August 21, 2025 • 25 mins
Reaching the four-week milestone in my hysterectomy recovery journey feels like crossing an important threshold.
In this episode, I discuss the remarkable physical transformation that has occurred – pain has decreased significantly, mobility has improved dramatically, and my energy levels have surged. Simple movements that caused discomfort just two weeks ago, like rolling over in bed or tying shoelaces, now feel natural again.
The four-week check-up with my surgeon brought validation and unexpected revelations. We also discussed guidelines for safely returning to exercise (stationary cycling is now approved!) and intimate relationsđŸ˜‰, conversations I deeply appreciated for their practicality and candour.
For anyone facing similar recovery challenges, I've learned invaluable lessons: don't rush the healing process, avoid comparing your journey to others', and keep your mind engaged with projects when your body needs rest.
This recovery experience has deepened my gratitude for my body's remarkable healing abilities and the excellent medical care I've received. If you're navigating your own healing journey or supporting someone through theirs, I hope sharing my experience offers insight and reassurance.Â
Reach out via email or Instagram if you'd like to connect – I'd love to hear your story or answer any questions about this profoundly personal journey.
Links:
sonya@sonyalovell.com
Sonya on Instagram - @sonyalovell
Thank you for listening to my show!
Join the conversation on Instagram
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Sonya (00:00):
Hi everyone and welcome back.
It is week four of myhysterectomy recovery and today
I want to give you an honestupdate on how things are going.
We're going to talk about theprogress I've experienced, what
challenges I feel like I've comeup against, other surprises
that I've come up along the wayas well.
Now, as always, I want toremind you that this is my
(00:23):
personal experience.
Now, as always, I want toremind you that this is my
personal experience.
Recovery always looks differentfor everyone, so depending on
the type of surgery, your healthgoing into surgery and a whole
lot of other individual factors.
So please don't take this as atemplate for what yours should
look like.
Think of it instead as onewoman's story in real time and
(00:48):
if you're recovering yourself,considering the surgery or just
curious about what this journeycan feel like, I hope you'll
find something useful orrelatable here today.
So let's get into my week fourupdate.
I thought I'd start off bytalking about some of the things
I've noticed physically in myrecovery since I did my last
(01:08):
check-in, which was two weeksago, Definitely have noticed
that I have a whole lot lesspain.
My pain has reducedsignificantly over the last
couple of weeks when and when Iwas experiencing pain was things
like rolling over in bed.
I'm a side sleeper, so rollingfrom side to side, I was finding
(01:29):
that there was some discomfortand pain when I was doing that.
That has decreasedsignificantly.
I have a whole lot bettermobility.
Things like tying up myshoelaces.
I either get down into a halfkneeling position or I have my
foot propped up so that I canreach it with one knee bent on a
bench or something like thatseat height.
(01:49):
What else have I noticed from amobility perspective?
Up and down stairs is wayeasier, getting in and out of
bed, up and down off the lounge,things like that.
I've just, you know, reallycome leaps and bounds in what I
could do two weeks ago versuswhat I feel I can do today at
four weeks, and I definitelyhave a whole lot more energy.
(02:10):
My energy has definitelyincreased.
I really haven't had the needfor any afternoon rests or naps.
Definitely in the last week theweek before that, I have a
feeling there were a couple ofafternoons where I did kind of
find myself having a bit of alay down on the lounge in the
(02:31):
afternoon watching a little bitof whatever I was streaming on
Netflix or other platforms atthe time just because I felt
that I needed to really stilltake that kind of structured
rest time in the afternoon.
But in this last week so thishas been completely week four,
(02:51):
so I'm at the end of week fournow definitely have not had that
need at all and that's, I think, also a result of my sleep has
got a whole lot better.
My sleep was really disturbedreally up until about halfway
through this week, to be honest.
So for about three and a halfweeks that shuffling from one
side to the other I had to kindof wake up to then really
strategically wrong myself overfrom one side to the other, so
(03:12):
that was disturbing my sleep alot.
I was getting up to haveglasses of water and then
popping back into bed before Icould fall back asleep again.
And you know what?
My body is still removingtoxins from my systems.
It takes a long time to getthings like anesthetic out of
your system.
I was on some heavy pain medsimmediately after coming out of
surgery.
Also, the other thing I noticedbecause I am someone that wears
(03:35):
an aura ring, so I track a lotof my vitals on a daily basis
One thing I noticed was myresting heart rate was
significantly elevated and thathas started to come back down
and reset as well.
So that is all going to playinto why my sleep is finally
feeling a whole lot better.
One thing I'm really, reallyhappy about is I have
(03:58):
experienced no bleedingwhatsoever post-surgery bleeding
whatsoever post-surgery.
So since my discharge fromhospital to today, four weeks,
literally to the day later Ihave had no bleeding, which I
was really surprised by.
They definitely prepared mewhen leaving hospital and
leading up to surgery that Icould expect to experience some
(04:21):
bleeding after post-surgery andthat might even go on for a few
weeks.
So the fact that I've had nobleeding has been absolutely
fantastic.
To not have any bleeding at allis just such a relief, so that
has been a real win.
I'm really, really happy aboutthat.
My swelling has completely gonedown around my incisions around
(04:43):
my belly.
I no longer feel like I've gotany bloating gas or any
lingering swelling anymoreeither.
