Abdominal hysterectomy + weight lifting?

[blink]

Making more specific plans for the future and looking into hysto options. Would prefer minimally invasive, but trying to plan for all contingencies and that includes possibly needing abdominal.
Searching online I've found that sometimes cis women are told after hysto (particularly abdominal) that they are never to lift anything over [x-number of ridiculously low pounds here] for the rest of their life to avoid the risk of prolapse.

The idea of never lifting weights again is horrifying.
In contradiction to this I also saw people saying they, their gran, or mom or whoever had abdominal hysto and/or multiple c-section births and went on to do all kinds of heavy lifting with no problems whatsoever and that the recommendation to never do anything more strenuous than gently wiggle one's pinky finger is without research or merit.

And... well, I'm planning on vaginectomy. In that case, is there even anywhere for something to prolapse out of?

Thoughts, experiences?

[Dex]

I had a hysterectomy/oophorectomy in February. I have not had a vaginectomy (the hysterectomy was medically indicated) but plan to in the future. My hysterectomy was done laparoscopic.

My doc only had lifting restrictions for the initial healing period (which is to be expected). I have gone back to weight lifting since then and my doc has told me I have no restrictions. 

I had not heard the "no heavy lifting for life" thing before. That's interesting. My doc didn't mention anything about it, in fact I asked specifically when I'd be able to go back to weight lifting and she said after about 6-8 weeks.

[FTMax]

Oh goodness. Wherever you heard about the no-lifting-for-life thing, is that publicly available? I'd like to take a look at it.

I'm looking to schedule my hysto for December or January. Hopefully robo-assisted through the belly button, with an oophorectomy and vaginectomy (at least taking a portion of that out) at the same time to get ready for bottom surgery. My job at the moment requires daily heavy lifting (~165lbs). I can obviously get out of it during the recovery period, but beyond that, it'd be a career-ender if I couldn't lift anymore.

[HeyTrace19]

I had an abdominal hysto about 2 years ago (due to an unexpected benign tumor). I resumed lifting for my job (50-75lbs, repetitively) after about 8 weeks, but it was tough.  I really did not feel truly recovered from that procedure for a full year afterward. I am able to handle most lifting that comes about in my daily life or workout routine, though I am not a deadlifter or anything... Definitely think the scar tissue impedes my muscular activity.  If I would have had a choice, I would NOT have had an abdominal incision.  I hope you are able to get things done laparoscopically!

[blink]

Oh goodness. Wherever you heard about the no-lifting-for-life thing, is that publicly available? I'd like to take a look at it.

I'm looking to schedule my hysto for December or January. Hopefully robo-assisted through the belly button, with an oophorectomy and vaginectomy at the same time to get ready for bottom surgery. My job at the moment requires daily heavy lifting (~165lbs). I can obviously get out of it during the recovery period, but beyond that, it'd be a career-ender if I couldn't lift anymore.

The stuff I saw was in various places and frankly I don't want to spend two mornings in a row reading this stuff, but if you google "weight training after hysterectomy" it pops up here and there in the forum threads, which is how I found out about it. Adding "never" to the search terms will get you to that faster, of course. And now, if you search for "hysterectomy vaginectomy weight training" you'll get, amongst other things, a ->-bleeped-<- thread by another trans guy who had such concerns and... this thread. The google spiders work fast.

I had an abdominal hysto about 2 years ago (due to an unexpected benign tumor). I resumed lifting for my job (50-75lbs, repetitively) after about 8 weeks, but it was tough.  I really did not feel truly recovered from that procedure for a full year afterward. I am able to handle most lifting that comes about in my daily life or workout routine, though I am not a deadlifter or anything... Definitely think the scar tissue impedes my muscular activity.  If I would have had a choice, I would NOT have had an abdominal incision.  I hope you are able to get things done laparoscopically!

Thanks Trace, it's helpful to hear from a guy that had to have it abdominally. Sorry that you went through that though.
I wondered if the scar tissue in the muscle would be an issue and that's why I started googling - and then hit upon all this "never lift anything ever again" stuff of nightmares. I don't want it done abdominally if I can avoid it, but I want to know what to expect if it should come to that. Weight lifting is a big deal to me and it would be an enormous (negative) life change to not be able to do it anymore, or have some ridiculously low restrictions placed on me for the rest of my life.

I suppose RE: prolapse and vaginectomy I might end up having to ask some surgeons for clarification, to make sure it's not ignorance on my part to think that, once everything was healed, that would render the whole issue moot. My thinking is that they remove all the mucosal tissue and sew the whole area shut, leaving no cavity (thus nowhere for anything to prolapse into), but that could be incorrect.

[Dex]

I believe your understanding of the vaginectomy is correct. I would imagine that with no cavity, it should make prolapse near impossible. But a doctor's opinion is probably worth much more

[mm]

I want to get a vaginectomy when I get mine; the extra hole can only cause me more problems so why have it down there.

[Dex]

I agree. I would love to have a vaginectomy as well. Since my hysterectomy was medically indicated, though, I couldn't have it done as insurance wouldn't have covered it. Having that still there is a huge source of dysphoria for me and eventually I will get bottom surgery with the vaginectomy. All in due time...

[blink]

I've contacted Dr. Marci Bower's office. In response to my question about permanent weight lifting restrictions after hysterectomy, they said that surgery always comes with risks, but they have never had a patient have this problem, and that a 6 week to 3 month recovery period and gradually building back up after that should be fine.
Further, Dr. Bowers can do the hysterectomy, vaginectomy, and metoidioplasty in one procedure.
Everything else I've heard back from the office is encouraging.

