Notice for surgery?

Hi Becca81, it varies from hospital to hospital. I was told my hysteroscopy results on 19/11/21; after that I had my staging MRI and chest x ray on 23/11/21, and the results of that on 26/11/21. I had my pre-assessment for surgery on 15/12/21; I then had appointment with a new consultant/surgeon on 31/12/21 (my original one needed an op himself) and it was only at that appointment that I was given my hysterectomy date (22/1/22). So that means it took 8.5 weeks from MRI to op.

You will likely get your preliminary staging result on Weds and told whether or not a hysterectomy is recommended, and he/she may give you an idea of when your op will be, but may not give you the exact date.

My hysterectomy did happen on the planned day, but I found out afterwards that one of the previous surgeries that morning had taken longer than planned, and things were almost at the stage where mine might have been moved to the afternoon or cancelled (I was the last one to be done that morning).

Hi Becca81. My experience was this. 

I got biopsy results on 22nd March, had full body CT scan on Sunday 26th March and saw the surgeon on Wednesday 29th. That is when I found out my cancer was stage 1, but grade 3 and would most likely require follow up treatment after surgery. She then offered me surgery the next day as she had a gap in her list, however we both decided, that perhaps I needed a bit more time to get my head around things!! I had my pre-op in April and my surgery on 11th May 7 weeks after the initial diagnosis. I think I was very lucky, that it all happened very fast for me, but it does seem to vary from trust to trust. At my initial meeting with the surgeon, I agreed to take part in a clinical trial called the POLE trial. The results of this trial might have meant no follow treatment for me, but sadly in my case, the results did not come back in my favour, so here I am 17 sessions into 25 external radiotherapy and 4 rounds of chemo to come. Apart from the results of the trial, I was also upstaged to stage 1b after surgery, so both treatments were prescribed for me.

Good luck with everything and I hope you have your surgery soon.

Hello Becca81

I can understand that you feel in limbo waiting to find out when the surgery will happen. It does sound like things are moving forward with the MRI and then the consultant appointment on Wednesday. There seems to be a lot of variation between hospitals. In my case it was 4 weeks only- from when I went to hospital with the first bleed to having the hysterectomy. I saw the consultant for the first time on the Friday lunchtime. I had the pre op checks on the Friday pm (I was not expecting this but was sent straight from the appointment.) I had a covid test on the Sunday. Surgery was Monday and I was home by Tuesday lunchtime. 

I would imagine that Weds will be talking through the results and what the treatment will be and hopefully an idea of when it will happen. Well done on reducing your BMI- not easy.

Good luck and please keep us updated

Jane

Hi Becca81,

There really are variations between hospitals,  I had my initial diagnosis on 26/04 and had MRI scan later that day.  This was followed by CT scan on 02/05.  Had appointment with gynaecologist on 05/05 advising suspected stage 1b and they would arrange an appointment with the surgeon for after my one week holiday which i went on the next day.

Met with surgeon 18/05 where I was advised surgery would be 2/3 wks,  Had my pre-op on 22/05.  The next 2 weeks absolutely dragged.  They seemed never ending and as you say I felt in limbo.  That was the first time I came on here and got lots of good friendly advise.

On 01/06 I had a call saying my surgery would be on 08/06 and I had to isolate for 5 days.  I'm now 7 wks post op and doing great.  I have found that everything has happened along the schedule the hospital has given.  

Good luck with your appointment on Wednesday, hope your waiting is over soon.

Hi Becca, I was diagnosed on 20 July 2022, had planning MRI on 24 July and CT scan on 30 July. I saw the surgeon on 11 August who advised that my cancer was stage 1a. It was only later that I found out it was grade 3. The earliest date for the operation was 6 October which is when it went ahead. I was concerned about the wait for the surgery but the operation  went well and the cancer was contained within the womb with less than 50% invasion. I subsequently had brachytherapy in December 2022. You will see from other replies that the sequence and timing of events can vary quite a bit between hospitals. Hope you don't have to wait too long for the op. 

Hi

I had a TV ultrasound on 4th May. A hysteroscopy under General anaesthetic on 27th June ( having had to abandon outpatient hysteroscopy 2 weeks earlier as so painful). 2 weeks later I saw a Macmillan nurse who told me I had a grade 3 cancer. Had MRI scan on 16th July. Got a call to say I am seeing a surgeon on 1st August to go through surgery and consent with a view to surgery August or early September. The Gynaeoncologists are to booked up to see me so just seeing an ordinary Gynaecologist. Therefore have not met the person who will be doing my surgery. Personally I feel the wait is very long and like you I'm stuck in limbo with the worry.  

HI Jkg,

Like you I had diagnosis 2 wks after hysteroscopy and my hysterectomy was 6 wks after that.  For you that would be towards end August.  Although the waiting can be draining at times, you hang in there.  Your appointments will come through and hopefully like me you will come out the other side feeling it all happened so quickly.

Jules

Hi Jkg

The waiting is always a worry, but as Jules65 says, it will soon pass and your operation will be done.

I wish you well!

It really does vary from hospital trust to trust. I had my hysteroscopy in mid December 2022 with a spinal as Covid left me short of breath and GA would have been riskier.I had MRI at end of month and received cancer diagnosis in January. A week later I met with the surgeon.

He decided that he wanted to do a preliminary exploratory procedure to have a look around and that happened on 2 February. By then I was ok for GA. Met with the surgeon again on the 17th and my hysterectomy was scheduled for 28th. Unfortunately there were multiple problems that day. A bed shortage that held things up and then the woman that was supposed to be a quick procedure before me had complications and was still on the table when they sent me home in the afternoon. So there was another wait and finally had my surgery on 14 March. In each case I had over a week’s notice to arrange things like my cat sitter!