I don't have any tendernesseither around those incisions.
They have healed really, reallywell.
They look fantastic.
I have shared an update photo onmy Instagram account, so feel
free to go over and check thatout if you are interested.
I'll link my Instagram accountin the feel free to go over and
(05:04):
check that out if you areinterested.
I'll link my Instagram accountin the show notes.
What else?
That's probably it from aphysical perspective, in terms
of what I've experienced andnoticed differences in from when
I did my last update, which wastwo weeks ago.
I am definitely still veryfocused on pacing myself,
(05:26):
listening to my body.
If I did feel that I needed tohave a little rest because I'd
overdone it, then I absolutelystill would, but I just haven't
felt the need to do that, whichI'm super, super happy about.
From an emotional perspective, Ithink I've experienced a lot of
relief.
You know, as I just talkedabout with you know, not having
any bleeding, you know that hasbeen a huge relief for me.
(05:48):
I very much feel like I madethe right decision in having the
surgery and I'm going to fillyou in in a minute on my
four-week check-in that I justhad with my surgeon.
That has all led me to feelingreally solid and strong in
knowing that I've made the rightdecision by having this surgery
.
A lot of relief that I am somuch more mobile, that my energy
(06:14):
has increased and that I reallytruly feel well on the road to
recovery now, whereas two weeksago I was probably feeling a
little bit more wobbly about allof that and I really still felt
like I had quite a bit ofrecovery ahead of me, whereas
now I feel like I've got overthat big hurdle, which is
(06:35):
fantastic.
I'm incredibly grateful that mybody does heal so well.
I'm grateful that I had such anamazing surgeon and was so well
cared for when I was inhospital post-surgery calls that
I had with my surgeon's office,emails that I had with her when
I had questions, grateful forall my friends and family that
(06:56):
gathered around me and lookedafter me so, so well.
I am very, very grateful foreverything that my body is able
to do.
Recovery from such a big andinvasive surgery.
It really does blow me away howwell our bodies are able to
adjust and recover when theyneed to.
So that has been something thatI've been thinking about a lot
(07:17):
is how grateful I am foreverything.
But with that in mind, I amstill feeling some impatience
around not being able to do asmuch as I used to be able to do.
From a physical perspective, Iam still a couple of weeks away
from being able to lift anythingheavier than six kilos is the
(07:37):
guideline, so I'm not carryingbags and bags of supermarket
shopping from the car into thehouse and then up onto benches
to unpack Things like that.
I'm really still struggling alittle bit with just feeling
impatient that I can't do what Iwould normally expect my body
to be able to do, and I also,you know, I'm impatient to get
(08:01):
back to the gym.
I love the gym.
The gym has been a really bigpart of my life for a very long
time and it's really interestingreflecting on why I'm feeling
that impatience.
What is it that I'm actuallymissing?
And for me it's not even somuch that I'm missing catching
up with friends because I go tothe gym with them, or the
environment of the actual gym.
(08:22):
I really, really miss being hot.
I really really miss beingsweaty.
I really, really miss being inthat state where I get really
huffy and puffy and I'm doinghard things that I know are hard
at the time, but they're reallygood for my body and they're
really good for my brain andthey're really good for my mood.
So I'm missing the ability todo those things.
(08:44):
So that is where my impatienceis coming from.
In regards to daily life, sowhere I'm at on a day-to-day
basis.
With all of that in mind, I wasback to driving after my two
weeks.
So pretty much when I recordedmy last episode for you, which
was at my two-week point, I'dbeen back to driving for like a
(09:04):
day or something like that.
For me, being able to go backto driving was huge.
It just gave me a wholedifferent level of independence
and freedom and ability to goand do some things that I'd been
wanting to do to really aid myrecovery as well.
So I've been getting out onmuch longer and faster walks.
I really progressed prettyquickly from being able to go
(09:27):
out for those short walks that Iwas talking about two weeks ago
to being able to go out forover an hour.
My pace has picked up.
I'm pretty much at the samepace that I would have been
walking prior to surgery.
Uphills is the only time I'vekind of found I've been able to
get my heart rate up a littlebit and feel like I'm working a
little bit harder.
So I've really enjoyed beingable to do that.
That has been a staple in myday.
(09:49):
Obviously, I'm back out andabout socially.
It's been fantastic to go andcatch up with friends in coffee
shops versus having them comeand see me.
My nutrition.
I've really kept a bit of alaser sharp focus on that.
I am doing a lot of mealprepping on a Sunday.
If you follow me on Instagram,I'm sharing some of my photos
(10:10):
over there of the types ofthings that I meal prep.
What I tend to do is I mealprep for breakfast and for
lunches on a Sunday that arethen in the fridge for me to get
during the week.
So I find that the meals whereI let myself down from a
nutrition standpoint and thisisn't just post-recovery, this
is like in life in general willbe when it's breakfast or it's
(10:35):
lunch and I don't have anythingprepared, I go and grab
something that's probably lessthan ideal from a nutrition
standpoint.
So for me, it's reallyimportant to meal prep and it's
meant that I've been able tokeep my nutrition really on
point in this recovery phase,really focusing on high fiber
and my protein, all to reallyaid my recovery as well.
(10:56):
So that's been something I'vereally kept focused on.
In terms of returning to anykind of work, I am going back to
my speaking gigs in the nextweek or so.
