Burchers, you say you had a procedure to stop heavy periods, was it an ablation? If so, you can do a 3 monthly cycle if you are post menopause meaning you don't need to take progesterone every day which is probably your biggest problem and causing most of the side effects.
Also, I would definitely switch to Oestrogel, it's nicer to use, more dose flexible and it works better than patches for most people.