Advice on liver resection for adenomas

[ElleTaylor]

Hi! I have had various tests and biopsy. Found 12 adenomas, benign. Largest being 5.1cm. Plan is to remove and monitor the other smaller 11 anually. Appear to be as a result if 22 years on the pill. Does anyone have any advice for me about the operation? What to expect afterwards? Also what are your current symptoms, I had none and these were discovered from an unrelated blood test. Thank you in advance x

[purplecatlady1]

Hi

I had a liver resection at the beginning of August. Mine was a single adenoma, which was 11cm x 6cm on the front of my liver, so it was a wedge resection. It was part keyhole and part hand assisted, so I had a small incision in my navel, an inch incision on left where I had a drain to remove blood and bile and a 7" incision where the hand went in to remove the tumour and part of liver.

After your op it is naturally pretty painful, however they will have you on strong pain meds for a few days, they need you to be able to breath deeply without pain so that you dont get a lung infection, they will also be getting you out of bed and moving around within a day or so, even if its just to sit in the chair for a little while.

As you can imagine, to start with walking around is painful, everything feels really tight inside, but the more you do it, the easier it gets.

I was in hospital for 6 days. At home for the first 3 weeks it was still pretty hard going, I made sure that I went to bed every day for 2 hours early afternoon as your body and liver needs rest to heal.

When I was about 2 weeks post-op I got worried as I felt like my insides were tightening up even more and I started getting stabbing pains when I moved in my right hand side, the specialist nurse reassured me that it was all part if the healing process. ( At your pre-op appointment you will be given a contact telephone number for the specialist nurses, they are invaluable to be able to ring of you have any worries).

After about 2 months, I was back driving, walking everyday, the only thing that I was still careful about, was lifting anything heavy. You have to be very careful not to give yourself a hernia.

Have you had your pre-op assessment yet?

For info, I am 56 yrs old fit & healthy with no other health problems. Mine was also thought to be due to long term contraceptive pill use.

I also had no symptoms, mine was found after having raised ALP levels on blood tests, then was referred for scans. They didnt do a biopsy on me first, due to the size, it had to be removed anyway, so I was lucky, as it was still classed as suspected cancer I was operated on within 8 weeks of it being found. I then had another 8 weeks waiting for the histology report to come back from the lab, to finally tell me whether it was benign or malignant, that was nerve wracking!

Any further questions, feel free to ask.

Best wishes

Annie

[ElleTaylor in reply to purplecatlady1]

Thank you this is all so helpful! I have my pre op assessment at the end of the month,not sure how long after that the op will be? Have had 2 c sections so I shouldnt really be this scared!! Thank you xxx

[purplecatlady1 in reply to ElleTaylor]

I am not sure how long surgery would be after your pre-op. I was told in the pre-op that it would be within 30 days, however I actually went in within 10 days, but mine was still suspected cancer at that time, so I think that there are guidelines of how quickly it needed to be done.Not sure if you have had a pre-op assessment before, one of the things that they do is a fitness test on an exercise bike whilst monitoring your heart and lungs. I was pretty fit before the op, but one thing that was flagged up is that I am a shallow breather, which isnt great, so I was advised to practice deep breathing exercises, which I did (I searched on You Tube, there are specific ones on there for surgery). I practiced those before my op.

In my pre-op, I asked if there was anything that I could do whilst waiting, that would help my chances of a good recovery, I was told to get exercise every day which involves getting your heart beating fast for at least 30 mins a day, luckily I live in a very hilly area, which sorted that out!

Yes, it is daunting, there is no getting around the fact that it is a big operation, however the surgeons do these ops every day. They unfortunately have to give you all of the risks involved, which scare the life out of you, but I was told that the recovery time is actually the more risky time than the actual operation, the risk of lung infection or blood clots, which by being as fit as we can before surgery and how quickly that we can get mobile after surgery, reduces those risks.

Try not to worry, it was hard work recovering, but I would go through it all again in a heartbeat if they found something else wrong!

Best wishes

Annie

[ElleTaylor in reply to purplecatlady1]

You have reassured me no end. I am so grateful. Im glad it all went so well for you. I too live in a very hilly area so will make as much effort as I can to get more exercise. I am asthmatic so that may be a slight downfall,but it is very well managed. I think post op is going to be a challenge as I have 2 daughters and am a control freak! Need to get into good habits now!! Thank you so much . xxx

[purplecatlady1 in reply to ElleTaylor]

Not sure how old your daughters are, but if they are young you are going to need help for the first couple of weeks. I found that I could do small things like washing dishes, but no lifting or bending. I also got tired really easily and had to get lots of rest.

I stocked the freezer up with meals that just needed heating up, prior to surgery. My husband is great, but he isnt a cook, so that was a godsend.

Any queries, just drop me a line.

xxx

[ElleTaylor]

Thank you so much xxxx