I definitely feel within myselfI'm ready to go back to work.
Now that's been.
I definitely wasn't feelingwithin those first two weeks,
but now, at the four-week point,I really feel that I'm ready to
(11:18):
get back out there.
I have no physical limitationsthat will prevent me from being
able to do my work, so that's agreat feeling to know that I'm
definitely ready to do that.
Again, I'm really grateful thatI was able to give myself all
of this time to get back to thatpoint and wasn't in a situation
where I had to go back earlierthan I was probably physically
(11:39):
and emotionally ready to.
The other thing that I have beendoing to support my healing is
I have been doing a course ofcryotherapy in a cryotherapy
chamber and some red lighttherapy.
I thought that I would talk alittle bit about why I chose
those particular complementarytherapies to help me with my
(12:01):
healing and my recovery, becausethey're probably therapies that
a lot of people really aren'tfamiliar with, but they have a
lot of science and evidencebehind them, which is one of the
reasons why they're therapiesthat I choose to invest in for
myself, to really aid myrecovery and getting back to
life as normal as quickly aspossible.
(12:22):
So if we talk about thecryotherapy chamber for a moment
not for the faint hearted, Iwill admit.
It is three minutes in thechamber and the temperature I've
been doing minus 140 degrees,so some people start at about
minus 130.
I am a little bit hardcore andI do minus 140.
(12:45):
Three minutes is the max amountof time that you spend in the
chamber for that.
So my tips for you if you aresomeone that is ever keen to go
and try some cryotherapy, choosea really, really, really good
song to play, so there'sspeakers in the chamber.
Find a track that you canreally kind of throw yourself
into.
(13:05):
For me, it's something that Iknow all the lyrics to that I
can kind of dance to becauseit's cold in there.
So, yeah, good track to listento whilst you're in the cryo
chamber is my hot tip.
So why cryotherapy?
Okay, the scientific evidencebehind it shows that it is
really good at reducing pain andinflammation.
It accelerates recovery.
(13:27):
So that is going to be in thispoint for me.
I'm talking about recovery fromsurgery.
If you are an athlete, you'resomeone that goes to the gym on
a regular basis.
Really great for acceleratingrecovery from big, heavy
training sessions.
It does a lot for stimulatingblood circulation, which is
obviously really important froma post-surgery perspective.
It improves your skin healthand it can improve sleep as well
(13:49):
.
So there's a whole lot of otherbenefits, but they're the ones
for me that were really key tochoosing cryotherapy as one of
my complementary therapies.
The other thing that I've beendoing alongside that so I do
them consecutively is somenear-infrared light therapy.
I go and do light therapy first, so that's about 20 minutes
(14:12):
full body near-infrared lighttherapy, followed by the three
minutes in the cryo chamber, soit's about a half hour in total
that I'm doing once a week withthese.
The light therapy is amazingfor accelerating wound healing,
so obviously with my incisions,that was really important to me.
It reduces inflammation, it canimprove scar appearance, it
(14:33):
does a lot to stimulate collagenproduction again enhancing
blood circulation and promotingtissue repair.
So this is a real key for me tohave my incisions heal my
internal tissues healing as wellas they possibly can.
So these are all reasons why Ichose to spend time and invest
(14:56):
some money in these types ofcomplementary therapies to
really help me recover asquickly and as well as I
possibly can.
If you have any questionsaround cryo or the light therapy
, feel free to reach out to me.
I'll pop my email address intothe show notes.
Okay, cool.
(15:16):
So let's touch on my four-weekcheck-in that I had with my
surgeon and I actually had thatyesterday.
So the good news was I got abig thumbs up and I even got a
high five from my surgeon forhow well I have recovered, how
well my incisions look, howquickly they are healing and how
(15:38):
my skin looks, which is allfantastic news.
Some interesting things thatcame out of that.
She took me through a morein-depth pathology report.
So I'd received a message frommy gynecologist about a week
after my surgery just tobasically to tell me that I'd
got the all clear from mypathology.
Most importantly at that pointit was from a cancer perspective
(15:59):
, so that there was no evidenceof cancer in any of my tissues.
So that was great news.
But one thing my surgeon, dr Rao, did do is take me through my
pathology report in a lot moredetail.
There were a couple of thingsthat came up in that that I
wasn't expecting.
That did come as a surprise andagain lead back into me being
really grateful that I did moveforward and have the surgery.
There was evidence ofadenomyosis in my pathology.
(16:24):
Adenomyosis is a conditionwhere the Adenomyosis is a
condition where the cells and Imay not get this 100% right, but
this is my understanding thatwould normally only grow inside
your uterus.
So your endometrial liningstart growing.
They stay within the uterus butthey move into the muscle that
(16:48):
is making up the exterior of theuterus and that, for me, had
resulted in my uterus beingenlarged, and obviously that is
a growth of cells in a placewhere they're not supposed to
grow.
It was most likely the cause ofwhy I was bleeding prior to my
surgery and, remembering that Iwas eight years post-menopause,
(17:12):
so that was a really interestingfinding and made me really
grateful that I had chosen tohave this surgery.
The other thing that came up,which is not of concern and
would not have been a concernmoving forward there were a
couple of benign serous cysts inmy fallopian tubes.
So great that they were benign,but also great from my
perspective to know that they'vealso been removed.
