Hi everyone.
I had lumpectomy 4 weeks ago and am booked in next week to have further surgery as one edge did not have enough tissue not wide to be classed as clear. Apparently I have 0.4mm when ideally it should be 1mm. I’m nervous about having surgery again. My surgeon said she would go through the same excision but warned me I may experience more pain this time. I’m also going to have oncotype testing.
Have any other ladies experienced this? Would welcome hearing your experiences.
thanks Mel x
Hi there Mel,
So sorry to hear they didn’t get clear margins for you. i’m similar to you in that I had 2 operations very close together. I had lumpectomy + senintal node biopsy with clear margins but the 1st 2 nodes had cancer cells so then exactly 4 weeks later I was having a full node clearance with the same surgeon in the same operating theatre. I joked with him as I went into theatre for the 2nd time that we should stop meeting like this! So that was effectively going back into the armpit again albeit the 2nd time its a much bigger cut. Right now I’m waiting on results from Oncotype DX testing and expecting a call from my Breast Care Nurse any day now so say the results are in.
Its definitely not easy any of this so no point telling you otherwise. I’m 51 so I found I didn’t bounce straight back from surgery like I rather hoped I would. I’m now 22 days on from my 2nd op but I’m still getting tired easily - don’t have to do much and I’m zonked. Just don’t have the full stamina or energy back yet. Hoping it will come back to what it was of course but it seems to be about giving your body the time it needs to recover and you can’t rush it or make it happen quicker.
All the best with your 2nd surgery. Do post again and let us know how you get on. x