Second surgery - recovery time?

Hi all. I had wle and snb last Thursday and got the bulk of my test results last night which were generally as good as I could hope. Still waiting for HER2 status but nodes clear which had been my main concern.

The margins weren’t clear so they want me back in for a further op. In terms of pain/recovery I’m not sure what to expect. I know it will differ from person to person but I wondered what other peoples experience has been? Similar to original op?

Other downside was realisation I’ll probably be going through either chemo or radiotherapy on my 40th birthday. Had grand plans for trip to somewhere exotic but that will have to wait until next year :frowning:

Hello Daltocat,

 

Sorry to hear you’re having more waiting and worrying. I had 3 WLEs 5 years ago, and none of them was particularly different from the others, apart from I had an infection after one of them. The thing I felt later was the effect of 3 general anaesthetics in 7 weeks, which affected my memory quite a bit - but it slowly improved. I found it hard to build up stamina from then, but I was 65 and maybe slowing down just a bit anyway.

 

I had radiotherapy following my ops, and found that to be a straightforward procedure and not at all worrying - I was lucky in that I lived close to the hospital, so didn’t tire due to the journey as some ladies did and also that I didn’t burn much at all. The difficulty for me was severe pain in my shoulder/breast area due to lack of movement, even though I did the exercises - that made raising my arms for treatment extremely painful - apart from that it was fine. Months later I found that there was a specialist cancer physio, which nobody had thought to mention. Apparently there are these specialists in many hospitals, so anyone with problems with lack of movement should ask about seeing one.

 

Take care and remember to take it easy and be kind to yourself - it’s very early days for you just now.

 

Gentle hugs, Jo x

Hi Ladies, had wle and snb last tuesday LB and another biopsy on RB, very sick from G/A tuesday evening - but other than that all seems good. I am however surprised at how generally tired and groggy I have felt these last 3 days??? Getting lots of useful info and tips from this site and am in awe if how positive and supportive peeps are. Thank you. Daltocst74 - not having a special 40th celebration is a shame but you will have plenty of time to plan and organise a really really special break and have time and energy to fully enjoy x