Two weeks on - neck dissection

Maddy you sound like you are doing fantastically well. 

I remember my first neck dissection and the nurse had to find the surgeon to discover how he had put the stitches in as he could not figure out how to remove them!!  The second was staples...

I used E45 on my neck, but I do use Vaseline on normal cuts and scrapes and find it really helps with healing.

As to the numbness...  Well, I broke a leg too many years ago to remember.  Needed surgery and I never got skin sensation back.  Thus I was prepared for the after effects of the dissections.  There is no telling what nerves will knit back and which will not.  Only time will tell.  If you can, enjoy the weird sensations - I scratch my neck and feel the top of my ear being scratched ;-)

I used E45 and then progressed onto Bio Oil once the wound area had completely healed.

The numbness is pretty weird isn't it?  Like you, half my face and down through my neck was numb.  Over the months I gradually began to gain feeling in most of my face as the nerves repaired.  Nearly 4 years down the line my face remains numb around the edge down into the jaw as do all round my ear and neck.  As Peter outlined, it really depends on which nerves are able to repair as to how much feeling you get back but I'm sure you will regain some.

Well done for getting out for some walks - it does help to lift the spirits especially seeing things springing into life.

All the best.

Linda x

It certainly is a bizarre feeling - but not unpleasant...just interesting.  I realise I've always taken my body for granted and now I'm learning a whole new way of experiencing (or not experiencing) the world around me.

Maddy

I've got a pot of E45 so I'll graduate onto that.  Thanks for the tips.  The numbness is definitely livable with - I'm hoping the extreme sensitivity to touch might diminish with time though.  Fingers crossed.  I'm very lucky that I've had the operation now and have spring and summer ahead to enjoy.  

Kind regards

Maddy

This whole business makes you realise how much we.take take the simplest tasks for granted without a second thought.

Enjoy the unfurling of Spring into Summer and your recovery.

Linda x

The extreme sensitivity may be with you for longer.  My front right chest wall is very sensitive and shows no sign of getting significantly better after an initial improvement.  At first it felt like sunburn without the burn.  Then it settled down and now it is a strange sensation which is difficult to describe.  I'm sure you will know what I mean.  It is no longer "painful" but just feels really strange, especially to very light tough.  Drying with a towel is OK, but run a feather over it and I'm all over the place - and that is not being ticklish.  Just one of those strange things that happen to us.

Remember to keep the neck well protected from the sun.  Use high factor sun block and if in doubt drape something over the neck.

Thanks for the advice, Peter.  I'll certainly keep well protected.  I realise I have embarked on a long journey so perhaps the secret is to use it as a learning curve to better understand my own body and how it reacts to all the different things that are foisted on it.  I'm thinking of taking a future learn course to understand cancer better.

Hi

im 9 weeks and had a neck dissection. Still numb and a bit swollen but I massage it twice a day with bio oil and do exercises to strengthen my neck muscles and arm exercises as shoulder on the affected side very weak 

Elaine 

You are ahead of me - I'm doing the exercises too and they seem to be helping.  I had a phone consultation with the physio a few days ago and hope to get a face to face appointment in three or four weeks.  I'm still waiting for the histology results so I don't know whether they managed to get all the cancer or not.  Only time will tell.

Kind regards

Maddy