My mother recently had surgery, pelvic exenteration. She's 61 years old. Sugery was on Feb. 11. Due to recurrent uterine ca, pelvic exent. was basically the only option. Because of past radiation and hysterectomy, and the extent of the ca, chemo wasn't a promising option to even consider. My mom is home now, after 11 days in the hospital. Undoubtedly, she is in a lot of pain, extremely weak, has no appetite...but those are side effects to be expected after this extreme surgery. Her gyn/onc surgeon was able to save her bowel, so no colostomy needed; however because the cancer surrounded her bladder, it had to be removed. She now has a urostomy. Along with the emotional set-back, my mother is having a difficult time with body function issues. Her doctors stated that she would regain bowel movement control after a while. Is there any one out there who has had this procedure? If so, can you tell me how you did after the surgery? We were told that it would be a long road to recovery, but just wanted to know about how long did things start to look brighter? When would one expect to notice a gain in strenth? And how long did it take until you were truly back to a somewhat normal day to day life?
D.