Guide · surgery recovery
Laparoscopy recovery: what to track, week by week
Most of what is written about recovering from endometriosis surgery is averages and forum threads. Your surgical team's instructions come first. This guide covers the part nobody else does for you: keeping a record of your own recovery, so that at the follow-up, and in the months after, you can say what changed with dates instead of impressions.
Not medical advice. Follow the discharge instructions you were given and contact your surgical team with any concern. Nothing here says how your recovery should go; it describes what is worth writing down.
Before surgery: build the "before"
The most useful thing you can do in the weeks before a laparoscopy is boring: log an ordinary pain score, bleeding and energy every day. Without it there is nothing to compare the recovery with, and "is it better than before?" becomes a memory test. Wrenly's daily log is one tap; set your surgery date in the recovery tracker and it counts down and reminds you why the ordinary days matter.
What to log each day after surgery
| Track | Why it matters | In Wrenly |
|---|---|---|
| Pain 0 to 10 | The main line. Expect it high in the first days and falling; a rise after a fall is worth a call. | Today tab, one tap |
| Bleeding | Some spotting is usual after many procedures; heavy bleeding is a warning sign. | Today tab |
| Energy ("spoons") | Fatigue lags pain. Watching it climb is often the first sign of real recovery. | Today tab |
| Bowels | Anaesthetic and opioid pain relief slow the bowel; the first bowel movement is a milestone, and pain with it afterwards is worth noting. | Recovery log: not yet · difficult · okay · normal |
| Mobility | Resting, around the house, a short walk, back to normal. Gentle walking is usually encouraged; log how far you got. | Recovery log |
| Pain relief taken | What, how much, how often. The day you stop strong painkillers is a milestone your clinician will ask about. | Recovery log, free text |
| Notes | Wound appearance, shoulder-tip pain from the gas, sleep, anything odd. | Recovery log notes |
Milestones worth dating
Not a schedule. Everyone's dates differ and no date is a failure. They are the moments a follow-up appointment tends to ask about, so having the day number ready saves the conversation.
- First walk (even to the end of the corridor)
- First bowel movement
- First shower
- Off strong painkillers
- Wounds checked (dressings off, stitches or glue reviewed)
- Drove again (only when you can brake hard without pain and your insurer and surgeon agree)
- Back to work or school
- First period after surgery (often different; note pain and flow)
- Follow-up visit
Wrenly's recovery tracker ticks each of these with the day number after surgery and keeps them with your log.
Warning signs: call the same day
Public patient guidance on laparoscopy (NHS, ACOG) agrees on the list. Contact your surgical team or emergency services today, not at the next check-up, for:
- Fever or chills
- Heavy vaginal bleeding
- A wound that is red, hot, swollen or leaking
- Pain that is getting worse rather than better, or severe abdominal pain
- Pain or swelling in a calf, chest pain or breathlessness
- Persistent vomiting, or not being able to pass urine
A rough shape of the weeks
Offered as orientation only; your surgeon's advice replaces it.
- Days 0 to 3. Pain, bloating and shoulder-tip pain from the gas used during surgery are common. Short, frequent walks indoors. Log everything; do not judge it.
- Days 4 to 14. Pain usually falling; energy still low. First bowel movement, first shower, dressings reviewed. Most people are off the strongest pain relief somewhere in here.
- Weeks 3 to 6. Many people return to desk work and ordinary life in this window, later after extensive excision. This is also where the "compared with before" view starts to mean something: Wrenly leaves the first two weeks out of the comparison because they are the operation healing, not its result.
- Months 2 onward. The first few periods after surgery tell you a lot. Keep the daily log going; a slow return of the old pattern is easier to see on a chart than to feel.
Comparing with before
Wrenly's recovery tracker takes your logged pain and energy from the 30 days before surgery and from the days after the first fortnight, and shows the averages and flare days side by side once there are at least three logged days on each side. That is the sentence to bring to the follow-up: "Average pain was 6.8 in the month before, 2.1 in weeks three to six, flare days went from 19 of 30 to 1 of 24." No app made that up; your logs did.
Set it up in Wrenly
Insights → Surgery recovery: pick the date and kind of operation (laparoscopy, excision, hysterectomy, other). The Today tab then shows the countdown or the day number, and the tracker holds the recovery log, milestones and comparison. Free; nothing leaves your phone.
Frequently asked questions
How long does laparoscopy recovery take?
It varies with what was done and with you. Public guidance (for example the NHS laparoscopy page) describes most people returning to ordinary activities within days for a diagnostic laparoscopy and within a few weeks when endometriosis was treated, with your surgical team's advice taking precedence. Tracking your own days is more useful than any average.
What should I track after endometriosis surgery?
Daily pain, bleeding, energy, bowels and how far you moved, plus the pain relief you took; the milestones (first walk, first bowel movement, off strong painkillers, wounds checked, back to work, first period after surgery) with their dates; and anything on the warning-signs list. Keep logging ordinary days before surgery too, so there is a before to compare with.
When should I worry after a laparoscopy?
Fever, heavy bleeding, a wound that is red, hot or leaking, pain that is getting worse rather than better, pain or swelling in a calf, chest pain or breathlessness need medical attention the same day. Call your surgical team or emergency services; do not wait for a scheduled follow-up.
Does surgery cure endometriosis?
Surgery can remove or destroy visible endometriosis and relieve symptoms for many people; it does not guarantee that symptoms will not return. That is one reason to keep a record afterwards, so a change is visible early and the conversation with your clinician starts from data.
Sources
- NHS, Laparoscopy (keyhole surgery): recovery. nhs.uk/conditions/laparoscopy
- NICE guideline NG73, Endometriosis: diagnosis and management, section 1.11 (surgical management). nice.org.uk/guidance/ng73
- American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Endometriosis patient FAQ (treatment and surgery). acog.org
Wrenly paraphrases these in its own words and is not a medical device.
Keep the record in Wrenly
Log pain, bleeding, energy and mood in a tap, paint where it hurts on a body map, and bring a dated symptom PDF to your appointment. Free, private, no account; Wrenly+ adds the doctor PDF and patterns. Not a medical device.
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