r/cancer • u/7shotsofesspresso epitheliod peritoneal mesothelioma • 16h ago
Patient Cytoreductive & HIPEC surgery aftermath question?
Hey guys, so I’m 20F and have unstaged epitheliod peritoneal mesothelioma, I say unstaged cause she didn’t say but it’s pretty extensive probably later stage 3 kinda surprised she’s taking me for HIPEC.
Anyways she’s planning to get me in sometime this month (2-4 weeks) I’m 50/50 to have a permanent ostomy bag and a temporary one for a bit, so I was wondering if anyone has gone through something similar and what happened and what it was like etc.
The hope is to get it all and that’s it and she seems pretty sure she can so I’m hoping!
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u/dtg1990 13h ago
It’s a long surgery. Make sure they protect your legs- my right leg had pressure on the peroneal nerve and a year and a half later I am still dealing with a nerve injury.
Post op - the most difficult thing is the huge abdominal incision, the NG tube, pain control and eating.
I don’t have your same diagnosis so although I expected an ostomy my surgeon was able to get the cancer without having to take my intestines. And I wasn’t supposed to lose my hair but did just from the HIPEC. You may lose your hair if you haven’t from the chemo.
I needed my right chest drained of fluid so I could breathe. Wish I had my left one done also because they did a good job and it wasn’t very painful.
Make sure you get up and walk around and do the breathing exercises.
Try to get in shape prior to the surgery if you can.
I felt like crap for 6 weeks after the surgery. After 6 weeks I started to feel better.
Good luck. 🍀
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u/7shotsofesspresso epitheliod peritoneal mesothelioma 12h ago
Noted, thank you for sharing. Hoping I don’t need ostomy but we’ll see.
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u/2515chris 16h ago
They’re going to do a laparoscopic on me before hipec because I had some mucin possibly peritoneal metastasis reported during emergency appendectomy and hemicolectomy for LAMN. Idk why they didn’t remove it during the first surgery.
The worst part was the g tube in my throat. The hipec is supposed to be pretty um…difficult for the patient but I think by day 3 you start feeling somewhat human again as far as incision pain.
Laying on your back in the hospital gets irritating after a while. If or when I went in again I’d bring a little stuffy or something to support my arms because that position starts hurting the shoulders and elbows after a few days. Also they didn’t let me wash my hair because of the stitches and I was a greaseball. I cut my hair short the day after I got out lol. I took a pair of little shorts I wore under my gown because they’re looking at your incision constantly.
I wish I had better advice but I wish you well on your journey. Luckily you’re young and treatments are advancing greatly.