› Forums › General Melanoma Community › Just had LND
- This topic has 10 replies, 2 voices, and was last updated 12 years, 9 months ago by
jimjoeb.
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- July 6, 2011 at 1:58 am
in the femoroinguinal area of my groin and pelvic node sampling and sartorious muscle flap created. From discovery to diagnosis to surgery has been a blur and now I'm in the research phase of this chapter of "cancers I love to hate"
in the femoroinguinal area of my groin and pelvic node sampling and sartorious muscle flap created. From discovery to diagnosis to surgery has been a blur and now I'm in the research phase of this chapter of "cancers I love to hate"
I was diagnosed a few weeks ago as having a 2nd occurence of melanoma – first one was on my right calf 16 years ago and the subsequent surgery to remove the margins was deemed successful. This time, about two months ago, I found a hard painful lump in my inguinal area at the same time that I was having an annual exam in preparation for retirement. CT scans, MRI and bone scans were all clear. needle biopsy a coupe of weeks ago confirmed that the mass was malignant melanoma. This is so ironic in that I've been battling prostate cancer for more than 6 years and was diagnosed with BCR in january of 2010. that one is growing slowly with only clinical evidence of the cancer.
The malignant lymph node – the size of a ping pong ball – was removed on last Thursday, June 30th, the first day of my retirement… The surgeon sampled lymph nodes in my groin but didn't expect to find any malignancy in any of them. He will call me later this week after consulting with the tumor board at OHSU in portland and we see him on the 12th to go over treatment options. He told me the day after the surgery that I am a classic stage 3C.
I think I'm healing fairly normally, ive had 5 other surgeries to compare to this one. the fluid in the tubing for the JP pump is kind of orangish yellow now, 5 days post op. also doing lovenox shots daily till the 12th.
I'm looking for info on length of time to heal, i'm still taking strong pain meds every 3 t 4 hours, i can now put a bit of weight on that leg – i'm using a walker- . and experiences of others on this board to help me dial in what we can expect in terms of treatment (Interferon with or without radiation, and others), duration to the extent any of us really can speculate about that reasonably. thanks for sharing any experience you've had with this chapter.
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- July 6, 2011 at 4:16 pm
Sorry to hear about these developments for you!
I had a left superficial inguinal dissection plus two femoral lymnp nodes. On June 10. I didn't need any pain meds; didn't even fill the prescription. I used a strong dose of arnica prescribe by my naturopath instead.
The staples came out after 2 weeks and the stitches a few days later. The incision has healed very well with no complications.
I still have the drain and some lymphedeman in the thigh. It's trending down buty I'm still not down to the required 20ccs per day for 2 days in a row. Watch for tissue in the tubing. That can slow the drainage.. It needs to be milked when that happens. Once someone shows you how, you can do that yourself whenever it is needed.
I am working with a lymphadema clinic that includes education and trainiing and had my first lymph massage yesterday. I have multiple appointments for this over the next 3 weeks and was trained to do self massage 2-3 times daily. I think that this will help. I am still wearing the compression sock (to the knee) from my surgery. Once the drain is gone, I will be fit for a thigh high compression stocking.
I've been doing some walking starting the day after surgery. I was advised to do this and to find the balance between too little, and too much. I was advsied that no activity is not the way to go.
What's lovenox?
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- July 7, 2011 at 3:43 pm
Jimjoe – thanks for posting. Lovenox is a heparin like drug being used to reduce the risk of clotting. I don't know my anatomy very well yet, i'm sure i will before this is over. the surgeon took out all of the nodes on top (the superficial ones?) and then many the layer below that. the incision is about 9 or 10 inches long. i've had a prostatectomy, shoulder surgery, bilateral nephrectomy, abdominal exploratory, rhino and septo plasty and I think this is about the #3 on the list for pain. my drain is working well, we were taught how to strip it before we left the hospital. i've got some large clots in the bulb that i haven't been able to drain out but the surgical nurse said not to worry about those when I called. my release instruction said to only use my right leg for touch down balancing, i'm able to do more than that but asked and was advised to keep my weight off it, like you i don't think laying around all day is going to be good in the long run. thanks for replying. I'll be eager to see how you progess.
Ron
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- July 7, 2011 at 11:29 pm
I'll keep you posted.
