Hello again Purplebee & thank you for the extra info, that's very helpful.
I understand why you decided to stay on combined HRT if EC suited you well & the simplest thing for now, as you suggested, would be to continue with your plan to reduce the dose back to half a patch & see how you feel once stabilised at that dose. In my early 60s I'm finding my body doesn't cope well with higher doses either & the 25mcg half patch may be as much as you can tolerate & importantly, the optimal dose for you to feel your best.
Now you have no uterus or cervix (with no endometriosis history) as I'm sure you know you could speak to your gynae/GP about changing to oestrogen only HRT if you prefer to see how you feel without a progestogen, perhaps with a little testosterone added if your doctor is amenable, but for now I understand your priority is to recover from the major surgery & get rid of what may be side effects from the higher dose.
We have had similar surgery cumulatively (total hysterectomy + BSO), but mine was in 2 stages, several years apart - the BSO came first & my hysterectomy was laparoscopic, so with smaller external wounds than yours but with pelvic floor repair & another couple of gynae procedures at the same time. So the differences make it less straightforward for us to compare recovery. I was warned the PF surgery would likely make me feel pretty rough & required a longer recovery period (3 months) than for laparoscopic hysterectomy alone & to take recuperation very seriously. I then had complications requiring readmission twice so I can empathise with the toll this type of surgery takes & really can't imagine how you have managed living alone. Bless you - you must have had a very tough few weeks. The reason for your surgery may also have some bearing on your recovery, making it different to mine.
So your question about recovery time - it took a lot longer than I anticipated
, largely I suspect because of post-op infections persisting for a couple of months & a heavy bleed depleting my iron stores. I was told to do very little for 3 months post-op, but was lucky my partner works from home & took over the heavy household stuff to enable this. 18+ months on from surgery I'm frustrated to say I'm still not back to the level of fitness I had before, partly through muscle loss from the enforced abstention from exercise. I'm also still struggling to get my HRT optimised.
Can I ask have they done urine tests for you to check for infection, had a look at your tummy, maybe a scan (I had one when readmitted post-op) to make sure all's OK re the "swelly belly" & bladder symptoms? If you have no post-op review coming up very shortly I'd ask to see your GP to check everything out for peace of mind. Early days isn't it & may all be due to the recovery process but best to seek medical opinion I think.
Also have they given you anything to help keep your bowels gently regular? Yes, the first couple of weeks are very hard on the bowel with the trauma & swelling from the surgery coupled with the anaesthetic effects, but if you are still struggling with bowel function I would flag that up, as it's important for us to try to avoid undue pressure on the pelvic area after hysterectomy & any bloating will also be increasing the pelvic discomfort as you heal.
Do you feel the Blissel is enough for the vaginal symptoms? Hard to say at this stage I imagine, as you will still be sore from the surgery. Although I'd lost both ovaries 5 years before the hysterectomy, I did find I was drier for the latter op, presumably due to loss of mucins on removal of the cervix. Blissel is a very weak formulation of the already weak estrogen Estriol, so I wonder whether you may benefit from moving to an Estriol cream, the stronger of the two perhaps, the 0.1% product. I'd suggest Vagifem for the stronger estradiol it contains, but this can be resistant to dissolving when we are very dry. Something to maybe ask your doctor about if you feel you might need more than Blissel & have not tried the alternatives. Were you required to go without vaginal HRT for a few weeks post-op? I was & found this really set back the GSM.
I hope they gave you guidelines on how best to recover e.g. very minimal lifting in the initial weeks, nothing heavier than a half-full kettle (difficult living alone I know) & thereafter whatever adaptations you can make for the long term. I was told no heavy lifting for life, e.g. grandchildren, shopping bags, even heavy saucepans. So it has taken some lateral thinking to adjust lifelong habits & that will be less practical & more difficult for you as you live alone, so I do feel for you. Please do rest as much as you can to help you recover fully. 7 weeks is very early days considering it was major surgery of a very invasive nature that really pulls us about. Please message me if you prefer.
Wx
P.S. - sorry this is so rambling, with extensive later editing too.
