6 weeks

So on Monday I hit 6 weeks since the operation and therefore should be 95% recovered.  I wouldn't say I was 95% recovered yet, I still have a pain in my stomach, am still exhausted by 11pm, and still can't lift heavy things (e.g. Tom) but I'm not complaining.  I have been walking, walking, walking and am fit as far as that goes.  I can't run though - as soon as I do, it feels like my tummy will split in two!  My new slimline figure is getting me lots of compliments (never have I been told how well I'm looking by so many people) and makes clothes shopping a joy.  Mentally I'm getting there, I might drift off every now and again, but on the whole I am happy and not anxious which is lovely.  I'm sleeping well too - which is an obvious sign that I'm doing ok.

I went to see Dr Morgan yesterday - she was running 30 minutes late and then my appointment ended up being 30 mins long so I dread to think how she was doing by the end of the day.  We had a really good chat about everything.  She can't help with any information on how the cysts replicate / grow, where they come from, timeline for recurrence etc etc because basically no-one knows.  She didn't know that the surgeon had left some cysts behind (she hasn't had an operation report yet) and she doesn't know if this is a problem, whether they can grow from there or whether they will just stay where they are.  Problem is so few people have had this condition that no-one knows anything about it.

She said the histopathologist in Preston was really helpful and quite excited by me, but the lady she spoke to at Christies was very snooty and very hard work!  Because my case hadn't been discussed at the MDT yet they were reluctant to release any information to her.  Dr Morgan has asked if I can have HRT - but they haven't confirmed one way or the other.  I might hear from Christies or I might not - depending on what they decide at the MDT.  I doubt I will hear from them, I never have all through this process!  I think my case will be - oh look at this, isn't it interesting, it's not cancer, the end.  That's what I hope anyway.

I asked her about any side effects of not having an omentum, she completely took me by surprise by telling me that the omentum actually grows back.  It won't grow back in all its former glory, but it will grow back in some form, meaning that there will be something in my abdominal cavity to pick up any future infections, which is great.

I laid on a bed and she gave my stomach a right good squish and squash to try to determine the source of the pain I have on the lefthand side (so much so that my tummy really hurts today!) She said it wasn't anything from inside, and was probably as a result of my muscles being split when they wrenched open my tummy with metal clamps (such a lovely thought!).  It will recover in time.  She gave me the go-ahead to do pilates and said I should be able to do Boxercise etc in about 6 weeks time - but I would know when is good.

I explained my toilet problems, I took a sample with me which she tested - to which she said 'Full House!' yes I had a proper full on bladder infection, so she's given me antibiotics for that (double the amount I need in case I get another one - apparently it is very common after a hysterectomy and if I keep getting them then I have an over-reactive bladder for which there is treatment - but we will cross that bridge if we come to it!) and she has given me loads of sachets of stuff for constipation. Did you know that a prescription costs £8.60 these days - wow!  Took me by surprise - can't remember the last time I had a prescription - but I'm sure it was when they were about £6, so quite a while ago!

I explained to her that Mum has osteoporosis and with not being able to be put on HRT is that a problem? She's going to send me to have a scan for my bone density to see what my base line is and then advise all the non-drug things I can do to try to keep it as high as possible.

The bottom line is that all my notes are being sent from Preston to Lancaster and I should hear from Lancaster by September - I'm not urgent anymore and with the 2 week schedule in place for all suspected forms of ovarian cancer, it will be a while before they get round to me - which is fine.  She assumes they will scan me from time to time to check they haven't reoccurred.  She wasn't sure what type of scan, obviously I can't have regular CT scans due to the amount of radiation involved.  It might be that I get transferred from gynae to general surgeon as if they start multiplying around my liver that's very much not a gynae problem.  She said what will happen is that the Dr in Lancaster will get my notes and the first thing he will do is google my condition because he wouldn't have heard of it!  A case of the blind leading the blind!  She thinks they will put a management plan into action to make sure I'm monitored incase of reoccurrence.

Anyway, I'm quite happy about it all, I know I've got some cysts behind my liver but hopefully now all their friends have gone and female hormones are gone, they will just get lonely and disappear.  There's no point worrying about it, they are only benign anyway and if they come back, they will just have to take them out again.  I've recovered once, I'm sure I can recover again.  If they do come back I would prefer sooner rather than later though, don't fancy a big op when I am 20 or so years older!

6 weeks good growth with the yellow nail on top - could it be related?

Oh here is a strange thing that has happened since the op, I have no idea if it is related, but it is worth noting it just incase of a reoccurrence.  Many many months ago I noticed that one of the toenails on my left foot had gone white.  Completely white - it was very strange, I had never seen them do that before, it was like someone had drawn a straight line on the nail and coloured it in.  I showed it to Matt, he didn't think it was much and thought that in time it would go.  I didn't go, in fact the toe nail turned yellow and thick and when I cut it, it just crumbled.  I know that reflexologists believe that the foot reflects what is happening in the body so I did some googling to try to find out more but drew a blank.  Having had this weird toe nail for quite some time, it now looks like it is recovering, the new growth looks normal.  So, the big question is could it be related to my condition?  Could it have been telling me something was wrong, and now I've had the op to remove everything it is now telling me I'm fine.  Or is it just a coincidence?  I know the human body works in strange ways - so it could be.  If this toe nail recovers and then goes strange again I am going to the Dr for a scan just to be sure!

Oh and for the first time in my life my urge to stop eating when full is working!  Having eaten through the urge for a life time, now I will sit down to a meal, look at it, think yummy, tuck in and then I get the urge and have to STOP eating.  I then look at the food on the plate and am no longer interested in it any more.  It is strange, almost as if the surgeon pressed a reset button on my stomach whilst he was in there.  I'm not eating much more than Tom at the moment and doing loads and loads of exercise but not feeling hungry.  Hopefully it will stay with me as then I will hopefully be able to keep the weight off.  I'm worried that when I start working I will put the weight back on again as I won't be as mobile as I am now.

So anyway time to draw a line and put all this behind me.  I will try not to mention it again and look forward to enjoying life even more than I was before.  I'll mention if I hear from Christies or what happens at Lancaster but as far as I'm concerned I just need to do as much exercise as possible to get fit (and keep weight off).  I have a target date of July 4th to return to Boxercise - if I make that I will be very happy and it will mean I am 100% recovered.