Emailed back asking for confirmation that my understanding of vaginectomy is accurate, e.g. that no cavity remains, as well, plan to update again when I hear back on that, as that's of interest to many of us here.

I'd initially planned to go to Dr. Stasevich in Belarus, but he cannot combine the three surgeries into one sitting, and air fare from here to Belarus is shockingly high, which nixes the financial advantage in my case (especially if I needed revisions). And I'm not sure I could persuade myself to go through the looky-loo-touchy-feely airport screening procedures prior to surgery. After surgery I fully expect to be able to do air travel, I can't see caring much if a screener finds out I have a tiny dangle, but anyone other than a medical professional looking at or touching what's down there now seems approximately as unappealing and insurmountable as eating an entire fresh elephant bowel movement.

[FTMax]

Blink, have you looked into Dr. Miro in Belgrade at all? I don't know what his price is for meta (I only asked about phallo when I emailed), but I know he does a total hysto, vaginectomy, and a meta with all the bells and whistles in a single stage.

If you'd be paying out of pocket for Dr. Bowers, I'd encourage giving Dr. Miro some consideration. His quote for 3 stages of phallo plus accommodation was around $35k after conversion, which is close to the figure I've seen surgeons in the US are charging for a meta out of pocket. So I'd imagine he might be very competitively priced. I love all of his work - the dude makes great dicks. Was extremely friendly and informative via email as well.

[blink]

Blink, have you looked into Dr. Miro in Belgrade at all? I don't know what his price is for meta (I only asked about phallo when I emailed), but I know he does a total hysto, vaginectomy, and a meta with all the bells and whistles in a single stage.

If you'd be paying out of pocket for Dr. Bowers, I'd encourage giving Dr. Miro some consideration. His quote for 3 stages of phallo plus accommodation was around $35k after conversion, which is close to the figure I've seen surgeons in the US are charging for a meta out of pocket. So I'd imagine he might be very competitively priced. I love all of his work - the dude makes great dicks. Was extremely friendly and informative via email as well.

According to one site that lists reasonably up to date estimates of several surgeons' prices, $18,000.
Bottom line is I was fooling myself considering any surgeon I can't get to by land. The idea of going through airport screening procedures like this is horrific to me. There could be a fantastic surgeon who charged $5, makes no difference if I can't get to them. I genuinely don't know if I could bring myself to do it.
I'm extremely frustrated.
Most of the cost with Dr. Bowers is actually hospital fees, she gets less than half of the money. That's why it costs so much to have surgery in the US, all the hospital fees.

Thank you for the information and suggestion. Sorry to give such a negative reply to such a positive post.

In better news I've heard back from Dr. Bowers' office again and it's confirmed: vaginectomy leaves no cavity behind. So yeah, there's really no place for anything to prolapse into, as I thought. I initially hadn't considered Dr. Bowers because, last I had heard she didn't do vaginectomy, but apparently that info was out of date.
The page is out of date, it refers to a future visit with Dr. Djordjevic in 2014, but that would mean she has studied (is that the right word?) with Dr. Djordjevic by now, according to her page on ring metoidioplasty.

[Tysilio]

Blink, just FYI -- I just flew to Great Britain and back, and going through airport security was fine both ways. I've had no surgery at this point, but my name and gender marker are both male on my passport, and I'm read as male 99.5% of the time. I had no issues whatsoever going through the whole-body scanner in the US -- no "anomalies," no difficulty about what's inside my binder, no pat-down after the scan. I was patted down very thoroughly at Heathrow on the way back (they don't use the scanners, apparently) by a male security officer, but it was completely impersonal, and he had zero interest in what was, or wasn't, between my legs.

I don't know if this helps, but it would be good if having to fly were not a deal-breaker for you when it comes to getting the best surgery (and results!) at the best price possible.  And a person could take a sedative beforehand -- as many of us do before a pelvic exam.

[blink]

Blink, just FYI -- I just flew to Great Britain and back, and going through airport security was fine both ways. I've had no surgery at this point, but my name and gender marker are both male on my passport, and I'm read as male 99.5% of the time. I had no issues whatsoever going through the whole-body scanner in the US -- no "anomalies," no difficulty about what's inside my binder, no pat-down after the scan. I was patted down very thoroughly at Heathrow on the way back (they don't use the scanners, apparently) by a male security officer, but it was completely impersonal, and he had zero interest in what was, or wasn't, between my legs.

I don't know if this helps, but it would be good if having to fly were not a deal-breaker for you when it comes to getting the best surgery (and results!) at the best price possible.  And a person could take a sedative beforehand -- as many of us do before a pelvic exam.

Thanks for your reply, Tysilio. It would be good if it weren't a deal-breaker, yes. I don't know what's really a bigger barrier between me and surgery - the money, or me. A sedative is an interesting idea, didn't know that was an option with air travel, although I'm not sure I'd want to be doped up and trying to navigate an international airport either, haha.
It's the potential "very thorough" pat-down that I'm most fearing.

That is interesting that the body scanners didn't wig out on anything. I wonder if they've been tweaking around with that.

It could all be moot, I'm waiting to hear back from Dr. Bowers if I'd even be a good candidate for meta. Pretty sure there shouldn't be any problems, but I'm not a surgeon.