WLE & SLNB Next Week

Hi Baby Penguin

My melanoma was on my upper arm so my SLNB was in my armpit. Has the surgeon told you where they're expecting to find the SLN?

I was advised to not do anything strenuous in the first week, including housework, shopping, etc and then to ease myself back into doing things in the second week. I was also told not to drive until I could do an emergency stop without it causing any pain.

I took paracetamol and ibuprofen for the first couple of days but found I didn't need them after that as the wounds were sore rather than painful. By the time I went back for a wound check and my results two weeks later I had full mobility again with neither wound site causing any problems.

As advice might be different if the WLE is on your shoulder I'm tagging Ivybow into my reply to you as it looks like they're the most recent person to have a WLE on their shoulder. Hopefully they'll be able to pop on to share their experience.

All the best

x

Thank you for your reply, as its pretty central to top of my shoulder I've been told SLN could be in my armpit or my neck, I have my tracing on Monday and back for my op Tuesday, all I have been advised so far is minimum 2 weeks so I could arrange time off with work, it sounds like you got your results pretty quick I've been told up to 4 weeks so I'm hoping it might be sooner 

Thank you for your support x

You should be given a leaflet with all the instructions about what you can and can't do along with contact numbers if you have any problems.

My ops were nearly 6 years ago now, so my 2 weeks wait for results might not be a good indication of how long you'll have to wait. However, I'll keep my fingers crossed for early results for you, as I know how difficult waiting for results can be.