Holiday after lumpectomy

Hello! I think you would feel okay in your self, but you might not be able to get into the water in case of infection if the scar(s) haven't healed up. I had two incisions - one for tumour and one for the sentinel node(s). The sentinel node one under my armpit got really sore and itchy on hot days and has only properly settled down in the last week or so.

Travel insurance might be an issue, especially if you need further treatment like radiotherapy? I only know this because I checked myself a couple of weeks ago ;-) Tamoxifen seems to be fine though, in terms of insurance, if you need to take that. Probably worth checking?

Hope this helps xx

Ha! Ignore my comment re tamoxifen. Clearly brain is away with the fairies ;-) Letrozole shouldn't make a difference to your insurance status, as far as I'm aware x

Hi Dolly does Tamoxifen make a difference with your travel insurance? x

It might make a small difference, but it certainly didn't put the cost up to a crazy amount :-)

Your holiday insurance might not cover if you've been medically certified to fly etc,  I have packaged account with holiday and had this restriction placed on us after my hubby's bowel surgery.  Problem was consultant kept postponing appointment and GP wouldn't give ok, said it was up to consultant so I nagged his secretary and she slotted him in .  He had surgery in March and finally saw consultant in August.  Went away week later !

If your holiday was booked before your diagnosis, and your insurance already in place, it should be covered by the insurance. I felt good very quickly, in fact was going about my normal life the day after surgery. We had a pre-planned UK break 5 days after my wide area excision / sentinel node biopsy surgery and after discussion with the hospital, I decided to go ahead and was absolutely fine. The hospital just told me to take my discharge paperwork with me in case I needed to go to the local A&E, and take a load of fresh dressings with me. It was about 3 weeks before all the glue had dropped off the incision and it was fully healed. It was also around 3 weeks before I could sleep without wearing a sports bra. Obviously you can’t go in a pool or the sea until you are sure it’s fully healed. I would think you would want to have had the post-operative check up from the surgery team before going abroad. Mine was 2 weeks after the surgery. 

Thanks. They said should get check up 3 weeks after op so it could be tight time wise. My other option is to put off the operation but I’m already feeling 6 weeks is a long time and this would oust it to 12 weeks at earliest before op. The Dr says the tumour won’t grow much , if at all , in that time but My feeling just now is I just want it out. 

If you read my profile I went on a uk based hol 4 days after surgery. But thats because it was the one time I didnt take out the insurance as if covid affected it, I could reschedule and I was dammed if I was going to lose a weeks hol. This was last year. It was a lovely holiday with a hot tub of which I couldn't get in it and we had some really hot days. In all fairness, the holiday was scaled down, we did get out on the odd day but I was tired and not very comfy at all. My sleep was bad too. Lots of painkillers were taken and my partner was great especially when I needed helped to get socks and shoes on!  I'm glad I went as just to relax as it had been a roller-coaster couple of months since diagnosis.

Anyway, I'm rambling. Everyone's recovery is different but just be aware of peaks and lows of tiredness - this can be due to the drugs they give you at surgery. I imagine letrozole is doing the same job as tamoxifen which is what I take so it will take time for your body to cope with that. Keep doing the exercises post surgery as this will help. You'd be surprised at what a change of scene can do for the emotional and mental wellbeing. If you go, hope you have a lovely time x

Hi 

I had my op in May just finished radium last week. 
I fly in September. So checked for insurance today. I went money supermarket and I got a great deal for £25 putting in my diagnosis and tamoxifen details. 
I was shocked but happy I’m now insured x 

You was in radiotherapy quick i had my surgery 13th may still waiting for my second op