Surgery is done

I knew you would be back online once your surgery was over. Did you feel the Pink Bus out in the hospital parking lot on the day of your surgery? Abdominal surgery is tough but then again, so are you. I guess once the pathologists figure out exactly what kind of cancer you have then they can come up with an appropriate treatment plan. You are an experienced patient and WILL be able to deal with whatever they throw at you. 

May you have an uneventful recovery.

IRENE

Sending you healing prayers, rest and get stronger for the next step in the battle.

I'm so glad the surgery is over and you are back on the boards.  You are one tough lady!  Sending hugs and encouragement your way.

Clementine

Adding prayers and hoping that your recovery is swift.  Healing never happens fast enough, but later it will seem like no time at all!

Blessings!

Kathy

Wow, I hope you heal quickly as possile. 

HUGS

Deniee

Now another wait for the results but at least the surgery is over and you are moving forward.  SO glad you can move forward with the healing while thy figure out your cancer and treatment.  You have been thru so much.  

I am thinking of you.

Hugs and prayers,

Carol

Hey Pat –

 I’ve been praying for you, but missed your update on your surgery.  I’m Loretta from the Ovarian as well as the Peritoneal Cancer board.  The “fatty lining” is the omentum!  Now I never knew before that I had a “fatty lining” inside my abdomen that could be removed.  However, unfortunately, after surgery, I still had my fatty layer “outside”.  As a matter of fact, I now have a very heavy feeling stomach.  You will remember in our conversations that I had my ovaries, fallopian tubes, gallbladder, spleen, omentum and sections of my intestines removed. 

 You had the same incision that I had, and sounds like you had Cytoreductive Surgery (CRS), like me.  I really didn’t know what your surgery was going to include.  Good that you were only in the hospital 5 days.  My incision broke open and I had a major infection.  I was in the hospital 42 days! 

 And boy, did I hate to see those “physical therapists” pop their head in my hospital room door with a great big grin, and say, “Ready to go for a walk?”  Oooohhhh Noooo I wasn’t, but I managed to pull myself off the bed, and with the help of some strong men, I was able to get up and go for that dreaded walk.  And if that wasn’t torture enough, they came in one day, and said, “Do you have steps at home?”  “Well yes I do” was my answer.  So again with a grin, they said, “Well today we’re going to practice going up and down stairs!”  ---- YIPES.

 Moreover, riding in an automobile was no easy task either.  I felt every “bump in the road”.  I found that riding with a pillow held tightly to my stomach helped a little.  But “little by little” I recovered, even though at first I wondered if I would ever be the same again.  Well, today, friends say, “You don’t look like you have cancer.”  I still have a “fat stomach”.  My weight is steady.  Actually, I “counted my last calorie” the day I was first diagnosed with “Peritoneal Carcinomatosis.  With a 2^nd opinion that was “upgraded” to Ovarian cancer when tumors were also found in my ovaries as well.  So now, for treatment purposes, I am getting the same chemo combo that is often prescribed for Ovarian cancer, although my cancer wasn’t limited to my ovaries. 

 So check in with us as well.  I must have missed your post, but am glad to know you’re doing well.  I identify totally with the long incision from between the breast to the pubic area!  I long ago exchanged my bikini for a woolen bathing suit that covered the knee.  But I don’t even wear that one now.  Moths have eaten a hole in the knee.  And my knees aren’t exactly what they used to be when I was “thin and young!”  As a matter of fact, I’m lucky to be able to get back up when I get down on my knees.  Hey things quit working as well at age 77, what can I say?  But I’m alive and enjoying a great quality of life for the shape I’m in.  I give God the credit for allowing me to remain sane and I still love to laugh with my family and friends. 

 Okay, Pat, keep on “getting’ up” and let us know how you get along with the chemo regimen.  If you haven’t experienced life with chemotherapy, I could share with you some tips that I learned along the way.  I had my first series in the Spring of 2013, then Cytoreductive Surgery on July 1, 2013—and completed my second 6-treatment session of Carboplatin/Taxol on September 25, 2015. 

 So keep the faith—there can still be a good quality of life after CRS and chemo, even if “fatigue” is your companion! 

 Love Loretta

 Peritoneal Carcinomatosis/Ovarian Cancer Stage IV

you have been thru the wringer-- wondering how you are doing ..

please  is know - when time permits!

Vicki Sam