after admission

Advice after surgery (after a general anaesthetic).

Minor surgery

Laparoscopy, hysteroscopy and other day-case surgery.

In most cases you will go home within a few hours of your surgery. At home you should rest for 48 hours. You must not drive for 48 hours. You should not have alcohol for 48 hours.

Major surgery

Most of the other surgery, whether vaginal surgery, or open surgery or major laparoscopic surgery fulfils the guidance below. Major laparoscopic surgery will result in quicker recovery compared to the same open surgery. Also these are just a guidance, as different women will recover in different ways and at different rates.

First two to four weeks.

Rest. A good idea is to have a snooze after lunch. You will probably feel very tired, and a rest will help to speed up your recovery.

Lifting. For most of the surgery Mr Connell performs it is very important the you do not lift more than a kettle of water! This is recommended for AT LEAST 4 weeks usually. This guidance extends to not carrying shopping, taking dogs for a walk, weeding the garden, and in the house not taking wet clothes out of the machine, or ironing, or hoovering.

Walks. If you are able to we would recommend short walks, as there are many benefits.

Weeks four to six.

Again it does depend on the patient and the operation performed, but at this stage you should gradually be getting back to normal.

Driving. You should contact your insurance company around now to see what their policy is for your type of surgery.

General advice.

When you have stitches in the vagina, you will have a bleed between 1 and 4 weeks after surgery as the stitches dissolve. This can be fresh bleeding or old (dark) blood.

Often there will be a smell in the vagina, this is relatively common, but bleeding, discharge and a smell could indicated an infection, so you should contact the GP.

There is often bruising on the tummy or vagina, and this may last 4 weeks.

Bowels. After almost any surgery your bowels will be sluggish, we would recommend laxatives for a few weeks. Most women will be given laxatives in hospital.

Sex. We generally advise no sex for about six weeks.

Outpatient appointment. Most women will be well within 6 weeks so Mr Connell does not usually see you for follow-up. Some patients will be seen at 2 weeks which is when most of the “problems” occur. Generally GPs like to see you a week or two after our surgery and we would agree with this.

Essentially if you are worried, call your GP, call the ward or call Mr Connell.

Operations (full list)