Hi, @mary1234 - so, I will try my best to differentiate how the rectal prolapse surgery went from the bladder prolapse repair (hysterectomy plus stitching my bladder back in the correct position), as they were done simultaneously.

What I recall is that at first I did have pain - quite a bit - and that pain management was very important. I really made the wrong decision, in retrospect, telling my nurses and physician the day of my surgery that I did not want any more opioids. I did so because after taking them initially, I saw that look in my husband's eye of "she is babbling nonsense" on the opioids (in kindness, but still that I was not making sense and acting a bit odd), and I didn't like that. So, I asked for other pain meds. That took me on a journey of the medical team trying a host of other options and none of them working well at all. I'm pretty sure that this kept me in the hospital another day, as I believe that pain control is a key factor in being dismissed from the hospital, and I was there more at the outer end of the projected hospital stay time. In my opinion, the pain did merit opioids to properly manage the initial pain.

Once at home, it was key for me to keep up with my alternating schedule I'd been told to follow of taking ibuprofen and acetaminophen. When I set a timer (my husband did this for me initially, even all night) and took those meds on time, my pain was there but tolerable. If I got behind in taking them and was playing catch-up with the pain, it was not a great scenario.

I recall a distinct feeling of being tied up too tight in my rectal area. I don't think so, now, as this did eventually loosen to a normal feeling there. I had to use a lot hemorrhoidal cooling pads, and that helped provide some relief. They have you take a lot of stool softeners after this surgery, and I was thankful for it. Honestly, I was terrified to have my first BM. After surgery in that area, you just feel like that much pressure is going to blow your stitches right out. That was not terribly fun. I did finally get through that hurdle, stitches intact. It didn't feel great, but doable. Having a BM continued to be a concern for another 1-2 weeks, but then was fine.

My recovery from the whole surgery (not just the rectal prolapse) was fairly challenging, cause of pain at first and then the fact that I felt weak and tired for a long time. I had my surgery the end of January, and it was not till May till I didn't have to take a nap every day and I had normal energy again. That was discouraging, and made me question my own strength somewhat. I also had a UTI after surgery (I believe this is fairly common), and then I developed lots of rashing from the medication given to me for it and they had to use other medication.

One thing I learned, in addition to what I've mentioned, was that my expectations were not realistic. I think I expected a perfect surgery and that the "perfect" state I was in down there after my surgery would stay that way forever. Well, seven years later, I know that my bladder has moved back down somewhat (from a urogyn appointment where they measured the bladder's position), though not nearly to where I was at surgery time. I don't know about the rectal area, as that was not measured. I'm sure it's not 100 percent perfect anymore. I think if I'd expected to be, say, at least 75% better post-surgery, I'd have been more realistic.

@mary1234 - what are your major concerns with having the rectal prolapse surgery?

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