[Cake]

Hi Everyone!

I thought I'd let you all know how I'm going.

Just to back up a little for those that are playing along at home - I needed a hysterectomy because of having post tubal ligation syndrome for the past two years since Hannah was born. I'm 30, have four kids and my rsd went crazy whenever I had my period, which was for about 3 weeks out of every 4. They'd tried doing other smaller procedures but they didn't help, so that coupled with my mum's uterine cancer and the fact that I was done having kids, made us decide to take the darn uterus out and get it all done with! We organised to start a ketamine infusion (7 day awake treatment) when I was in recovery, to limit rsd complications.

So I had my hysterectomy at the end of July- keeping ovaries, done vaginally to limit nerve flareups etc that would come with an abdominal cut. They tried to do it with just a spinal block, but it was unsuccessful (they tried four times, giving me 8 holes in my back! They could get the needles in but couldn't get the thread all the way in ) so I was knocked out for the operation instead.

Because the ketamine was started at the top level, rather than working up to that over a couple of days, I was very out of it for the first couple of days- especially as I also had some effect from the spinal (what DID get in) and the morphine I was on.

The first couple of weeks was very tough, made worse by a fall. My right leg gave out from under me and I fell sideways, hitting my head on the bathroom vanity and landing with my left hand bent underneath me to break my fall- causing it to be damaged. X-Rays showed no break (thank god) but it had to be splinted for a few weeks. It was more painful than my right rsd arm!

But in a way that was good for my brain, as my bad arm had to be my good arm and do everything! There are two possible reasons for the fall: one is due to anemia. I'd lost a lot of blood during the operation etc. The other is something my pain specialist mentioned the other day: in that my system was so over the top in pain messages that it cut out one thing to cope with the rest, so it cut the circulation to my good leg. Seems weird, but apparently its quite likely that's what happened. Either way it hurt!

But I started back on the vitamin c i took before the op, taking 1000mg a day, plus calcium and magnesium tablets, and I really think they helped with the healing process of my injured wrist. I still get a lot of pain there, very similar to my rsd pains, but I'll wait that out a bit longer before I think too much about that. I have all the movement back, which was something I was worried would take a long time. I'll just have to wait and see what happens with the pain.

As for the ketamine- it was great while it was running, I was able to give ZERO pain scores (gotta love that!) and by day 4 I was up and walking around, I could sit up on my own, shower myself sitting down, etc. But as they dropped the dose down so I could go home, the pain levels starting rising again, when they turned it off the pain levels were back to how they were before the op - very high.

Otherwise the recovery has been good. It's been frustrating and tedious and painful, but i expected it to be like after my c/section, so I was glad it wasn't that bad.

I'm 5 weeks post op now and am doing well. Energy levels are pathetic, rsd is higher than ever, pelvic pain is a regular thing coming and going all day, but otherwise I'm feeling great.

I'm SO glad I did it, I feel like that whole chapter of my life is over and am very positive about what's to come. I feel relief and excitement at the same time! If only I could get rid of my RSD with an operation! lol

I was disappointed the ketamine relief didn't linger on, but just getting the relief while I was in hospital was a bonus. My pain specialist is amazing, I'm back on gabapentin now and its working fairly well. We're also doing pain psych things and trying to do a physio/pacing program to increase my physical ability.

I'm sorry to admit I'm not a regular in here anymore so if any of you want to see how I'm going you're welcome to check my blog-- www.thesixofus.wordpress.com

x Kate