Waiting for SNB, recent diagnosis, how does it feel?

Hi and welcome to the online community

Of course it's normal to feel such a mess. Only 48 hours ago you were told that you'd had a cancerous growth removed from your chest so it's bound to take a while for you to get your head around that!

It'll be three years this December that I was told that the odd lesion I had on my arm was, in fact, a malignant melanoma. Like you I had a WLE and SLNB which, thankfully, came back clear.

Unfortunately, you will get a lot of people who say "but it's just skin cancer" but we need to educate people that malignant melanoma is deadly if not caught early. You are fortunate, if that's the right word, that yours has obviously been caught before it's grown too big if you are Stage 1B.

Feeling sick and having headaches is probably the result of the stress you're under but if this persists please do go and have a word with your GP. 

You are definitely not a fake and worrying that it's spread to your lymph nodes is perfectly normal. We all understand how you feel.

Come back and let us know when you have a date for your ops and post anytime you want to whether it's to ask a question or just to get something off your chest.

Sending a big, supportive (((hug)))

Hi MsScotty I know exactly what you are going through, similar diagnosis but on my right calf, in June still waiting for WLE and SLNB. We are lucky they have caught it early, doesnt stopyour mind racing and fearing the worst, dont try and bottle it up, it is always good to talk about these things, and you have an amazing community on here that have already given me great support and advice.

Hello , my two pennyworth is that it perfectly normal to in your head or out load, to drift from worst case scenario to best case scenario, to tell yourself off for being anxious and them to want to rant at others for not taking it seriously, and then to feel totally illogical and not know where you are!!!

It’s a bit like when water sloshes around the waves are big each side of a bucket and gradually get smaller until the water settles. Not my best analogy as no one wants to kick the bucket !!! But things will eventually settle, there will be some times when the anxiety starts to slosh about a bit then settle down again. Sometimes you need a distraction to take your mind off thinking about things other times you need to let your feelings out.

Preparing for going back to work I bet your mind went through how you would explain to people so that they understand your anxiety, but also didn’t want to be judged as someone panicking unnecessarily. You are in charge of when you want to talk to friends /colleagues or just ignore it as you want to stay in business mode.

I don’t know if you took the day off due to feeling awful or wether things settled for you, but I think we all understand how you feel here. 

I took the day off Monday, well theoritcally I worked from home ( got loads done too), thought best thing get over the next hurdle and get to work. Far too much emotional trauma, I have worked within this family business for 10 years - these are an extension of my family and I came home thinking I had worked a straight 20hour shift, exhausted. I opted to work form home again today, ironically I seem to get more done.

I have my first appointment next Thursday this is to discuss my case and to plan the treatment, I should imagine this is a relatively quick appointment just repeating what I have already heard and to answer any questions I didn't remember to ask when I got the bombshell dropped on me last Friday. It appears to be moving quickly, so that's good.

I have to say though this diagnosis has started to help me in other ways, I lost my dad to Lung cancer 3 years ago on Friday coming,  I never understood why he didn't fight and it broke my heart that he didn't, but I guess when there isn't a fight to win its kinder on your loved ones not to put them through months of torture whilst they watch you suffer, Dad had terminal from the offset and chose not to have the treatment - I get it now Dad! Just after this my sister got breast cancer spread to her lymph nodes, shes in remission its all good - again I didn't understand why she sent so much time sleeping or just sat in the chair, all I kept saying was come on Andrea live your life don't just sit there... never understood how much it takes from you.. emotionally alone it eats in to you just as much as the disease itself.

Hi , I now understand with your Dad and your sister why you have so much going on in your head. I always take something to do when I go to the hospital, sometimes the appointments are quick but the waiting around seems endless. 