(17:34):
So there is no concern for memoving forward about whether
more of those develop or whetherthey do in fact turn cancerous
at some point in time as well.
I had a question for her whichwas around from my exercise
perspective, if you havelistened into my previous
episode of my update post twoweeks.
One of the things that I hadtalked about in that was a
(17:56):
frustration around guidelinesfor returning to exercise.
So I had a question for heraround when can I restart
getting onto a bike to start tobe able to get my heart rate up
a little bit, to get a bitsweaty and feeling like I was
getting a bit huffy and puffy?
Obviously, I'm not about tojump straight into spin classes
or anything with high resistance, but what I wanted to know was
(18:20):
would I be able to jump on abike and just roll my legs over,
even if it's just for 30minutes, half an hour an hour,
just as an alternative towalking?
Because walking's great, but ifthe weather's bad which hey, I
live in Sydney and we have had arun of really, really wet
weather and it doesn't make itenticing to go outside and go
(18:41):
for a walk.
So if I know that I can jump onan exercise bike and I can
spend the same amount of time onthat as I would have done going
out for a walk, that is really,really helpful for me.
So she gave me the okay to dothat, which was fantastic.
I'm really excited to be ableto add that into my exercise
movement plan.
The other thing that she broughtup and we talked about in quite
(19:03):
a bit of depth, which I was soincredibly grateful for and not
expecting, was some guidancearound returning to having sex
post-hysterectomy.
So she admits she's veryconservative about giving advice
on when, from a timelineperspective, to return.
(19:23):
Her advice to me was look, I'dstill love you to wait until
you're past the eight ideallyweek 12 mark.
We then talked about some tipsthat she had to make that return
to having sex as much of apositive experience as possible,
but also a good experience forme physically post-surgery.
(19:46):
This is a really good thing toremember because this will be
relevant to anybody, and thatwas use lots and lots of lube.
You use lube.
Make sure your husband's gotlots of lube on him as well.
Her advice was he wants to beable to get in and out as
smoothly and friction-free aspossible, particularly the first
(20:07):
couple of times.
So the big thing you have toremember here is that prior to a
hysterectomy, your vagina wasattached to your cervix, which
was attached to your uterus.
Now my vagina is basically likea pocket.
It's been stitched closedacross the top and it has been
attached to other ligaments tohold it in place.
(20:29):
So obviously when you arepost-surgery, all of that tissue
is still healing.
It makes sense that if you'rehaving sex and you were not
using enough lubrication andtherefore there was any friction
, if you imagine the peniscoming out of the vagina, you
don't want to have any draggingeffect.
You just want to make sure thatthere is as much lubrication as
(20:51):
possible, that everything isslipping in and out as smoothly
as possible.
I hope that that is helpful andI found it really helpful to
have that conversation.
And again comes back to mebeing really grateful that I
chose such a great surgeon tohave my surgery with.
So what have I learned over thelast four weeks?
(21:12):
I've definitely learned not torush, that the body has an
amazing ability to heal itself,but we have to assist our body
by giving it the time that itneeds.
So not rushing into doingthings because I just feel like
I want to do things, andparticularly in that little
danger zone period, which iswhere I've just come out of
(21:33):
between that week two, week four, where you're energetically
feeling better.
Mobility-wise, I've beenfeeling better, but there is
definitely still a whole lot ofinternal healing going on and
it's really important not to getahead of yourself and rush back
into things too quickly becauseyou have this false sense of
being able to get back to normal.
(21:54):
Definitely not to compare myrecovery to anyone else's.
I've had many, manyconversations with friends, with
people that have reached out tome on social media, that have
shared their recoveries, andit's been such an important
lesson that every singleperson's recovery is very, very
different.
(22:14):
The choices that they make inthat time are very different.
The type of surgery that we allhave is very different.
The reasons for having surgeryis very different.
Really good lesson to learn tonot compare my recovery to
anybody else's.
The other thing that I learnedand I'm really glad that I
thought of this ahead of timeand had prepared for this, and
(22:35):
that was for me as somebody wholikes to be busy, somebody who
likes to be doing, likes to havework to focus on.
I'm so glad that I had someprojects lined up that would
keep my brain busy in thisperiod of time where my physical
body hasn't been able to keepup with what my brain has been
(22:55):
capable of doing, if anythingwas going to get the better of
me in this period of time whereI've been physically slowed down
was my brain had not physicallyslowed down.
I also had some great showsthat I had purposely put on hold
and waited for thispost-recovery stage to watch and
catch up on.
(23:15):
That has absolutely been agodsend as well, alongside some
great documentaries and somegreat podcasts as well.
So that is one of my biggesttips is, if you are someone that
is looking at moving into thissurgery or you're about to have
surgery and you're in that kindof preparing stage, definitely
make sure you've got someactivities lined up that will
(23:36):
keep your brain busy.
Okay, so that is it for today'sepisode.
Thank you so much for listeningand for holding space, as
always, for this very personalstory that I've chosen to share
with you.
If you're someone who has beenthrough a hysterectomy, if you
are preparing for one or you'resupporting someone else on this
(23:57):
journey, I truly hope that myexperience has offered a little
insight or reinsurance for you.
But again, just a reminder thatyour body, your choices and
your recovery are entirely yourown.
There is absolutely no oneright way to do this.
