Exhaustion, pain and coping after cancer surgery: should I see my GP?

[BeautifulBlueFish]

Would you talk to your GP about this?

5 years ago I had surgery for cancer. It was a major operation that removed my gall bladder, half of my pancreas and about half of my small intestine. It’s left me with recurring episodes of cholangitis for which I am prescribed prophylactic antibiotics & insulin dependent diabetes. I take artificial digestive enzymes when I eat because I now lack the bits of my digestive system where these are made & utilised. I experience a lot of abdominal pain. I get fatigued very quickly - for example after a not very long walk, and the effects of this can last for a couple of days.

I feel worn down & exhausted; everything is such a slog, even having a shower & washing my hair. I realised this morning that I haven’t changed my clothes for a week.

I’m always worrying about whether I’m keeping my diabetes under control. I can’t overcome the hurdle of injecting insulin in front of other people if I have to eat with them so I don’t inject, which I know puts me at risk of DKA or longer term problems. It’s not a problem with needles, I can inject myself at home, just not when other people are around. I can’t even acknowledge to them that it’s something that I need to do.

I never know when I get up whether I’m going to have a day when I’m going to have frequent and urgent needs to empty my bowels. If it is one of those days I don’t want to leave the house. This week I was too ill with fever and sickness to go to a concert that DH & I had bought tickets for. This has happened a couple of times this year. For the 2nd week running I’m going to have to cancel my piano lesson because I feel too tired and ill to go.

I don't think that I am ever going to feel 100% well and feel my spark for life again.

Definitely see your GP. Book a double appointment for a full review, especially if you haven't seen them much since your cancer.
They may want to do some tests to rule out anything sinister but at the very least they may be able to improve some of your symptoms and check your diabetes.

My details are different but I found there was zero follow up, dietary wise, after bowel surgery. I finally paid for a one off session with a dietitian and it helped enormously. And, yes, go to the gp.

I would try the GP and /or sending a message to hospital that treated you. If that doesn't achieve much if you can afford it maybe worth seeing someone privately.

I always think the NHS is good at cancer treatment but terrible at cancer follow up. Op you had what sounds like Whipples surgery, it’s massive! And as you are unfortunately experiencing it is life altering surgery, your body won’t function the same as it did before. I’m sorry your struggling it’s sounds really hard. I do think you should see your GP, talk it all through, and perhaps ask for an appointment with your specialist team at the hospital? I also wonder if you had any counselling?

DH had similar surgery to you and while the oncologists etc were on the ball with his chemo etc we found that no-one really kept on top of how he was doing. Do you have someone keeping a regular eye on whether or not you are becoming malnourished? I would definitely head for the GP and ask for bloods to be taken and a referral in to the relevant team at the hospital.

With regard to your insulin, if you are eating with others just pop to the toilet to inject before you eat, part of the exhaustion may be caused by high blood sugar. I'm an insulin dependant diabetic and I understand it's awkward injecting in front of others but I just get on with it because the outcome of eating and not injecting is potentially much worse than people watching me inject. If you can get your blood sugar under control you will hopefully feel a little bit better.

Do you still have the contact details of your cns nursing team? Might be worth calling them for a chat