4 weeks post radical hysterectomy & follow-up appointment with surgeon

Hi L2025 Louise

Thanks for coming back with your update-that’s great news for you today. It’s always a bit nerve racking going for these follow ups, but hopefully the fact that you don’t need further treatment, and will just be monitored at your local hospital, will let you move on knowing you’ve had a great result.

Hopefully your bowel issues will continue to improve-the bowel really doesn’t like being pushed around and handled during surgery! 

I’m sure others will be pleased to read your positive news, and it’s so helpful to have updates like these for new members, so I appreciate you letting us know. There will always be support in the group if you need it in the future but for now I hope you continue to recover nicely and can put this behind you. I hope too that you might continue to reply to others in your situation to reassure them about the surgery.

Sarah xx

Hi Louise thats fantastic news-very pleased for yoy! I had the same 8 weeks ago and also had a clear pathology so no further treatment recommended x i’m doing all i can to stay healthy x i understand your relief at finishing those daily injections! it can be hard to be patient around recovery but i can assure you that the timeline they give you for recovery is pretty accurate fir most-i saw a definite improvement around 6-8 weeks and so am looking forward to the 10-12 week stage! for me the swelling has been difficult and frustrating i cant get in alot of my clothes (i know there are worse things) but its starting to reduce this past week, i also dont like the numbness but that is slowly improving x my energy is pretty good and i am now back up to walking for an hour so hopefully you’re over the hardest part including the post  surgery appt and can look to the future with optimism but for me theres still emotional stuff to process as receiving this diagnosis is a shock for mist of us i think x i’m easing back into a more normal life but i’m aware it is a new normal x plan some things to look forward to x all the best with your continued recovery xx

Hi Seffie 

Great to hear how you’re doing. Agree with having things to look forward to, even if it’s something small. My partner and I went out to a local cafe for lunch yesterday which was the first time of going out of the house other than for daily walks and for medical appointments, so felt like an achievement and a little bit of normal. I really enjoyed it! 

Sounds like you’re doing really well with walking. I’m managing about 30 minutes per walk at the moment and my pace is gradually picking up - or at least it is at the start of the walk then gradually gets slower. I was a big walker before surgery (usually around 10km per day in total) so I’m really looking forward to being able to increase the amount I can walk. I’m finding any kind of incline very hard work which is limiting my walking as I seem to be surrounded by hills (or inclines at least) no matter which direction I go from my house which I hadn’t really paid attention to/noticed before.

I can identify with still having emotional stuff to process - I think I’m still a bit like a rabbit in the headlights and haven’t really processed the diagnosis and surgery yet. I hope you have the support you need to help you with this when you’re ready.

Sending you best wishes for your recovery heading towards the 10-12 week stage. 

Louise x

Thanks Louise sounds like you’re making great progress too! i think the key is to listen to your body as its so easy to do too much and try to find the balance between too much and not enough but i think progress can plateau abit then you improve alot over a few days x sounds like you were fit before which should really help your recovery x keep going, the weeks fly by! xx

Hope your doing ok.

I went for my consultation and pre op is Monday, then 2 to 4 weeks for op. Very nervous as I've had radiotherapy before lots of risks. They are using glue which they said heals good.

So nervous, how do people cope?

It's hard on home life

Pleased that you're on the mend. 

Hi Sodo7985 

Good to hear from you. Glad that things are moving forward for you. 

I have had a good experience with the glue. It’s gradually fallen off over the past few weeks in small sections as it’s been ready and I only have one section left to come off at the very end of the incision. I now have a quite narrow straight vertical line going down from underneath my belly button a bit like if someone had drawn on me with a crayon that’s a bit darker and a bit more pink than the rest of my skin. It looks so much better than I expected it to. 

When I was feeling nervous before surgery, I found it helpful to phone the Macmillan line and talk through how I was feeling/what I was worrying about - I felt better and calmer afterwards from having said out loud how I was feeling and from someone having listened to me. I often found it easier to talk to someone unknown about how I was really feeling rather than a friend or family member. On the day of the surgery, all the hospital staff were really reassuring and it was quite busy with different medical checks/paperwork and staff introducing themselves so (to my surprise) I found that I didn’t really feel nervous and it was all done before I knew it. 

I don’t have the same experience as you with radiotherapy before surgery, but if there’s anything about surgery you would like to ask about or if you’d just like to chat, I’m happy to answer and chat. 

Louise x