Mastectomy wound will not heal

Hi HalloweenChristmas,

I hope you are finding the support and information from our online forum helpful.

This sounds like a really worrying time for you and your family right now.

Being given different information from different members of your multidisciplinary team (MDT) must be both confusing as well as upsetting.

I can only imagine what is going through your mind right now .

The first thing we would suggest you do in a situation like this is to get in contact with your breast cancer specialist nurse. They would discuss in detail what you have been told by your plastic surgeon. If for nothing else to put your mind at rest and to double check no further investigations are required in relation to this.

There can be many different reasons for wounds not healing properly. For example with having radiotherapy /chemotherapy both of these treatments can delay wound healing.

Your body has been through so much this far and any surgical wound would normally need extra nutrition for wound healing. You’re body may find this difficult due to the upset to it normal functioning caused by your diagnosis and its treatment. Everyone is affected differently.

It may be worthwhile to discuss the management of your wound with your MDT. For example, a possible referral to dietician to make sure your are getting the correct dietary requirements for your individual situation for optimal wound healing from a dietary perspective.

Other things that may affect wound healing is the physical location of the wound when normal movement will not allow the wound to close properly. Another option worth discussing with your treatment team is a possible referral to a tissue viability nurse who specialises in wound management.

A cancer diagnoses affects everyone differently both physically and emotionally and its important you get the right amount of support in both these areas.

It’s important you let your treatment team know what you are think so they can provide you with best possible support. In relation to your emotional support we have a partnership with BUPA where if appropriate they can offer up to 6 free counselling sessions for further emotional support.

On this platform it can be difficult to have a two-way conversation and to fully understand what you are going through.

If you’d like further explanation or have any other questions, please feel free to recontact us. Or if you think it may help to discuss things with someone outside the loop please feel free to give us a call or contact us via our web chat platform.

take care

Keith, Cancer Information Nurse Specialist

You can also speak with the Macmillan Support Line team of experts. Phone free on 0808 808 0000 (7 days a week, 8am-8pm) or send us an email.

Ref KM/FS

Hi Keith, thank you so much for your reply.  I plan on calling my breast care nurse on Mon (now I've calmed down a bit) unfortunately I have been to see the breast care nurses for months now, they have no answer, they said only surgery will fix it.  

Thank you for the contact numbers and thank you so much for coming back to me 

Many thanks

Amelia