'm at goal it will be my preferred form of bc, but be aware that you might have to fiddle with what you're using more post op.

~Cheri

Thanks Cheri & Lissa... you put my mind at ease a bit!

Wow, I'm so surprised no one has mentioned how COLD you can get! Something about the surgery and recovery.. Sometimes at almost 5 months out I still get chilled to the bone and it takes HOURS to get over it. I wish I had been better prepared for that. I tell EVERYONE to have an electric blanket waiting for them at home. I came home from the hospital on a Wednesday and that Friday I had my father drive me to Target to get me a blanket.

Also, I experienced SEVERE exhaustion for the first two and a half months. When I spoke with my nutritionist about my diet and energy levels she suggested adding two servings of fruit a day. Within a week of starting that I was feeling more like myself.

Those are the two things I wish I had known about most.

Well this is actually awesome news about being COLD...I have been freezing my poor family out for yrs. My husband walks around in the summer with a sweater and lounge pants on all day so....I am happy to hear this. It will be an awesome change of pace....hehehhehe

I have to laugh about the cold thing. I've always been naturally cold, so I've been freezing since surgery. Some friends stayed a few nights recently and he has heat issues, so needed the ac turned to 70 in order to sleep. I had 3 quilts on my bed, plus socks, full pjs and a pair of cotton gloves in order to stay warm.

I am usually warm if anything which is sometimes harder to compensate than being too cold. At least I will be able to add layers if I'm cold.