The homecare nurse visited today and checked everything. I learned that the part of the drain that is inside me is a little bit bigger in diameter than the tubing that I can see, goes farirly deeply into the surgery area and is perforated.
The drain rate seems to be dropping since I started lymph massage. Maybe that's just wishful thinking. The drain isn't so bad but I can't be fit for the thigh high compression stocking that I need until its gone.
The nurse confirmed that a lump that the physiotherapist found she be monitored and followed up with the surgeon. I see her on July 26th.
Hang in there!
Joslyn
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- July 10, 2011 at 4:42 am
Surgeon called yesterday with updated information – he removed 17 lymph nodes, only 1 was malignant, the one that was initially identifed. tumor extended beyond the wall of the node so I'm going to be doing radiation in addition to adjuvant treatment. had image guided salvate radiation for prostate cancer so i'm not overly concerned about that. pleased that only one node was malignant. next appt is on Tuesday. JP drain in totally lymph fluid or appears to be, light to bright yellow, decreased to 50 cc's yesterday, up to 140 cc's today. i milked some small clots out of the line last night. goog luck on the 26th Joslyn.
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- July 10, 2011 at 4:42 am
Surgeon called yesterday with updated information – he removed 17 lymph nodes, only 1 was malignant, the one that was initially identifed. tumor extended beyond the wall of the node so I'm going to be doing radiation in addition to adjuvant treatment. had image guided salvate radiation for prostate cancer so i'm not overly concerned about that. pleased that only one node was malignant. next appt is on Tuesday. JP drain in totally lymph fluid or appears to be, light to bright yellow, decreased to 50 cc's yesterday, up to 140 cc's today. i milked some small clots out of the line last night. goog luck on the 26th Joslyn.
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- July 7, 2011 at 11:29 pm
I'll keep you posted.
The homecare nurse visited today and checked everything. I learned that the part of the drain that is inside me is a little bit bigger in diameter than the tubing that I can see, goes farirly deeply into the surgery area and is perforated.
The drain rate seems to be dropping since I started lymph massage. Maybe that's just wishful thinking. The drain isn't so bad but I can't be fit for the thigh high compression stocking that I need until its gone.
The nurse confirmed that a lump that the physiotherapist found she be monitored and followed up with the surgeon. I see her on July 26th.
Hang in there!
Joslyn
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- July 7, 2011 at 3:43 pm
Jimjoe – thanks for posting. Lovenox is a heparin like drug being used to reduce the risk of clotting. I don't know my anatomy very well yet, i'm sure i will before this is over. the surgeon took out all of the nodes on top (the superficial ones?) and then many the layer below that. the incision is about 9 or 10 inches long. i've had a prostatectomy, shoulder surgery, bilateral nephrectomy, abdominal exploratory, rhino and septo plasty and I think this is about the #3 on the list for pain. my drain is working well, we were taught how to strip it before we left the hospital. i've got some large clots in the bulb that i haven't been able to drain out but the surgical nurse said not to worry about those when I called. my release instruction said to only use my right leg for touch down balancing, i'm able to do more than that but asked and was advised to keep my weight off it, like you i don't think laying around all day is going to be good in the long run. thanks for replying. I'll be eager to see how you progess.
Ron
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- July 6, 2011 at 4:16 pm
Sorry to hear about these developments for you!
I had a left superficial inguinal dissection plus two femoral lymnp nodes. On June 10. I didn't need any pain meds; didn't even fill the prescription. I used a strong dose of arnica prescribe by my naturopath instead.
The staples came out after 2 weeks and the stitches a few days later. The incision has healed very well with no complications.
I still have the drain and some lymphedeman in the thigh. It's trending down buty I'm still not down to the required 20ccs per day for 2 days in a row. Watch for tissue in the tubing. That can slow the drainage.. It needs to be milked when that happens. Once someone shows you how, you can do that yourself whenever it is needed.
I am working with a lymphadema clinic that includes education and trainiing and had my first lymph massage yesterday. I have multiple appointments for this over the next 3 weeks and was trained to do self massage 2-3 times daily. I think that this will help. I am still wearing the compression sock (to the knee) from my surgery. Once the drain is gone, I will be fit for a thigh high compression stocking.
I've been doing some walking starting the day after surgery. I was advised to do this and to find the balance between too little, and too much. I was advsied that no activity is not the way to go.
What's lovenox?
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