If this episode brought upquestions, reflections or you
(24:18):
just want to share your ownstory, I really would love to
hear from you.
You can reach out via my email,which is sonja, at
sonjalovellcom.
Sonja, spelt with a Y.
Again, I will add that into theshow notes.
You can follow me on myInstagram.
You can just search SoniaLovell.
That's what my Instagramaccount is.
(24:38):
Again, will be linked to in theshow notes and if you found
this episode helpful, pleaseconsider leaving a review or
sharing it with someone who youthink will benefit from hearing
it.
Please take care of yourselfand I will catch you for the
next episode in another twoweeks, which will be at my
six-week recovery point.
Hi everyone and welcome back.
It is week four of myhysterectomy recovery and today
I want to give you an honestupdate on how things are going.
We're going to talk about theprogress I've experienced, what
challenges I feel like I've comeup against, other surprises
that I've come up along the wayas well.
Now, as always, I want toremind you that this is my
(00:23):
personal experience.
Now, as always, I want toremind you that this is my
personal experience.
Recovery always looks differentfor everyone, so depending on
the type of surgery, your healthgoing into surgery and a whole
lot of other individual factors.
So please don't take this as atemplate for what yours should
look like.
Think of it instead as onewoman's story in real time and
(00:48):
if you're recovering yourself,considering the surgery or just
curious about what this journeycan feel like, I hope you'll
find something useful orrelatable here today.
So let's get into my week fourupdate.
I thought I'd start off bytalking about some of the things
I've noticed physically in myrecovery since I did my last
(01:08):
check-in, which was two weeksago, Definitely have noticed
that I have a whole lot lesspain.
My pain has reducedsignificantly over the last
couple of weeks when and when Iwas experiencing pain was things
like rolling over in bed.
I'm a side sleeper, so rollingfrom side to side, I was finding
(01:29):
that there was some discomfortand pain when I was doing that.
That has decreasedsignificantly.
I have a whole lot bettermobility.
Things like tying up myshoelaces.
I either get down into a halfkneeling position or I have my
foot propped up so that I canreach it with one knee bent on a
bench or something like thatseat height.
(01:49):
What else have I noticed from amobility perspective?
Up and down stairs is wayeasier, getting in and out of
bed, up and down off the lounge,things like that.
I've just, you know, reallycome leaps and bounds in what I
could do two weeks ago versuswhat I feel I can do today at
four weeks, and I definitelyhave a whole lot more energy.
(02:10):
My energy has definitelyincreased.
I really haven't had the needfor any afternoon rests or naps.
Definitely in the last week theweek before that, I have a
feeling there were a couple ofafternoons where I did kind of
find myself having a bit of alay down on the lounge in the
(02:31):
afternoon watching a little bitof whatever I was streaming on
Netflix or other platforms atthe time just because I felt
that I needed to really stilltake that kind of structured
rest time in the afternoon.
But in this last week so thishas been completely week four,
(02:51):
so I'm at the end of week fournow definitely have not had that
need at all and that's, I think, also a result of my sleep has
got a whole lot better.
My sleep was really disturbedreally up until about halfway
through this week, to be honest.
So for about three and a halfweeks that shuffling from one
side to the other I had to kindof wake up to then really
strategically wrong myself overfrom one side to the other, so
(03:12):
that was disturbing my sleep alot.
I was getting up to haveglasses of water and then
popping back into bed before Icould fall back asleep again.
And you know what?
My body is still removingtoxins from my systems.
It takes a long time to getthings like anesthetic out of
your system.
I was on some heavy pain medsimmediately after coming out of
surgery.
Also, the other thing I noticedbecause I am someone that wears
(03:35):
an aura ring, so I track a lotof my vitals on a daily basis
One thing I noticed was myresting heart rate was
significantly elevated and thathas started to come back down
and reset as well.
So that is all going to playinto why my sleep is finally
feeling a whole lot better.
One thing I'm really, reallyhappy about is I have
(03:58):
experienced no bleedingwhatsoever post-surgery bleeding
whatsoever post-surgery.
So since my discharge fromhospital to today, four weeks,
literally to the day later Ihave had no bleeding, which I
was really surprised by.
They definitely prepared mewhen leaving hospital and
leading up to surgery that Icould expect to experience some
(04:21):
bleeding after post-surgery andthat might even go on for a few
weeks.
So the fact that I've had nobleeding has been absolutely
fantastic.
To not have any bleeding at allis just such a relief, so that
has been a real win.
I'm really, really happy aboutthat.
My swelling has completely gonedown around my incisions around
(04:43):
my belly.
I no longer feel like I've gotany bloating gas or any
lingering swelling anymoreeither.
I don't have any tendernesseither around those incisions.
They have healed really, reallywell.
They look fantastic.
I have shared an update photo onmy Instagram account, so feel
free to go over and check thatout if you are interested.
I'll link my Instagram accountin the feel free to go over and
(05:04):
check that out if you areinterested.
I'll link my Instagram accountin the show notes.
What else?
That's probably it from aphysical perspective, in terms
of what I've experienced andnoticed differences in from when
I did my last update, which wastwo weeks ago.
I am definitely still veryfocused on pacing myself,
(05:26):
listening to my body.
If I did feel that I needed tohave a little rest because I'd
overdone it, then I absolutelystill would, but I just haven't
felt the need to do that, whichI'm super, super happy about.
