Today I am 5 days post op and feeling pretty good. I have been taking it easy (which is *very* hard for me!) by taking small steps towards my recovery. The little things are the greatest successes: Walking around the neighborhood, taking a shower and washing my hair, cooking a little meal for myself, caring for my kitties, etc... One thing I still cannot do in my daily activities is clean the cat box (no bending or lifting)... Thank goodness my dad and my boyfriend don't mind helping with this! And of course the other thing I cannot do is DANCE. I do, however, have a lot of time right now. Time to think, time to read, time to rest. It is during this "time" that a lot of things come to mind and my goal is to share these things. Hopefully to empower my fellow dancers and friends, and to help others to understand exactly what a hysterectomy does to a woman: In this case, a woman who is a bellydancer.
Nurse Natasha says "Good Morning!" ♥
A hysterectomy now a-days is a fairly common surgery, in fact, I am sure you know one or more ladies who have had one. The key word to remember here is "surgery", and a hysterectomy is MAJOR surgery. There are *many* different types of hysterectomies and all are individualized to the woman. I consider myself lucky, I had an LAVH (laparoscopic assisted vaginal hysterectomy) removing my uterus, cervix & tubes. I got to keep my ovaries which I am so thankful for. I have 3 tiny incisions in my abdomen (from the laparoscopic part) and the removal of my uterus, cevix & tubes was done vaginally. This type of hysterectomy (assuming there are no complications) should be a reduced healing time of 6 weeks. I took the rest of November and all of December off from teaching my ATS® Bellydance classes (and of course performing), so I could return in January "better than ever". Now this is where the "bellydancer" side of things comes into play...
Having this hysterectomy was one the hardest decisions I have ever had to make, and not for the reasons you are probably thinking. It was absolutely the *right* decision, but hard nonetheless. The surgery itself was a piece of (vegan-gluten-free) cake. I was not afraid of having surgery and completely trusted my OB/GYN, the hard part was what I am going through now: NOT WORKING. Remember, I am self-employed, I am a bellydance teacher and performer, in other words: an artist. When I am not teaching, I am not earning money. I am lucky that I have medical insurance that covered my surgery costs, but now I am eeking by the best that I can with everything else. Of course I "planned" for my surgery, saving every penny I earned from my classes, but things "came up" (as they often do) and they kind of left me hanging, and not in a good way.
I know that everything will work out (I trust the Universe), but I really want people to understand that this surgery was and IS a really a big deal to me for oh so many reasons, the biggest being financial fear. I am bettering my quality of life for the future, yet making deep sacrifices in the present to do so. I just hope I can get back to teaching a few Private Lessons before the end of the year ~ Cross your fingers I can and that my students are willing!
Thanks for listening... More later xo
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