hi Toni,  I'm glad you're being wise and gathering information before your surgery.  It's great that the operation is being done vaginally since this is a less traumatic procedure than abdominal surgery and requires less recuperation.  Many women start feeling pretty well by 2 weeks if they take seriously the advice to do little during that time except rest, eat well, and let others wait on you!  If you do that, by 6 weeks you'll be back to normal activity.  As far as menopause is concerned, what I see in clinical practice, is that a hyst. can "speed up" the process.  Some women will begin to have symptoms shortly after surgery, even with their ovaries intact.  At 46, you may be close to or at your own natural menopause, or it could still be years off.  Other women may go years before symptoms start.  If your surgeon advises taking out your ovaries, you will be in menopause right then and there and symptoms generally follow shortly.  You will want to have a long discussion about your ovaries, and --unless there is a significant factor dictating against it--you want to KEEP THEM.  In either case, you will also want to inform yourself about hormone therapy, so you can ask the right questions and decide what is best for you.  (see my posting on bioidentical hormones for more info.)Good luck with your surgery, Toni, and if you have other questions, don't hesitate to write.     Sandy