Post upper vulvar excision surgery questions

I can't even imagine. I hope someone her can help. You should be able to call your doctor and have him/her answer your questions- most of the time - I could leave a message and the nurse would get back to me with the answer. Prayers for a full recovery. No Time For Cancer - you are an inspiration!

Kacsalley, it has been a little quite here but I know some of the ladies to come and visit.  I am so sorry to hear what you are going through and sorry to hear your doctor say your "new normal".  I am a visitor from the Uterine board but I will tell you this:  Be kind to yourself.  Recovery takes longer than you think so don't get discouraged.  If you have any concerns - please call your doctor's office and tell them what is going on.  

Laura2051 said:

Healing does take a while

What helped me was sleeping with an icepack between my legs for the swelling. After surgery I also kept a spray water bottle near the toilet so I could spray the area with cool water after voiding. (This water trick also helped after radiation) I'm 1 year post vulvar and lymph node surgery this month). I hope you ladies Kac salley and Littlefroglegs are doing well. When you are able to, get out for a short walk. This helped me. It is good pelvic floor excercise and good for the mind and spirit too. I walked every day after the surgery and believe it helped. Take it easy on yourself . When you have healed more you can gently rub some sweet almond oil or vitamin E oil on yourself. I will check back to see how you are doing. I hope this helped

Dear Laura, thank you for sharing your tips for other ladies.  I do hope Kacsalley and Littlefroglegs check in, you all need it eachother and this forum continues to live.  

One year?  That is great!  I bet it is hard to believe you did everything you did.  I hope you did something special for yourself.

Hi ladies. I to have had same experiences. I was diagnosed in fall 2013 and had no insurance. So it wasn't until July 29,2014 when I had my surgery at Ellis fischel cancer which is part of university of Missouri. I had a phenomenal female doc who took time to answer every question and concern I had. My surgery ended up being a modified radical vulvectomy. Ice packs were my best friend and saving grace. I had thought I could go back to work in a week and would be back to normal that fast too. I tried to hard to get up and around. I ended up having complications and at the time had someone who wasn't taking care of me at all. After 6 days unconscious and someone finally calling help for me. I was taken by ambulance to a local small hospital and then promptly put on a life flight chopper to mu hospital where I was in complete acute renal failure and totally septic. I don't remember much thankfully. But by the grace of god and my doc who did my surgery who came in and had to remove every stitch of the hundreds I had and this was 3weeks out from my original surgery.  And being on a ventilator and dialysis for 24hours. They brought me around and told me they had never seen anyone come in with kidneys that bad and in that short of time come out of it. I was in icu 3 days and up on the cancer floor another 5. And 2 blood transfusions I was released and my folks took me home to care for me. I had a cane to walk and my next goal was to heal up enough to start 30 radiation treatments for a spot that couldn't be removed surgically as it was to close to the anal region. So I could barely walk always felt clammy and weak on top of hurting like never before in my life. My radiation oncologist ended up being fantastic too. But not completely healed with a spot the size of a silver dollar I started radiation at the end of Oct 2014 and I had more pain from the burn than I had with other things associated with treatments. They even had to end up giving me a 2week break in middle of treatments because of that area that was not healed up before I had to start. But I finished the week before Christmas 2014. And the feeling of never being normal again was there for along time. But here we are a week shy of 3yrs out from my original surgery. And 2 and a half from being cancer free so far. I can tell you I've been through hell and back. But slowly I started feeling a bit better and I am not like I used to be but I don't expect to be. I am thankful to be alive and kicking. And as far as what my daughter jokingly called my frankenvagina it healed up better than ever and works just great minus a few things that are odd. Lol. But you have got to let your body heal at its pace. And I've got aches and pains in my hips and stiffness I never had. And I've been told by a doctor also its your new normal... I sleep with a pillow between my legs. And they radiated my lymph nodes as precaution so I've got problems with skin in my groin that gives me problems. And i use silvedine cream from my doc which is a lifesaver.  But time and faith and a positive attitude and support. Don't rush even though life fly's by.