Best wishes

Hi

How are you doing now you've had a few more days to get your head around all that's happening?

x

It’s been an incredibly emotional few weeks, I’ve had my wide incision and sentinel node biopsy and I’m 2.5 weeks into my 3.5 week wait for the results. I have been incredibly confused and should have come on here really, I asked the pre-op nurse how long I would be off work she advised a day or two.. so again I set myself up for a speedy recovery, very little discomfort and just get straight back to it. 
My melanoma was literally central on my chest the wide excision is approx 4” in length so has been stitched very tight,  got myself a free boob lift, such a shame it was only one boob.. maybe they will lift the other for me? 
The plastic surgeon only took the one node, but oh my god why is it so uncomfortable, my armpit is numb sore and incredibly tight. It just doesn’t seem to be getting better, the fluid on my body under my arm doesn’t seem to be going either, I certainly wasn’t  fit for work after the 1-2 days and have done this week full time.. I’m just so tired, the fluid builds during the day and it upsets me. I’ve got an ugly wound mid chest and this extra boob under my armpit, I feel uncomfortable and I’m tired and still another week to go. I thought I’d be stronger.. I thought I’d be back playing my netball but I can’t even stretch out my arm yet.

is it all normal or am I being unusually soft over the whole thing? Can’t understand why the pre-op nurse said I’d be back at work in a day or two.. built me up for such a big fall. 

Hi

I'm sorry to hear how much discomfort you're still in and that the pre-op nurse suggested that you'd only need a day or two off work. 

My WLE was on my upper arm and the SLNB, like you, from my armpit. I was given this leaflet about the WLE and SLNB operations which explained that I shouldn't do any strenuous activity for the first week then ease myself back into my normal routine the following week. It also said that I shouldn't drive until I had full use of my arm and could do an emergency stop without anything hurting!

I did walk each day,as I was also told to do gentle exercise if possible, but my husband did all the chores around the house for the first week.

I had been told to take the maximum in paracetamol and ibuprofen for 48 hours and then to see how things felt. After those 2 days I didn't need to take painkillers anymore but everything felt sore. However, by the time I went for my results 2 weeks after the ops I had regained full mobility in my arm although both wound sites still felt numb. I think from the timescales you've given you're only just over 2 weeks after your ops so I would hope you'll start to see an improvement soon.

It did take a long time to regain sensation around the areas of the wounds, probably at least 12 months. When I went for the results they were examined by both a nurse and the consultant and I was told to massage a cream like E45 into them every day. According to the nurse it helps the skin to learn to feel again!

Have you spoken to the hospital about the fluid buildup under your arm? If you look on page 8 of the leaflet it does say that sometimes fluid does build up and that it might need to be drained to prevent it bursting or the possibility of infection. You should have been given contact details in case you need to speak to them so it would be a good idea to give them a call if you haven't already.

Please come back and let us know how everything goes.

x

I have been looked after by the Melanoma team right up until them passing me off to the plastic surgeons team to do the surgery and check up. I feel this may be part of the problem, they told me nothing just that everything went ok and I could go home at 2... I’m allergic to the sticky dressings, the dressing on my chest after was the clear plastic one and within an hour my skin was wrinkled, inflamed and red and itchy so they gave me some cream to use to allow me to take the dressing off when I got home. The clinic I went to for my check up was again the plastics team.. they told me everything was normal, I didn’t have stitches because they were inside and I could expect things to get back to normal weeks maybe months later. 
im back to the consultant next week, i will obviously express my concerns, I’ll go through my booklet again to see if there are any exercises I can be doing to help recovery and regain full movement in my arm in the meantime. 
I knew I should have asked here, I’ve learnt more from you than from the plastics team. 
Hopefully next week I get some positive results and I can start to feel human again, 

Thank you for sharing your experience to help me, it really has. 

Michelle

Hi 

The leaflet about what to expect from the WLE and SLNB was given to me by my dermatologist not the plastic surgeon's team although plastics did give me the advice about taking the painkillers.

Like you, the follow up to check that everything is okay with the wound and to get the results of the WLE and SLNB was with the plastic surgeon.

You should get an appointment letter soon for an appointment with dermatology in 3 months time which will be the start of your 3 monthly check-ups. If you don't get an appointment letter through about 6 weeks or so before you think you should have your appointment give dermatology a call in case you've been missed. They do get very booked up so it's worthwhile making sure you haven't been forgotten, especially in the early days.

I'll be keeping everything crossed that your results give good news.

x