I had stage 4 bladder cancer in 2017. I'm now facing abdominal reconstruction with biological mesh. Has anyone else had this experience? How did it go?
Hello . Welcome to the group. I'm sorry I can't help with your question. Hopefully, someone will e along with experience of this and will be able to help. Best wishes.
Hi and welcome Tracy19. But just a thought, might be worth calling the MacMillan nurse line to see if this op has been done for people whose original cancer was not bladder but something else pelvic area. They would be on the relevant forum eg maybe uterine cancer?? but have some ideas/tips for you.
Hi Tracy, has anyone tried Manuka Honey dressings? These often work on eg chronic leg ulcers where everything else has failed and are now recognised by the NHS. But not everyone is aware of it. The other thing is, do you take any supplements? The food in our shops is generally nutritionally deficient; years of eating this 'standard' food can make the difference for the worse when the body is faced with a challenge to heal as yours has been. Certainly check with your pharmacist, but a good quality daily vitamin and mineral supplement is a must [that is, one where the zinc ingredient is NOT zinc oxide, as this is not well absorbed] . On top of that you might want fish oils [used to help build cell walls],high dose odour controlled garlic tablets which are an effective antibacterial and antiviral agent, and maybe things like echinacea which may help the immune system. And importantly because our bodies cannot store it, sustained release vitamin C several times a day. This is needed to keep skin healthy and for all body repair work and against infection. And as gum infections respond to Ubiquinol/CoEnzyme Q10, infections elsewhere might too. [That is essential according to our old GP if you take statins.]
Even if this op is now unavoidable, I do hope you will consider the above to help you get through the op and recover better this time. I take everything I have suggested myself without having cancer or surgery [it is my husband who has bc]
In one way sorry for the lengthy lecture, but in another I don't apologise, because unfortunately the medical profession receive very little training in nutrition, and 'follow-the-money' points to big pharma suppressing this sort of info and doing their best to influence medics to prescribe [expensive] not always effective drugs instead.