From an emotional perspective, Ithink I've experienced a lot of
relief.
You know, as I just talkedabout with you know, not having
any bleeding, you know that hasbeen a huge relief for me.
(05:48):
I very much feel like I madethe right decision in having the
surgery and I'm going to fillyou in in a minute on my
four-week check-in that I justhad with my surgeon.
That has all led me to feelingreally solid and strong in
knowing that I've made the rightdecision by having this surgery
.
A lot of relief that I am somuch more mobile, that my energy
(06:14):
has increased and that I reallytruly feel well on the road to
recovery now, whereas two weeksago I was probably feeling a
little bit more wobbly about allof that and I really still felt
like I had quite a bit ofrecovery ahead of me, whereas
now I feel like I've got overthat big hurdle, which is
(06:35):
fantastic.
I'm incredibly grateful that mybody does heal so well.
I'm grateful that I had such anamazing surgeon and was so well
cared for when I was inhospital post-surgery calls that
I had with my surgeon's office,emails that I had with her when
I had questions, grateful forall my friends and family that
(06:56):
gathered around me and lookedafter me so, so well.
I am very, very grateful foreverything that my body is able
to do.
Recovery from such a big andinvasive surgery.
It really does blow me away howwell our bodies are able to
adjust and recover when theyneed to.
So that has been something thatI've been thinking about a lot
(07:17):
is how grateful I am foreverything.
But with that in mind, I amstill feeling some impatience
around not being able to do asmuch as I used to be able to do.
From a physical perspective, Iam still a couple of weeks away
from being able to lift anythingheavier than six kilos is the
(07:37):
guideline, so I'm not carryingbags and bags of supermarket
shopping from the car into thehouse and then up onto benches
to unpack Things like that.
I'm really still struggling alittle bit with just feeling
impatient that I can't do what Iwould normally expect my body
to be able to do, and I also,you know, I'm impatient to get
(08:01):
back to the gym.
I love the gym.
The gym has been a really bigpart of my life for a very long
time and it's really interestingreflecting on why I'm feeling
that impatience.
What is it that I'm actuallymissing?
And for me it's not even somuch that I'm missing catching
up with friends because I go tothe gym with them, or the
environment of the actual gym.
(08:22):
I really, really miss being hot.
I really really miss beingsweaty.
I really, really miss being inthat state where I get really
huffy and puffy and I'm doinghard things that I know are hard
at the time, but they're reallygood for my body and they're
really good for my brain andthey're really good for my mood.
So I'm missing the ability todo those things.
(08:44):
So that is where my impatienceis coming from.
In regards to daily life, sowhere I'm at on a day-to-day
basis.
With all of that in mind, I wasback to driving after my two
weeks.
So pretty much when I recordedmy last episode for you, which
was at my two-week point, I'dbeen back to driving for like a
(09:04):
day or something like that.
For me, being able to go backto driving was huge.
It just gave me a wholedifferent level of independence
and freedom and ability to goand do some things that I'd been
wanting to do to really aid myrecovery as well.
So I've been getting out onmuch longer and faster walks.
I really progressed prettyquickly from being able to go
(09:27):
out for those short walks that Iwas talking about two weeks ago
to being able to go out forover an hour.
My pace has picked up.
I'm pretty much at the samepace that I would have been
walking prior to surgery.
Uphills is the only time I'vekind of found I've been able to
get my heart rate up a littlebit and feel like I'm working a
little bit harder.
So I've really enjoyed beingable to do that.
That has been a staple in myday.
(09:49):
Obviously, I'm back out andabout socially.
It's been fantastic to go andcatch up with friends in coffee
shops versus having them comeand see me.
My nutrition.
I've really kept a bit of alaser sharp focus on that.
I am doing a lot of mealprepping on a Sunday.
If you follow me on Instagram,I'm sharing some of my photos
(10:10):
over there of the types ofthings that I meal prep.
What I tend to do is I mealprep for breakfast and for
lunches on a Sunday that arethen in the fridge for me to get
during the week.
So I find that the meals whereI let myself down from a
nutrition standpoint and thisisn't just post-recovery, this
is like in life in general willbe when it's breakfast or it's
(10:35):
lunch and I don't have anythingprepared, I go and grab
something that's probably lessthan ideal from a nutrition
standpoint.
So for me, it's reallyimportant to meal prep and it's
meant that I've been able tokeep my nutrition really on
point in this recovery phase,really focusing on high fiber
and my protein, all to reallyaid my recovery as well.
(10:56):
So that's been something I'vereally kept focused on.
In terms of returning to anykind of work, I am going back to
my speaking gigs in the nextweek or so.
I definitely feel within myselfI'm ready to go back to work.
Now that's been.
I definitely wasn't feelingwithin those first two weeks,
but now, at the four-week point,I really feel that I'm ready to
(11:18):
get back out there.
I have no physical limitationsthat will prevent me from being
able to do my work, so that's agreat feeling to know that I'm
definitely ready to do that.
Again, I'm really grateful thatI was able to give myself all
of this time to get back to thatpoint and wasn't in a situation
where I had to go back earlierthan I was probably physically
(11:39):
and emotionally ready to.
The other thing that I have beendoing to support my healing is
I have been doing a course ofcryotherapy in a cryotherapy
chamber and some red lighttherapy.
