I was absolutely horrified by what I read there and arranged an appointment at Burton to discuss my treatment options. I chose to go to the Christie in Manchester for treatment as it’s closer to Burton than Basingstoke. Scans, colonoscopies and blood tests ensued and on July 4th, 2011, I had full cytoreductive surgery with HIPEC at the Christie. I was the first patient in on of their new operating theatres and appeared in the local paper! My surgeon was Mr Wilson.
I awoke to find I had an ileostomy (albeit temporary), major depression, chest infection and an e-coli infection. I spent three weeks in hospital and received amazing care in the Christie. My rehabilitation was slow — it took me a long time to get used to stoma bag.
In January 2012, I had my stoma reversed. In the following November, I had an umbilical hernia operation at the Christie which unfortunately was unsuccessful. It had been keyhole surgery but the hernia was huge. In July 2013, whilst on holiday in Cancun, Mexico, my bowel became trapped in the hernia repair mesh. I had necrosis of the bowel and had to have 2m of bowel removed and an air ambulance home!
In October 2014, my amazing partner, Laura, found out she was pregnant. In May 2015, my hernia was successfully repaired and on July 18th, just over four years after my operation, our beautiful daughter Isla was born. Don’t give up hope!
– Paul
In case you missed it...
My PMP journey and why I’m doing my bit to raise awareness
I was diagnosed with PMP aged 32, after many months of stomach pains, bloating, constipation and irregular periods. After numerous trips to my GP, which led to an ultrasound and eventually a CT scan, I was told I had a nine centimetre tumour on my appendix which had burst and leaked cancerous mucin into my abdominal cavity.
Too young for cancer
It’s tough being only 20 years old and an appendix cancer patient at that. Mainly because no one expects or even wants to believe you could even end up developing cancer, and the worst culprits are medical professionals. True, the odds are so low it’s a waste of time to even bother, but that ‘waste of time’ could have cost me my life!
I was shocked by my pseudomyxoma peritonei diagnosis
Being diagnosed with pseudomyxoma peritonei (or PMP) came as a huge shock. It was discovered accidentally as my usual yearly bloods showed abnormalities.
My appendix was just removed due to a 4 cm mucinous appendiceal neoplasm. Surgeon now wants to remove part of colon and lymph nodes. Just trying to figure this out.
Whatever you do follow this up. My husband has his appendix removed in 2012 – same as you. We were never told to follow up because the surgeon supposedly removed everything. Now in 2016 he has full blown PMP and is now in the U.K. for treatment
Hello
My mother needs to undergo Cytoreduction and HIPEC surgeory.
I need to understand if this stoma bag.Will this be fitted for all the patients who undergo this surgery . If so what will be the duration of the stoma bag
Hello Ashish,
I’m sorry to read about your mother and I hope her surgery goes well. A stoma isn’t usually fitted for all patients. Some patients have one, some don’t. Some have one temporarily to allow parts of the bowel to recover after surgery, some have one permanently. For a temporary stoma, the duration would depend on how long the bowel is expected to take to recover. In my case, I had a stoma for about 14 weeks.
Hope this helps
Kind regards
Angela