Sentinel Node Biopsy advise pls

Hi Becki51

Welcome to the forum and I am sorry to hear that you have been diagnosed with breast cancer. It’s usually the normal to have a SLNB when you have a lumpectomy to make sure the cancer hasn’t gone to the lymph nodes.

Recovery time usually only takes a week to two weeks. Everyone reacts differently to surgery.  As I don’t drive I can’t answer the question about how long it will take to drive. Hopefully someone will be along shortly to answer your question about driving.

Wishing you the best of luck with your surgery.

Best wishes

Daisy53

Hi Becki51  I had a SLNB and I had very little pain and was back working after 4 days but I was wfh. I was advised not to drive for 2 weeks.

its worth noting that you can’t get the dressing wet so showers are a no no. I used to have strip washes or baths. You will also need to do exercises 3 times a day (you will be given a leaflet) so will need to fit that around work.

Hope the op goes well!

I think it’s usual t have an SLNB. In my case, they put some radioactive material in me on the morning of surgery, so the sentinel node could be identified. They also used some blue dye during surgery to see where it flowed next, and took out a further cluster of 3. You may have 1 scar or 2, depending where your tumour is in relation to the nodes. I don’t know how they decide on driving restrictions - I was told I could drive after 48 hours, but have known other people be told 2 weeks. Perhaps it depends on where the scar is? Or local hospital policy?  I am retired so returning to work wasn’t an issue, but I am sure I would have been ok to return after a week or so, probably sooner if I was working from home. Obviously different if your job involves lifting.  

I see someone has commented on not getting dressings wet - again I got different advice, which was to not get it wet for the first 24 hours. Hospital differences again, or differences in surgery techniques and closures? No idea! Best to ask your surgeon tomorrow. 

Hi Becki51 and another warm welcome to the forum. It’s really hard to generalise re recovery times as it does seem to vary hugely. I think it depends on many factors such as length, depth and location of your incision. I had a lumpectomy many years ago for a benign fibroadenoma. The scar was tiny and I was back in school within days. No sentinel node sampling. But when I had my more recent (5 years ago) wide local excision/ lumpectomy plus SN sampling, the surgeon used one long incision (my index finger plus knuckle in length) to access both the lump and the nodes. So different from before! I was no way ready to go back to work after 2 weeks as I’d expected! I was a special needs teacher, lots of physical moving and handling. And I was also too sore to drive, it hurt to change gears. But you could be absolutely fine for both work and driving, do ask the surgeon. The nature of your job is another factor - many folk here have worked soon after their ops but I think mostly in quite sedentary jobs or working from home. Sorry that’s maybe not a very helpful answer, but it’s how it was for me. 
Good luck with it all, sendibg love and a big virtual hug, HFxx

Hi Becki51

i am a few weeks ahead of you with all this. I had grade 2, 0.9cm lump and SNLB and had surgery 19 days ago. I feel almost completely back to normal in relation to the surgery and have recovered far sooner than the hospital suggested I would, 

Everyone’s experience with surgery and recovery will be different. I tried to prepare myself by looking up lumpectomy scars on the internet as I wanted to understand what I might be facing. It wasn’t really all that helpful as nothing that I saw really matched what I had done in the end. In some ways it may have helped in that it prepared me for something more extreme. General rule of thumb however is NOT to google stuff full stop. 

My surgical team were really good, but I think they were cautious pre surgery about setting expectations as things can all change when you are on the table in terms of scar (depth, length etc). They did say that if I wasn’t happy with the aesthetic outcome then they would refer me to plastics for correctional surgery in due course. I found this very reassuring. I have two neat little scars, about 4cm each. I feel comfortable showing my scars to my family and friends which is a better outcome than I expected.  I have some nerve damage which is improving day by day. I have tiny boobs anyway and am surprised (and grateful) that  even with the lump plus margins removed my boobs still look the same size more or less. 

I was given a 4 week sick note, and I was told I might not be able to drive for a few weeks, that I couldn’t make Christmas dinner for my family and all in all I was to expect to be restricted the couch for a week at least. It didn’t happen like this. I got two days on the couch, was driving at day 5 (maybe easier for me as I have an automatic). I feel well enough to do some work though am taking the remainder 4 weeks off to deal with the psychological aspect of my diagnosis and to mentally prep for chemo. (I have Her2+). This last week I am comfortable back in my gym routine. I couldn’t have predicted any of this based on the information that I had pre surgery, 

I wish you the very best for your surgery and hope you have a good recovery. Soon it will all be behind you. 

Hi

I had a lumpectomy with SLNB which is usually the case to make sure it hasn't spread. 

Everybody's recovery is different. I was advised not to drive for 2 weeks and must admit it was uncomfortable for a while after that. I'm still off work 5 weeks later as I'm a driving examiner and my job is car based so the seatbelt is an issue but only because I've got a hematoma (which is slowly getting better) and the learners often brake hard!

Also when you have your op I would suggest taking a pillow for the journey home.

Good luck with the surgery and hopefully a speedy recovery x

Don't know where the emojis came from!

Hi Tash150

I was advised not to drive for 2 weeks more for insurance purposes I think as I have an automatic and I had the lumpectomy on my left side.  The lumpectomy and SLNB scars healed really well   

I could do most things after a week except lifting or raising my arms. I started back at exercise classes (with care) after 3 weeks but after 5 weeks my left breast began to feel quite hard and still does which I wasn’t expecting. 
How did you know you have a haemotoma? Were you given any advice to help it heal? 

Everyone is so different

I've got a hard lump which the surgeon said was a haematoma and I've still got a bruise underneath that won't go away. He just said it would go eventually but if it's still there when I get radiotherapy they could drain it. Not expecting radiotherapy until the middle of February though as my oncology appointment is at the end of January.

Mine was on the left side as well. Scars are healing but still sore. My lumpectomy was at the end of November.

Small price to pay for getting rid of the tumor but I've had enough now and want to get back to normal.

I would say for me it took 2 weeks to be back to near normal. I work for my self so was working 3 days after surgery but only a few hours on the laptop and definitely in need of an afternoon nap. My main issue was a bleed so had to rest, was planning to get out walking but had to forget about that to stop the bleeding.  Also found most pain was underarm and still have that 3 weeks later. I definitely could not have gone back to the office full time any sooner. I am still finding after a few hours at any activity I need to lie down and elevate my arm to get relief. Was able to drive after a week with no difficultues