I thought that I would talk alittle bit about why I chose
those particular complementarytherapies to help me with my
(12:01):
healing and my recovery, becausethey're probably therapies that
a lot of people really aren'tfamiliar with, but they have a
lot of science and evidencebehind them, which is one of the
reasons why they're therapiesthat I choose to invest in for
myself, to really aid myrecovery and getting back to
life as normal as quickly aspossible.
(12:22):
So if we talk about thecryotherapy chamber for a moment
not for the faint hearted, Iwill admit.
It is three minutes in thechamber and the temperature I've
been doing minus 140 degrees,so some people start at about
minus 130.
I am a little bit hardcore andI do minus 140.
(12:45):
Three minutes is the max amountof time that you spend in the
chamber for that.
So my tips for you if you aresomeone that is ever keen to go
and try some cryotherapy, choosea really, really, really good
song to play, so there'sspeakers in the chamber.
Find a track that you canreally kind of throw yourself
into.
(13:05):
For me, it's something that Iknow all the lyrics to that I
can kind of dance to becauseit's cold in there.
So, yeah, good track to listento whilst you're in the cryo
chamber is my hot tip.
So why cryotherapy?
Okay, the scientific evidencebehind it shows that it is
really good at reducing pain andinflammation.
It accelerates recovery.
(13:27):
So that is going to be in thispoint for me.
I'm talking about recovery fromsurgery.
If you are an athlete, you'resomeone that goes to the gym on
a regular basis.
Really great for acceleratingrecovery from big, heavy
training sessions.
It does a lot for stimulatingblood circulation, which is
obviously really important froma post-surgery perspective.
It improves your skin healthand it can improve sleep as well
(13:49):
.
So there's a whole lot of otherbenefits, but they're the ones
for me that were really key tochoosing cryotherapy as one of
my complementary therapies.
The other thing that I've beendoing alongside that so I do
them consecutively is somenear-infrared light therapy.
I go and do light therapy first, so that's about 20 minutes
(14:12):
full body near-infrared lighttherapy, followed by the three
minutes in the cryo chamber, soit's about a half hour in total
that I'm doing once a week withthese.
The light therapy is amazingfor accelerating wound healing,
so obviously with my incisions,that was really important to me.
It reduces inflammation, it canimprove scar appearance, it
(14:33):
does a lot to stimulate collagenproduction again enhancing
blood circulation and promotingtissue repair.
So this is a real key for me tohave my incisions heal my
internal tissues healing as wellas they possibly can.
So these are all reasons why Ichose to spend time and invest
(14:56):
some money in these types ofcomplementary therapies to
really help me recover asquickly and as well as I
possibly can.
If you have any questionsaround cryo or the light therapy
, feel free to reach out to me.
I'll pop my email address intothe show notes.
Okay, cool.
(15:16):
So let's touch on my four-weekcheck-in that I had with my
surgeon and I actually had thatyesterday.
So the good news was I got abig thumbs up and I even got a
high five from my surgeon forhow well I have recovered, how
well my incisions look, howquickly they are healing and how
(15:38):
my skin looks, which is allfantastic news.
Some interesting things thatcame out of that.
She took me through a morein-depth pathology report.
So I'd received a message frommy gynecologist about a week
after my surgery just tobasically to tell me that I'd
got the all clear from mypathology.
Most importantly at that pointit was from a cancer perspective
(15:59):
, so that there was no evidenceof cancer in any of my tissues.
So that was great news.
But one thing my surgeon, dr Rao, did do is take me through my
pathology report in a lot moredetail.
There were a couple of thingsthat came up in that that I
wasn't expecting.
That did come as a surprise andagain lead back into me being
really grateful that I did moveforward and have the surgery.
There was evidence ofadenomyosis in my pathology.
(16:24):
Adenomyosis is a conditionwhere the Adenomyosis is a
condition where the cells and Imay not get this 100% right, but
this is my understanding thatwould normally only grow inside
your uterus.
So your endometrial liningstart growing.
They stay within the uterus butthey move into the muscle that
(16:48):
is making up the exterior of theuterus and that, for me, had
resulted in my uterus beingenlarged, and obviously that is
a growth of cells in a placewhere they're not supposed to
grow.
It was most likely the cause ofwhy I was bleeding prior to my
surgery and, remembering that Iwas eight years post-menopause,
(17:12):
so that was a really interestingfinding and made me really
grateful that I had chosen tohave this surgery.
The other thing that came up,which is not of concern and
would not have been a concernmoving forward there were a
couple of benign serous cysts inmy fallopian tubes.
So great that they were benign,but also great from my
perspective to know that they'vealso been removed.
(17:34):
So there is no concern for memoving forward about whether
more of those develop or whetherthey do in fact turn cancerous
at some point in time as well.
I had a question for her whichwas around from my exercise
perspective, if you havelistened into my previous
episode of my update post twoweeks.
One of the things that I hadtalked about in that was a
(17:56):
frustration around guidelinesfor returning to exercise.
So I had a question for heraround when can I restart
getting onto a bike to start tobe able to get my heart rate up
a little bit, to get a bitsweaty and feeling like I was
getting a bit huffy and puffy?
