› Forums › General Melanoma Community › Inguinal lymph node dissection: Recovery Time?
- This topic has 13 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 5 years, 5 months ago by
Marie-Eve.
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- November 13, 2018 at 12:38 am
Hi everyone,
I had my primary melanoma back in 2013 when I lived in the UK. Breslow depth of 2mm, but not ulcerated. I had wide excision surgery with clear margins & lymph node scan was clear, so we moved out to the USA, and put it all behind us.
5 years later in September 2018, I feel a lump in my groin area. Had a biopsy & turns out that a lymph node had been replaced by melanoma. I have been referred to MDAnderson, one of the top cancer clinics & been blown away with the care & treatments available there.
Just last week (5th Nov), I had an inguinal lymph node dissection. Still waiting on pathology results, but have a large wound and a drain installed.
Wondered if anyone could share their experience if you have been through something similar? After a week I’m getting lots of tingling & burning sensations in my thigh. Is this normal? I get very tired by the end of the day, but I’m hardly doing anything during the day, is this normal? I’m also wondering what the recovery time is for getting back to physical exercise. I’m a keen cyclist, and can’t wait to get back on my bike. How long before you returned back to work? I have an office based job, but requires lots of walking around between meetings and other businesses offices.
Any sharing of your experiences appreciated. I’m not very good at being a patient & am keen to get back to normality ASAP, but at the same time don’t want to rush things & do more harm than good.
Thanks in advance
Clare
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- November 13, 2018 at 1:06 am
Your story is very similar to mine, except I had my inguinal dissection at home then went to MDAnderson for a consult (still with the surgical drain). The surgeon there told me what she would have done differently, and why, and I was so sorry I hadn’t waited to do it at MDA. She also told me the more I moved, the more drainage I woykd have and the slower healing would be. I had that darn drain for about 6 weeks. What a mess!In a few weeks I had a met in my pelvis. I’m so glad you went to MDA! Keep your care there, if possible. To answer your questions, lots if numbness, tingling for maybe a year? Scar tissue remains. I stayed inactive on purpose to slow the drainage. Still have mild lymphedema which worsens wirh travel, heat and salt intake. Others may have different stories.-
- November 13, 2018 at 1:24 am
Thank you for sharing. So sorry you had a bad experience & it affected your recovery. Good information about activity increasing drainage & delayed removal. I was thinking that the more I could walk around, although higher drainage, it would get it all out quicker. Think I’ll do more resting.no lymphadema yet, but hard to tell as upper thigh area still swollen from surgery. Thanks again, and hope lymphadema is manageable
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- November 13, 2018 at 2:29 am
My lymphedema didn’t show up for months. It’s not bad, maybe 1 inch bigger circumference. When it’s “bad” my ankle is a little puffy. Whatever MDA tells you, I’d say do it! Who was your surgeon? -
- November 13, 2018 at 2:31 am
About the drainage, MDA surgeon said tissues needed to heal in order for drainage to cease and too much activity slows down that process. -
- November 13, 2018 at 3:58 am
Great, thanks. Dr. Ross is my surgical oncologist and Dr Aimara is my medical oncologist. Meeting in a week to finalize immunotherapy options. Read your profile, and the first part sounds very similar to mine. Really hope your treatment is going well and working
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- November 13, 2018 at 12:39 pm
Dr. Amaria is my oncologist, also. I think we are both in good hands. Good luck to you for a quick recovery so you can get back to doing the things you love!
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- November 13, 2018 at 1:58 pm
Hello Clare,
I know exactly where you are, since I had the exact same procedure one week before yours. I had two drain at the beginning, one was removed one week after surgery, but I still have the other one. I see my surgeon today, but it is still draining a lot and I'm afraid (it is the word) he will leave it on for another week or so.
I do get the burning sensation and I have numbness above my knee. I feel like things haven't progressed much in the past week. I usually jog and walk a lot, but so far I just managed to walk very slowly, and short distances. There is so much reading and Netflix watching one can do. 😉
How long are you off work for? I got six weeks but knowing me a bit, my surgeon said that maybe I could go back after four weeks… but I'll take the six weeks I think, even though I am looking forward to go back.
Stay patient, I'll try to do the same!
Marie
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- November 13, 2018 at 6:15 pm
Hi Marie, sounds like we are in a very similar situation. Thanks for the response. Glad you are down to one drain. Thankfully I only had one drain in after the surgery. Drainage seems to have stabilized at >100ml per day & getting it down to <30ml seems like a long way off!
i managed to convince the doctor to only sign me off work for 4 weeks, then I plan on working from home & doing half days for a couple of weeks after that (if I can manage to sit upright at a desk by then!).
Good to hear the burning sensation above the knee is normal, I did find it a bit strange. Hoping I can get out of the house even if only for short walks next week. Hope your recovery goes well, and hoping you manage to occupy your time !
Clare
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- November 14, 2018 at 2:31 pm
Clare, if I might add, I met with my surgeon yesterday and he did take the drain out even though it was still draining about 100 ml a day, beacause he said at this point it was becoming a «highway for bacterias».
Also, I did tell him about all the weirds feelings and some pain in my leg. Basically he said that everything was normal, and that I would have to be patient until it comes back to something that looks like before. There was no time frame given.
One thing I did find encouraging, was that he assured me that I could not move too much. He even said I could go jogging if I wanted, that there was no medical reason to tell me not to.
But I'll still wait a few more weeks for that… 😉
(Also my pathology report was the best I could hope for, I am officially NED, that is the most fabulous thing I've heard in a year. Wishing you the same.)
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- November 14, 2018 at 4:10 pm
That’s great news, so happy for you both on having the drain removed, and more importantly the NED! My pathology report came back yesterday with the same results, so am extremely happy about this. Can’t wait to have this drain out it’s extremely annoying and limiting!
Congrats on the good news
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- November 13, 2018 at 9:21 pm
Hi Clare,
I second all of what others said here. I was pretty much on the couch for 2 weeks, slowly getting up and around after that. I think I was (mostly) back to normal walking after 4 weeks, but nothing strenuous. I also had (and still have) numbness on my thigh. That's due to a little nerve damage to a nerve that controls the sensation to your skin – that little nerve is totally in the way of the surgery and it's totally normal to have some lasting numbness after the tingling subsides. I do have a little lingering lymphedema and I have a few blog posts about it if you want to read about my experience and see what the compression stocking will look like. I know its super tough to be patient about all this, so catch up on your movies/shows/reading while you can to get your mind off things.
Wishing you a speedy recovery!
Lauren
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