What to expect post op?
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Thanks for sharing that with me Caroline. Bless your heart, I’m sorry you have had to go through this………..sorry for all of you who have been through it.
I’m glad you told me about the fluid build up stuff……..handy to know, I’ll know to watch out for that one. I wonder if it’s common.
Anyway, I really apprecaite having found this site, it helps me more than anything!!
Best of luck with everything, I hope that if you have to have chemo, it will work for you! XXKate-
I am 51 years old and had my liver resectioned on November 30th last year. My tumor was about 10 cm and they took half of my liver, but it does grow back in an amazingly short amount of time – like in one month. I spent 8 days in the hospital. Once home, I tried to deal with my pain as much as possible with Ibuprofen, at least during the day, and take the heavier pain meds at night which caused serious constipation. I took stool softeners and ate a lot of prunes! (My sister wouldn’t let me go to bed one night until I downed 10 of them.)
It took about 2 months for me to get back to normal. For the first month, I felt like I’d been hit by a freight train. I ventured out a few times to a few functions. (The Woman’s Club named me Woman of the Year so I made it to the December meeting, but it took a lot of effort.)
I had a lot of pain on the right side where my surgery was and when I went for my three week check up, I had fluid which had built up on that side which I believe they call ascites. Once I had that drained, my pain was much reduced. Before it was hard to get comfortable enough to sleep.
I still have some pain from the inner incision when I sneeze or laugh. Like Evan said, your life doesn’t ever really get back to normal, but your mother might have a good chance.
Unfortunately, they found cancer in one of the lymph nodes they sampled durning surgery, and they told me I had a 70% chance of recurrence which it has done. The new tumors are growing really fast in my liver. I may start chemo next week. I had been on a clinical trial for sorafenib (Nexofar), but it didn’t work for me.
Good luck with everything. I think if you’re with your mother for one month, by then she’ll be able to do most everything by herself. In that second month of recovery, I’d have a day where I felt suddenly so much better.
-Caroline Stoufer
Ouray, ColoradoThanks for the info Evan. Phew, that all sounds rather grim.
I have found out that the Docs have idntified it as a Type 1 tumour, which I believe is “good news” as far as Klatskin tumours go. I’ve got to do some more research on that I guess.
Sigh. Just got home today. My Brother flew over from NZ to be with her….the op should have happened by now, and the latest….it’s not going to happen till the 30th. I know I shouldn’t moan, but my Brother and I have busy lives, and it feels like we have just taken time out at the wrong time. It was supposed to happen soon after I arrived you know? Sigh. I’ll have to return for the 30th, but I’m just worried about recovery time, I really can’t afford to be out there more than a month, what with my kids and work and all that stuff. Moan moan whinge whine!!
Oh well, thanks for reading my rant!!
Having said all that, I am glad to have seen her, it certainly helped calm me down alot, and I know she appreciated having me there. Not like it’s her fault that the schedule has gone so pear shaped!!Thanks again Jules for the info!! As you will have read in my other post, I’m here now….returning home tomorrow.
OK, so post op your Dad had a hard time…..is that pain wise? I guess thats what you mean! Lord knows what will be available for her, I’ll try to find out before I leave….all in the lap of the Greek Gods so to speak!!
Normally Mum is very fit and healthy, never has much wrong with her, so I’m hoping she’ll recover OK.
How long was your Dad actually in hospital? What I am wondering about is how soon she will be likely to return home to Kefallonia, which is where she lives, and what kind of stuff is likely to be difficult for her. I intend to return and help her out while she recuperates, shopping for her and that kind of stuff. Any thoughts/advice? She normally lives in a caravan…..but will take a small studio flat till she’s back to normal!
I live in Worthing by the way!!kate,
post op recovery varies – this is major surgery – most important thing is to try to get up as soon as poss after surgery and get moving, appetite takes a while to come back – for my dad it took about 2-3 wks to regain appetite – mobility took him about 6 wks to get back to normal, it seems slow at first but you do get there, I advise an epidural rather then a pca (pt controlled analgesia) post op – my dad had a really hard time following the first op (with morphine) with the second he was fine (epidural) – the second op was done at a bupa hospital here in the UK and the care was excellent, the first op was in a private ward in an NHS hospital (this set up does not work) and the care was lousy. I just wish that we had met prof lodge (the second surgeon) first time around – he is very good. is your mum normally fit? – when is she scheduled to have surgery? – we are also in west sussex, are you in greece with your mum now?
jules
I am curious to know how things are post op for people!
On the assumption that they can cut the tumour out, what will things be like immediately after the op? How long is my Mum likely to be in hospital? We have no idea about this at all. A week? 2? Any ideas/experinces anyone can share please? And how long before life gets “back to normal”?
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