Had my consultants appt at 9am this morning to get my MRI results and treatment plan. Wasn't called in till nearly 9.20am so the nerves were really jangling by then!
The good news is that the stage was confirmed as 1b1 and appears to be contained in the cervix, though it is a bit higher up. He then told me there was a fibroid in my womb (which I didn't know about) and I also have a cyst on my left ovary (which I've only known about for a couple of months). Thankfully the lymph nodes look ok and are not swollen at the moment.
The result is that the lot is going to be taken out so it's a bit bigger op than was originally planned. Unfortunately it cannot be done by keyhole and there will be a cut across and down. Has anyone else had this done and can give me a positive spin on it?
He thinks it should all be done by surgery with no chemo needed but will need to confirm that after the op.
Haven't got the date confirmed yet but I will be called up to have my pre ops next week with the surgery most likely being done the week after. Was told 8-12 weeks recovery and advised to take 12 weeks off work.
All sounds a bit daunting at the moment.............
I had a cut across for my op 6 months ago, so can’t say for certain what it will be like for you having vertical too…but my scar is already really minimal.
It did take 5 months for me to get back to work, at 12 weeks I still wasn’t fully standing up straight. That’s just me though! Swimming massively helped me to get moving as walking just wasn’t suitable.
If you have any questions let me know, I’d be happy to help if I can.
Oh matey,
Glad is “just 1b1” and that can “just” have surgery. Chemo is the scary bit… Somehow major surgery is good!!! Sorry it can’t be keyhole though.
Hope you get the date through soon.
Don xxx
Yes, I am disappointed it's not keyhole but as a neighbour said to me last night, the most important thing is to get it all cleared out even if it does mean a bit more to be done at the op.
I'm trying to prepare myself for the recovery time which sounds like it will be tough going at times. Can I ask anyone who's reading if they struggled to go upstairs to the loo? Someone at work was saying I might need a commode and I wondered how others had got on.
As always, many many thanks for the advice and support.
I slept in the spare room at first which was on the same floor as the bathroom and our lounge. My partner made me a cool box every day and put a kettle in the lounge. Stairs were a slow process, but doable. If you can be on the same floor as the bathroom for the first week, just in the day times, it could be helpful. I found the worst thing to be sitting at a table, it took months for that to feel ok! Sitting in a reclined position was fine though. Just make sure you have a foot stool to get your legs up as it’ll take the pressure off your abdomen.
Stairs are doable, they just took me a very long time to get up, going down was fine though!
This site is great for advice before and after your operation. You can sign up with your surgery date and they send you a weekly email with checkpoints on what you should/shouldn't be doing. They even have an app you can download with the info on. I found it good advice and comforting when I wasn't ironing at 3 weeks like the hospital said I should be (!), in fact I gave up on the hospital guidelines as they were just adding extra stress to my recovery when I didn't meet them.
