Recovery after WLE and SLNB

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Hi, I was diagnosed with melanoma last July. Quite a shock, obviously, but trying to stay as positive as possible since it was caught at an early stage.

Still, I needed a WLE and SLNB on my left arm, which I just had this last Friday. I was told all the possible side effects of the SLNB and I am constantly worried about the seroma, edema, and my arm mobility. I am a very (very!) active person and only want to go back to running, exercising, weight lifting, and competing as I used to do... When looking for information, I read that maybe I won't be able to do some of those things again as before, which for me sounds horrible since exercising is more than physical activity, it is also very important for my mental health.

I wonder if someone has some experience with coming back to intense training after going through a SLNB. I know I have to be patient and take care of myself after the surgery, but being able to train as before means a lot.

Thanks a lot for all the help and support this community gives.

Claire129 over 1 year ago

Hello, I had a WLE and SLNB on my upper right arm in July of 2022 and I was up and running in no time. I had 3 lymph nodes removed from under my arm. I have absolutely all my normal function back, I started with some gentle exercises and gradually increased as my wounds healed. The one in the armpit was a little sore for a while and unfortunately I got an infection in the one on my upper arm so that did take quite a while to get sorted. As a result my scar is not as neat as it would have been if I had not had the infection. My own experience is positive and I hope with your determination to get back to normal asap you will be as fortunate. Good luck with your rehabilitation.

04s1s over 1 year ago in reply to Claire129

Hi, thank you so much for your reply :) It means a lot!

NZTrailRunner over 1 year ago

Hi,

I had my WLE and SLNB done almost exactly 6 weeks ago and I've been back to running the last week. My WLE was on my lower leg (across calf) and I had 2 wounds in groin for the SLNB. The SLNB wounds felt all good for any exercise within a couple of weeks, the only thing holding me back was the calf. I was doing 1hr walks within the first week. Did try a short run exactly 4 weeks after surgery, but then my calf wound had a tiny bit of bleeding - slight dehiscence (think thats the term). Steri-strips sorted that out and a few days rest. Now the only thing holding me back is the drop off in fitness from many weeks off. I'm not sure how my experience might map to an arm area WLE / SLNB. My surgeon did say to hold off on any high impact exercise for 5-6 weeks and also that if I went too soon and damaged particularly the groin wound, that could be a real hassle and cause longer delays in recovery. I'm sure you will have a good sense of how your recovery is tracking and know when is the right time to start training again. For sure it is a frustrating time and like you I found missing out on daily exercise just further compounded the mental load. But it is only a few weeks and they'll be over before you know it. All the best!

04s1s over 1 year ago in reply to NZTrailRunner

Thanks a lot for your words! Happy to hear you are back to run. I think that for the arm would be very similar. No impact and weight until it is completely healed. I'm going for long walks and doing very steady mobility exercises. I am definitely struggling with holding back. But as you said, I neither want to delay the recovery due to starting adding impact or intense exercise too soon.

Wish you the best with the recovery and coming back to running. The body remembers and you'll be probably back to your previous fitness in no time

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