I had a total pelvic exenteration in January, you are not alone!
I'd never even heard of it until I was told I was having it...mine was a recurrent colorrectal tumour which was originally excised last July but had regrown very quickly. I chose not to do too much googling before the op, which involved removing the colon, anus, prostate and bladder, leaving me with a colostomy and urostomy. They then made a flap using my left buttock which is folded in to fill in the space left by the organ removal. It is a massive operation (11.5 hours for me) but I'm 53, so for a young man like you, it should be a breeze.
I believe, there are 3 or 4 hospitals nationally which carry out this procedure.
I'd be very happy to discuss or give you more 1st hand experience...to be honest, the chemo I'm having now as a mopping up process is worse than the op.
I had a total pelvic exenteration in January, you are not alone!
I'd never even heard of it until I was told I was having it...mine was a recurrent colorrectal tumour which was originally excised last July but had regrown very quickly. I chose not to do too much googling before the op, which involved removing the colon, anus, prostate and bladder, leaving me with a colostomy and urostomy. They then made a flap using my left buttock which is folded in to fill in the space left by the organ removal. It is a massive operation (11.5 hours for me) but I'm 53, so for a young man like you, it should be a breeze.
I believe, there are 3 or 4 hospitals nationally which carry out this procedure.
I'd be very happy to discuss or give you more 1st hand experience...to be honest, the chemo I'm having now as a mopping up process is worse than the op.
