Hi. I was just wondering how long others were in hospital for following mastectomy and full lymph node clearence? I know everyone is different but just wondering. Also, have many others had a lumpectomy and then after results had to go back for mastectomy and full node clearance xx
I had lumpectomy and Full node clearance in Apr 2012 - I then had Mastectomy with LD flap in Sept 13. Not quite in the order you were enquiring about though but still may be helpful. For my mx with LD flap I was in hospital for 5 nights (inc a weekend). I was off work for 8 weeks afterwards but know that if it a different type of Mx then people can go back sooner than this.
Take care
K M x
Hi bumblegirl
I am going to gave a full need clearance soon. I had initially had a lumpectomy and nodes checking, they removed 3 nodes, 2 hot ones and one normal, sorry not good with abbreviations!!! Anyway 1 had cancer cells, one had micro mets and third was clear.
I still have to wait for confirmation of clear margins, results this week, long story !! If I don’t get clear margins I will request a mastectomy, decided that at the beginning. It isn’t the ideal situation but I’m trying my best to stay positive.
Is it your mum who is being treated, think I have read some other posts, sorry if im mistaken. Have you heard about a date for surgery? I’m concerned about the length of time I have to wait for next surgery 4 weeks!!!
Hope you don’t mind me asking
Take care
Louise xxxx
Thank you for replying kitten and loulou, sorry to sound thick but what’s an LD flap? I guess five days isn’t too bad a stay as at least they can look after you in hospital. Loulou I hope you get good results. My mums mastectomy is on Wednesday. Im really scared that even after this it won’t have all gone xxx
I had a full single mastectomy (no reconstruction) and node clearance and I was in hospital for 6 days. They gave me the option of going home earlier but I didn’t want to go home with drains still in (I’d never had major surgery previously so had never had drains in) so I stayed in and the staff were absolutely fine with this. The (NHS) hospital where I had my operation have a policy of giving mastectomy patients a separate room if at all possible and this is what I had. Therefore I felt comfortable opting to stay longer than some patients do as I was sleeping well while there and the risk of infection was minimal.
I hope your Mum’s hospital stay is OK and that the hospital are able to give her an individual room.
Hi bumble girl
I had masectomy with immediate recon on Thursday and came home on Sunday with one drain in. Had sentinel node op at same time, results on Thursday. Not too bad bit sore, and allergic reaction to something not helping. They tell me it looks good so far but my head is not there yet! I really wanted to come home but feel bit scared now as so many pills to take and keep getting confused! Hope that helps and hoping all goes well x
Hi there i had mastectomy and 22 nodes removed…i stayed in one night :-D. Drain was removed just couple hours before i left hospital…
Thank you so much for all of your replies. It seems like there’s a lot of difference in the times. Mum is having hers done tomorrow. Rather then the actual operation I think she’s actually finding it really hard that she will have just one breast 
she isn’t have immediate recon because they aren’t sure if she will still need radiotherapy or not. I hope you are all well and those waiting for results get the results they want xxx
Hello everyone. Thank you for replying JB. I hope your next op goes well and very glad to hear you are recovered well 
my Mums operation went very well. It actually seemed to be quicker then the lumpectomy and snb! She went down at 10 and was on the ward at 2 and she does have her own room Mum showed me what it looks like after mastectomy and I was so surprised by how neat it is! I think she’s just glad that it’s over now and the bcn said to her ‘we won’t operate on you again unless you decide you want reconstruction in the future’ so glad it’s over and next it’s the results on the 7th but hopefully she won’t need radiotherapy and will just go straight onto hormone treatment. Either way I’ll be there for anyone else about to have surgery try not to worry. My Mum said it’s nowhere near as bad as she thought it would be. She should be home in a few days. Either Friday or Saturday if she doesn’t mind coming home with one drain in but they said if she would rather stay in til drain is removed it will be Monday or Tuesday. Hope you are all doing well and again thank you so much for the support xxx