Scott,
My best wishes to your wife and your family for a complete recovery and return to a normal life.
My wife had the same operation followed by chemo and radiation about 15 years ago All is well now. This can be be overcome with prayer, medicine and a healthy lifestyle. One of the things that has really helped my wife stay healthy is losing and keeping off about 50 pounds and changing to a more healthy diet - less meat and more fruit and vegetables, plus daily exercise (walking), etc. NH Joe