Unable to do robotic hysterectomy

3 replies
85 subscribers
614 views

Hi all, I went into hospital for planned robotic hysterectomy on Tuesday but when I woke up I found out they had to abandon the procedure because the cancer had spread outside the uterus. It appears to be in the one ovary but it is so close to my bowel they decided to leave it and are planning on starting me as soon as they can arrange it on radiotherapy to shrink it. Its not what I was expecting so feeling down at the moment. They said that from what they could see the bowel isn’t involved and there is no spread outside the pelvic region so that’s good. I had another CT scan before I came home and they’re arranging an MRI scan and discussing my case on Friday so hopefully we can get on with treatment quickly. They did say that if they had completed the surgery as planned there was a possibility that some cancer cells could be left behind and because of surgery they wouldn’t be able to start radiotherapy for about 4/6 weeks.

Muse over 2 years ago

While clearly a disappointment it sounds as though it was a considered decision by your surgeon. In my case the surgeon did a pre-hysterectomy exploratory in order to determine if it had spread outside womb and if it had they would’ve gone the radiotherapy route first. I now see it as a practice run for my body too.

Royalcb over 2 years ago in reply to Muse

Hi, yes they said they had to weigh up the risk of completing the surgery and delaying start of radiotherapy against leaving it,because even though it had spread it is still fairly isolated within the one ovary and inside the uterus and no spreading anywhere else that they could see, and getting started earlier with radiotherapy to shrink it. I will probably ring my CNS tomorrow and ask her to just explain it to me again just so I’ve got it clear in my head.

MarmiteFan59 over 2 years ago in reply to Royalcb

Hi Royalcb, I am so very sorry for your disappointment and really feel for you. My eyes filled with tears as I read your post and empathised with you, imagining what it might feel like to have gone through all the op prep and anesthetic, and then coming round from it to find that the op hadn’t happened and that there was some tough news to take in and process. I’m sure if it was me I’d want to do the same as you and want to chat to my CNS to go through it all again when I wasn’t in shock. I will be thinking of you as you wait for the next steps and appointments, and would definitely encourage you to seek as much support from your CNS as you need to get you through.

More from this forum

Unable to do robotic hysterectomy