WLE surgery

Hi NVR , I love your description of this site as ‘lovely people in my phone’!! 
I had WLE and SNB surgery nearly 7 years ago so I may be a little out of date. Re the op itself…. I’m one of these weird people who rather like the anaesthetic (have had many minor ops over the years) so that bit doesn’t worry me and I do get a lovely sleep. If you feel nervous do tell the staff as they’ll reassure you. 
It’s hard to generalise as everyone’s ops are different, depending on the size and location of the lump, and also how they access the sentinel nodes. In my case the surgeon did one long incision to access both the lump and the nodes. Others have separate incisions. In my hospital I wasn’t allowed anyone to wait with me (nothing to do with Covid as it was 2018) so I took stuff to keep me occupied (book, magazine, puzzles). I went in around midday and had my op 4.30ish. Out by 7.30pmish. I wore stuff that opened at the front (a loose shirt plus leggings) and had bought front opening nightwear. 

I found it useful to use cushions and pillows to support the arm on my op side, in bed and when sitting on a chair/ sofa. Somehow it seemed to want support. I’m a side sleeper but had to sleep on my back for a while as neither side felt right. Pillows helped with this, under my arm at the side and sometimes under the back of my knees. So I’d say have a supply of pillows handy in case you want them. 

I was lucky not to have much pain but again this may vary a lot. I was advised to keep ahead of any pain by taking paracetamol every 4 hours, which I did for a day or so then felt it wasn’t necessary. 

You should be given exercises to do in the days/ weeks post op. If not breastcancernow has them on their website, maybe here too. These are really important to maintain mobility and for me, to prepare for radiotherapy as I needed to be able to raise my arm over my head. I actually found the exercises really useful as it was a way of tracking my progress/ recovery. 

I was out for short walks a few days after. Again though everyone will be different. It’s a time to listen to your body and do what feels right. 

Good luck with your op, will be thinking of you on Thursday. Love and hugs, HFxx

Hi NVR 

I had the exact same surgery as you 3/4 weeks ago and go my results last Wednesday. 

I had incision on the outside of left breast to remove a 4.1cm lump and the surgeon did a bit of rearranging and my breast looks the same as the right one. There is a separate incision where he took 3 lymph nodes...smaller scar. 

Out of the 3 nodes only 1 had micro cells so they don't need to do further surgery here. However they didn't quite get clear margins around the tumor so I am having another operation on 31at July.  

Like you I want looking forward to kickstarting the treatment but also very nervous.  I had never had surgery before.....I had to wait 5 hours at the hospital before my surgery started at 4pm. My husband came with me but take something to do as well....I took headphones so I could listen to Taylor Swift. She relaxed me. Haha. 

When I came around I had a sandwich and biscuits and a tea and felt fine after about an hour. 

Like others have said....take painkillers every 4 hours whether you need them or not...I did this for a few days and I didn't feel a thing, just paracetamol.  I got codeine but didn't actually need them. After a few days I stopped the paracetamol...it just feels a bit sore now but nothing major at all. 

I rested the first day but from day 3 was out walking ...albeit slowly. Take it easy but keep on the move. 

The exercises where fine and I am still doing them. I had some fluid build up in my boob and I could hear swishing...but it sorted itself out. 

Good luck....you will be absolutely fine and you will wonder why you were worried after. 

Andrea 

Hi NVR 

I had this surgery last year and it wasn’t nearly as horrible as I feared it would be. My tip would be to go outside for a walk if you are waiting a long time like I was. I ended up with a headache from hospital lighting and it took ages to cross my mind it was fine to go get some fresh air and daylight! 

I was quite late home and rested the next day but after that was up and about for walks. It was tiring initially so I kept trips out short but bounced back quickly and I was back to gentle running after a couple of weeks. I had two incisions, one along the crease under my boob and one under my armpit. Both are barely noticeable and although my boob looked a bit square shaped for a few weeks it all settled itself out and is nicely curved again (my tumour was in the lower outer area). By the time I went for my results four weeks later (comfortably wearing an underwire bra!) I felt like it had never happened.

You’ll be well looked after. Best of luck with everything. x