Hi all, in December I took had 3 cervical punches and January 5th my results came back as Squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix. After a hands on examination the lady I seen said there was a 2 5cm tumour on my cervix, mainly on the right side and mostly on the anterior cervix, although encroaching on to the posterior cervix. She clinically staged it 1B2 and requested i take a CT scan and MRI. I had my CT scan the same day on the 5th January and have my MRI rescheduled for 5th February and my multidisciplinary teams said they will discuss the results of both on the 16th. My CT has came back as no spread. They said if it has spread id recieve radiation but if it hadn't spread I will be offered a midline vertical laparotomy and removal of the uterus, cervix, tubes, ovaries, the cuff of vagina, the parametric and bilateral fallopian tubes and also bilateral pelvic lymph node dissection. Has anyone experienced this operation, id really appreciate hearing others stories about recovery and the operation. How long did it take to recover, is it possible to recover from an operation like this within 6 week. Thanks. Rosie
Hi Rosie90 and welcome to our group.
I’m sorry to read you’ve received a cancer diagnosis-it’s quite difficult at the start of this process when you’re still waiting for some results to confirm your treatment plan.
A radical hysterectomy is a major operation when it’s done as open abdominal surgery as would be planned for you, and I think recovery within 6 weeks is pretty optimistic. You’d have a lot of healing to do inside and of course you’ll have a surgical wound on your tummy which needs to heal. To begin with you need to take things easy, no lifting etc.
I was admitted for this surgery when my cancer recurred, so I did experience open abdominal surgery even though it couldn’t ultimately go ahead and I didn’t have anything removed. My incision required 25 staples, and I found recovery just from that quite challenging.
I ultimately had a larger surgery about 9 weeks later, which was had a very much longer recovery time so I’ll leave others to comment on their experiences of open abdominal radial hysterectomies. If your mri scan changes your treatment plan and takes surgery out of the equation, we do also have lots of ladies in the group (including myself) who have had chemoradiation as their first line of treatment so will be able to share their experiences of that.
Please keep in touch and let us know how you get on with your scan results-there will always be help and advice in the group to help you through whatever type of treatment you have.
Sarah xx
Hi. I had that exact surgery and honestly 6 weeks is pretty much not possible to be recovered fully. I’m almost 5 months in a still feeling the effects now. I did got back to work on phased return at 10 weeks but only because I was allowed to do admin duties . I ended up with a uti in the first few days then urosepsis 3 weeks after so that slowed my recovery down. Honestly the fear of the surgery took over everything things else and I’m probably struggling more now with processing what happened than I did when I got my diagnosis but physically, I’m feeling much better. So my advice would be to speak to your cns beforehand, I tried to ignore it all and its comeback to bite me in the bum. Before and after my surgery I ate really healthy with lots of fresh foods and protein to get myself in the best position for recovery. I hope you’re surgery goes smoothly - my medical team were wonderful and I’m sure yours will be too 