Obviously, I'm not about tojump straight into spin classes
or anything with high resistance, but what I wanted to know was
(18:20):
would I be able to jump on abike and just roll my legs over,
even if it's just for 30minutes, half an hour an hour,
just as an alternative towalking?
Because walking's great, but ifthe weather's bad which hey, I
live in Sydney and we have had arun of really, really wet
weather and it doesn't make itenticing to go outside and go
(18:41):
for a walk.
So if I know that I can jump onan exercise bike and I can
spend the same amount of time onthat as I would have done going
out for a walk, that is really,really helpful for me.
So she gave me the okay to dothat, which was fantastic.
I'm really excited to be ableto add that into my exercise
movement plan.
The other thing that she broughtup and we talked about in quite
(19:03):
a bit of depth, which I was soincredibly grateful for and not
expecting, was some guidancearound returning to having sex
post-hysterectomy.
So she admits she's veryconservative about giving advice
on when, from a timelineperspective, to return.
(19:23):
Her advice to me was look, I'dstill love you to wait until
you're past the eight ideallyweek 12 mark.
We then talked about some tipsthat she had to make that return
to having sex as much of apositive experience as possible,
but also a good experience forme physically post-surgery.
(19:46):
This is a really good thing toremember because this will be
relevant to anybody, and thatwas use lots and lots of lube.
You use lube.
Make sure your husband's gotlots of lube on him as well.
Her advice was he wants to beable to get in and out as
smoothly and friction-free aspossible, particularly the first
(20:07):
couple of times.
So the big thing you have toremember here is that prior to a
hysterectomy, your vagina wasattached to your cervix, which
was attached to your uterus.
Now my vagina is basically likea pocket.
It's been stitched closedacross the top and it has been
attached to other ligaments tohold it in place.
(20:29):
So obviously when you arepost-surgery, all of that tissue
is still healing.
It makes sense that if you'rehaving sex and you were not
using enough lubrication andtherefore there was any friction
, if you imagine the peniscoming out of the vagina, you
don't want to have any draggingeffect.
You just want to make sure thatthere is as much lubrication as
(20:51):
possible, that everything isslipping in and out as smoothly
as possible.
I hope that that is helpful andI found it really helpful to
have that conversation.
And again comes back to mebeing really grateful that I
chose such a great surgeon tohave my surgery with.
So what have I learned over thelast four weeks?
(21:12):
I've definitely learned not torush, that the body has an
amazing ability to heal itself,but we have to assist our body
by giving it the time that itneeds.
So not rushing into doingthings because I just feel like
I want to do things, andparticularly in that little
danger zone period, which iswhere I've just come out of
(21:33):
between that week two, week four, where you're energetically
feeling better.
Mobility-wise, I've beenfeeling better, but there is
definitely still a whole lot ofinternal healing going on and
it's really important not to getahead of yourself and rush back
into things too quickly becauseyou have this false sense of
being able to get back to normal.
(21:54):
Definitely not to compare myrecovery to anyone else's.
I've had many, manyconversations with friends, with
people that have reached out tome on social media, that have
shared their recoveries, andit's been such an important
lesson that every singleperson's recovery is very, very
different.
(22:14):
The choices that they make inthat time are very different.
The type of surgery that we allhave is very different.
The reasons for having surgeryis very different.
Really good lesson to learn tonot compare my recovery to
anybody else's.
The other thing that I learnedand I'm really glad that I
thought of this ahead of timeand had prepared for this, and
(22:35):
that was for me as somebody wholikes to be busy, somebody who
likes to be doing, likes to havework to focus on.
I'm so glad that I had someprojects lined up that would
keep my brain busy in thisperiod of time where my physical
body hasn't been able to keepup with what my brain has been
(22:55):
capable of doing, if anythingwas going to get the better of
me in this period of time whereI've been physically slowed down
was my brain had not physicallyslowed down.
I also had some great showsthat I had purposely put on hold
and waited for thispost-recovery stage to watch and
catch up on.
(23:15):
That has absolutely been agodsend as well, alongside some
great documentaries and somegreat podcasts as well.
So that is one of my biggesttips is, if you are someone that
is looking at moving into thissurgery or you're about to have
surgery and you're in that kindof preparing stage, definitely
make sure you've got someactivities lined up that will
(23:36):
keep your brain busy.
Okay, so that is it for today'sepisode.
Thank you so much for listeningand for holding space, as
always, for this very personalstory that I've chosen to share
with you.
If you're someone who has beenthrough a hysterectomy, if you
are preparing for one or you'resupporting someone else on this
(23:57):
journey, I truly hope that myexperience has offered a little
insight or reinsurance for you.
But again, just a reminder thatyour body, your choices and
your recovery are entirely yourown.
There is absolutely no oneright way to do this.
If this episode brought upquestions, reflections or you
(24:18):
just want to share your ownstory, I really would love to
hear from you.
You can reach out via my email,which is sonja, at
sonjalovellcom.
Sonja, spelt with a Y.
Again, I will add that into theshow notes.
You can follow me on myInstagram.
You can just search SoniaLovell.
That's what my Instagramaccount is.
(24:38):
Again, will be linked to in theshow notes and if you found
this episode helpful, pleaseconsider leaving a review or
sharing it with someone who youthink will benefit from hearing
it.
Please take care of yourselfand I will catch you for the
next episode in another twoweeks, which will be at my
six-week recovery point.
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