To catch everyone up on the past 6 months, I was placed back on chemotherapy in December to attack/shrink the three metastatic tumors in my liver. One on the left lobe, and two on the more complicated right lobe. After chemo ended (last week of March), I was referred to a surgeon in Santa Monica who could handle my case. He took an aggressive position and during surgery he removed my left liver lobe, cut out the two tumors on the right lobe, and removed my gall bladder. He also discovered something on my diaphragm which he hesitated to name until the pathologist had their turn with it. On my diaphragm was something that appeared to be a lesion/adhesion/scar tissue, possibly another metastasis, possibly a result of chemo. Since this has never shown up on any PET scans, we are for sure waiting for the pathologist before making any predictions.

Yes, for those of you who have heard that liver resection is one of the most difficult surgeries out there, you would be correct. It has been the toughest recovery for me, and 8-days post op, I am still reeling from the effects. I was able to go home over the weekend, so recovering at home has been better. People have asked what the side effects of this surgery have been, how terrible is the pain, and what effects will this have on my body. I’ll answer each:

1) Side effects: In the first 5 days, because of swelling in my chest, I cannot take deep breaths, nor eat meals any larger than a bowl of cereal. Because the diaphragm was cut into, it spasms. Not like hiccups, more like short quick gasping involuntary panting. The pain from the surgery is hard to describe. They gave me an epidural pre-op, which lasted 48 hours and helped control the hardest parts of the early post-op pain. But, the incision, 20cm across my abdomen just below my ribs, makes me feel like I have a tight strap around me. It also pulls me forward when I try to stand up (this will improve every day as the skin/muscles/tissue relax). My right side, where the surgery was performed, feels as if I were punched repeatedly. I was given a chest tube (to prevent pneumothorax) and a JP drain (for obvious reasons). Because everything was contained on the right side, that’s where the bulk of the pain is.

2) What sort of pain? In the hospital, I was never in a state where I felt I needed anything too strong. They were giving me high doses acetaminophen with gabapentin which did the trick. I’ve been moved to ibuprofen now that I’m home. The worst is the nagging aching throbbing pain in my side along with the incision. I have previously placed my colectomy/colostomy surgery at a 9 on the Universal Pain Scale, and it earned every last point of that. I would put this one at a 4 on day one, then quickly dropping to 2 within 72 hours. It’s less about intolerable sharp pains, and more about the unrelenting nature of it, persistent aching gets tiresome real quick.

3) As soon as 48 hours post-op, my blood work hinted that liver regeneration had already begun (a drop in phosphorus indicates the liver consuming it in order to begin growing). Surgeon predicts that with this quick growth, I should be seeing normal bloodwork again in 6-8 weeks, and my liver should be fully regrown in 3-4 months. It will have no effect on my health, my diet, nothing. As many of you know, I actually gave up alcohol in the summer of 2021 (6 months before cancer entered my life) just on a whim, and I don’t plan on ever drinking again. I think my liver has earned a peaceful retirement.

So now what? On Tuesday I see the surgeon for my post-op, and we go from there. He and my oncologist will formulate the plan as to what happens next. More chemo? Any drugs? Something I can’t imagine? I have no idea.

Please remember that people who have had metastatic cancer will never hear the words “remission” or “cure” and doctors are very uncomfortable when faced with questions about these terms. We are aiming for “No Evidence of Disease” (NED) and to keep this status for 10 years. But my surgeon did say to me pre-op, “You *used to be* stage4, and it’ll take some time for you to begin to understand that you’re not that person anymore.” As I said in my book, Round the Twist, it was going to be even harder to accept good health than it was to accept cancer.

In the meantime, I am moving from bed to sofa by myself today, trying to eat well, walk when I can, and get back my endurance so I can walk from our car to the doctor’s office next Tuesday. Now the question is, which wig shall I wear!!!!

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Lisa Febre is the author of “Round the Twist: Facing the Abdominable”

Available anywhere books are sold: https://www.lisafebre.com/buythebook

Amazon Best Seller Books and Kindle: https://a.co/d/hTiYDOY