I haven’t updated in awhile so I thought I’d post another photo of the healing progress. June 5th was eight months post op from my Total Laparoscopic Hysterectomy (TLH) and my incisions are looking really good. The main scar on my left (viewer right) is fading nicely and is much less red then it was. My belly button also looks almost normal except for a tiny little scar bump directly underneath.
(click for larger)
The picture was actually taken about two weeks ago but I forgot to post it until now.
Update on Pain/Healing
Pain-wise, almost all of the random, deep aches at the incision sites seem to finally have gone away. I’ve had a handful of times lately when I’ve felt it, but almost completely gone.
My belly button is also less aggravated then it was before, but it can still be temperamental. Sometimes it just hurts and doesn’t like being touched, or rubbed by clothing or whatever. Those days suck because there’s little you can do for a cranky belly button! Still, even that is getting less frequent, so I hope someday, maybe it won’t bother me at all. But I’m not entirely holding my breath.
I’m also at the point where I don’t think about it constantly. I finally feel like it’s not dominating every aspect of my life and I don’t just feel like I’m defined only by my surgery and recovery. So that’s nice.
Full recovery for 100% internal healing is one year. So I’m more than halfway there now. Figures put me at about 80% total healing internally. Of course, externally, I continue to look better and better scar-wise. My other two scars (small, assistant’s entry on my right and tiny light incision right along the hair line) are all but invisible. I look forward to my “hysterversary” so it can truly be over and done with.
Medical Bills
Bill-wise, I’m still working slowly (VERY slowly but steady) at making dents in the amounts I owe. I’ve paid off one lab bill completely (yay!) and am down to $95 on the other. I still owe $300 to my gyno (down from near $900) which I’m desperate to try and pay off since that’s the one that means the most to me. I’ve been sending at least $50/month to my doc but I wish I could pay it off sooner. At this rate, it’ll be the end of the year before I can get it paid and that’s frustrating.
The hospital approved my charity request and waived my $4,000+ portion of the co-pay which is a HUGE relief. I have a $0 balance with the hospital now and that’s awesome.
I also still owe a few thousand to several other providers but since a couple sent me to collections, I’m focusing on those who are still accepting my payments instead.
I have also maintained my PCIP insurance so far but it’s literally a fight tooth-and-nail each month to come up with the $237 premium. I’m so loathe to let it lapse though since it would mean a minimum 6 month penalty period before I could re-apply. It’s just so difficult to write out a check of that HUGE amount each month knowing how many other things I could put it towards.
Wrap Up
So that’s where we are 8 months post-op. As always, for anyone finding this blog/entry while searching for info about being post-op hysterectomy (and there’s a lot of you!) feel free to ask any questions. I try to address things I wanted to know and researched when I was pre-op or newly post-op, but of course, you may have questions I didn’t think to address. You can also check out other posts in the “hysterectomy” category for earlier progress reports as well.