Your experiences with sentinel node biopsy or neck dissection

Hey there Peter. You must be psychic, because I literally just finished reading your profile account of what you've been through!

So you were discharged the next day after neck dissection? That sounds astonishing, but it seems you're not alone on here. So I'm guessing it wasn't as bad as some folk might think? 

I wanted to ask you about this part:

"Scheduled for partial glossectomy at SGH on 31 03 2021.  Surgery abandoned as frozen section showed no sign of the tumour.  Assumption was that the immune system had once again dealt with it.  Returned to watchful waiting."

So this suggests pathology was being done during surgery?

I asked a surgeon about this yesterday in East Grinstead and he told me it doesn't exist. (I'm not doubting your account one bit - I simply suspect he meant either "at East Grinstead" or "in the NHS"?)

Yes, but it is a very high level pathology and not definitive.  They knew where the tumour was about 6 weeks prior, but then when the opened me up it was gone!  Hence not doing a procedure that was not called for.  Samples went for full analysis and confirmed the result.  The link below gives an outline of the process for a different part of the body, but it is quite common.

Frozen section | Thoracic Surgery University Hospitals Birmingham

It absolutely  is extremely  Similar  . I just cannot believe that I had to hound my GP to get me referred as it certainly  elongated  my journey  after only being referred for a Routine Scan. 

I was very lucky  that once I got referred on 2 Week at Local Hospital to Specialist Hand  N , everything  happened  very quickly. I was also lucky because  if they hadn't  have done Extra lists over a Weekend  it probably wouldn't have been found as they were struggling to  get access to the Robot as other specialities use it aswell . It was the Robotic Surgery that I feel found it 

Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this thread!

I am having partial glossectomy and neck dissection later today.

Would like to hear what i might expect when I wake up. The surgeon tells me he usually takes something like 15-16 nodes and seems to be planning one incision.

Hi. You’ll have a drainage tube in your neck and your tongue will likely feel too big for your mouth and I doubt you’ll be able to talk straight away. They are pretty good for pain relief post op but make sure you have plenty for when it wears off.

Chin up. You’re nearly there.