Liver resection after bowel resection

Hi Sub 

Firstly I am delighted you are operable . It remains a mystery to me why two people with the same cell type and treatment respond differently . My mum is 14 years into a stage 4 diagnosis. I wish it never happened but I am glad she responded and I just hope each year the science takes us forward which it has in recent years .

My way of processing the questions is to turn it round and see if I can do some fundraising or awareness.

Thats the only part I can impact . Mum on the other hand has donated her tissue from the resection to a university that is looking into longevity in stage 4 patients.

She has had two liver resections and I think the extent of the resection matters . Initially she had four wedge resections in combination with a bowel resection . She was kayaking six weeks later . However it just was not extensive enough for the spread she had and the following year she gad 73% removed . Open surgery . They warned her she would not be kayaking after this one within that timeframe as she would need to make allowances for the liver to regenerate . She did go on holiday six weeks later but was tired and rested a lot . However as it regenerated you could see her improve . 
She was self caring around two weeks thought .

She maintained that a liver resection is still a more comfortable recovery than a bowel as you don’t have the bowel wakening back up to go through .

She was 69 when she went through the larger procedure . It continues to function well and remains clear !

i wi leave someone else to answer the bowel question as that would probably be more helpful .

take care ,

Court 

Hi Sub!

I had a liver resection in 2021, and have to say, although the next few days in hospital were uncomfortable, they were FAR more comfrotable than I was befgore the operation. As Court mentions below, I also found recovery to be easier. There were a few days of bad pain when the empty space filled up with fluid, but this resolves on its own, and just taking extra painkillers made it entirely managable. I was back on my feet again faster than my original bowel resection, and honestly, I have did not notice anything at all negative regarding liver function for some time afterwards. It grumbles at me now, but that is a new thing, totally unrelated to the resection. I was only a couple of years older than you are when I had the surgery, and other than a rather impressive scar, I do not think that the liver resection had any negative impact at all. I hope it will really help you, too!

Robin

Many thanks for your replies ! I was originally planned in for this Friday but there is a case before me which is quite complex so the surgeon has put me back until Tuesday where I’ll be first on the list . He reckons about 30% of liver to be removed for 2 tumours. Did you complete any chemo after your surgeries ? I completed radiotherapy and chemo last year before bowel surgery and was told at the start that another course might be beneficial after the surgeries to reduce chances of reoccurrence but nothing has been said since . 

Very best of luck! Hopefully it will go without a hitch!

I did not need any further intervention after the surgery, but your position is far more advanced than I ever was on any of my cancer journey pitstops.

I am sure that the oncopogist and surgeon will do the very best for you. Please do keep us updated!

Robin

Thanks for your reply. I’m hoping just this last surgery and back to some sort of normality as it’s been a hell of 10 months.

i can’t wait to add this next scar to the bowel resection scar ! I just hope the surgery goes well . I made the mistake of doing the Dr Google which nominee should ever do ! 
Jim 

Indeed, googling this sort of thing is most unwise!

I hope the scar is a good one. My laproscopy scar looks like I have two navels. The liver resection is a large one, as they also removed gallbladder and various lymph nodes. The thing that vexes me about it is that it had 29 staples. I know it sounds crazy, but the fact it is an uneven number just rankles with me a little. Surprisingly, a lot of people actually say they know what I mean! :D

Robin

That made me smile stoatlord I’ve a lovely mental picture of the surgeon there with a staple gun in his hand, counting up how many he’s done, cursing and then trying to squeeze another one in  x