Recovery Time from Surgery is a process --- Each person heals differently!!

From: Helen Dynda (olddad66@runestone.net)
Wed Sep 22 21:53:50 1999


XX-->> Someone had written to me and was very concerned - because her doctor told her that she would be able to go back to work 4 weeks following laparotomy surgery.

XX-->> This is her September 16th letter: "I had surgery September 13th. The doctor went in with the laparoscope but was unable to see because I had so many adhesions; so he opened me up and he removed my ovaries and tubes because they had grown to the walls of my abdomen and my colon was caught. From my belly button to my hair line was nothing but the thick adhesions. He said it was a very bad mess. He put Interceed in. I came home yesterday ,Wednesday, September 15th."

XX-->> Then, later on the same day, she said: "I wanted to ask you about recovery time. The doctor is wanting me to return to work in 4 weeks. I don't think that is enough time to really heal. Is there anywhere that tells how long a person should get off for recovery time? I work in a factory that requires me to lift 50 pounds mandatory. Can you help me?"

XX-->> I do not profess to be an expert on adhesion issues - or recovery time issues, etc. I simply used my research skills; and the only information which I was able to find about recovery times, I found at the Thriveonline web site. So I listed some of the recovery times from surgery, which I found at that site, here at the Adhesions Forum - just a few days ago. Then...

XX-->> On Mon, 20 Sep 1999, Ellen Eggers wrote: "Every person is different, and recovery time depends on many factors.

If we listen to what everyone else tells us, we can either feel like super people or we can feel that there's something terribly wrong with us.

Of course, we can seek guidelines from the doctors, but they're only going to give an average.

Speaking for myself (Ellen Eggers), I certainly recovered more quickly from my first laparoscopy than I did from my fourth (eighteen months later).

Also, 'laparoscopy' is simply a procedure for getting to the internal organs; it can involve looking only or it can involve the removal of organs. Obviously, the latter is going to cause a longer recovery time!

Again, we must beware of such lists that seek to find sameness in everyone; the best we can hope for, I believe, is very loose similarity." Ellen

XX-->> I agree with Ellen!! Doctors cannot alway predict successfully how long recovery will take for individual patients. There are just too many variables. Only the patient herself has a more accurate idea as to where she is in the recovery process.

--
The 15th century proverb which summarizes the purpose of medicine is:
* To cure sometimes, to relieve often, to comfort always. *

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