MRF-Logo2019-Horizontal-RGB
Recovery after lymphedectomy
REGISTER
The information on this site is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Content within the patient forum is user-generated and has not been reviewed by medical professionals. Other sections of the Melanoma Research Foundation website include information that has been reviewed by medical professionals as appropriate. All medical decisions should be made in consultation with your doctor or other qualified medical professional.

Recovery after lymphedectomy

› Forums › General Melanoma Community › Recovery after lymphedectomy

  • Post
    • September 19, 2020 at 9:27 pm
    Daisy2018
    Participant
      Hello everybody,
      I had an 4 lymph nodes removed as well as cut and reposition of sartorius muscle in the groin area. I like how is sounds, Greek or something. Anyway 2 weeks and going on 3rd I still have a drain. It drains quite a bit. The leg swells up a lot. It fells numb like a tree trunk. I used to have pretty legs. How long does it take to recover? I feel it will go on forever. I want start treatment sooner than later and can’t until all healed up.
      What did you guys fo to heal faster? Thanks a lot!
    Viewing 1 reply thread
    • Replies
        • September 20, 2020 at 3:29 am
        Gsnowindlon
        Participant
          Please do yourself a favor and get plenty of rest. Don’t go back to work, exert yourself, or do anything strenuous until the drains are out and you are healing.
          Eat well including animal protein,
          and follow your drs. Instructions carefully.
          I went back to work too soon which resulted in a post-op. infection, longer recovery and additional scarring.
          Give yourself plenty of time to heal.
          The numbness in your leg will improve over time. Once you’re
          healed you can wear a compression stocking to relieve the swelling & talk to a lymphaedema specialist about massage, etc.
          Vitamin E oil works well on the scars.
          Try to be patient and allow the “tincture of time” to work its magic.
          Now I can wear a bikini again!
            • September 20, 2020 at 4:22 am
            Daisy2018
            Participant
              Thank you for your response. I m not a very compliant patient. I started working on a day 2. It’s desk job though. I walk quite a bit I m vegan. My doctor prescribed me antibiotics and said I will think about it. I didn’t take them. The wound has gotten better and I keep watching it. He said it does look better without antibiotics.
              I m so scared of sun this days I can’t imagine wearing bikini and be outside on a sun even with wearing 100 SPF.
              I try to exercise that leg so give it more circulation. Can’t imagine taking the drain out because it still drains quite a bit although it changed color finally.
            • September 21, 2020 at 11:53 pm
            SABKLYN
            Participant
              Hi Daisy,
              I had my JP drains in for weeks. It really isn’t indicative of anything other than your own unique physiology. Of course, if the fluid looks funky or anything else doesn;t seem quite right, give your surgeon a shout. As was mentioned, after my draims were removed, I was fitted for compression stockings which I wore for approxinately 4-5 months. I stopped wearing them and had no real issues with lymphedema. The only time I get recurrences (and they are slight) is if I’m seated for several hours. To help with that, if I am going to be on a long flight or have a day of back to back meetings, I use a compression sock. When I do so, I have no issues at all. Running, biking, golf, are all on my regular activity list with no problem from my leg. Do watch for redness, fever, etc., as they may be indiciative of a post-op infection. I had one and was on IV antibiotics for close to two weeks. SO be vigilant, ease into your activities. Take the proper precautions like SPF, try to stay out of the sun when it’s most intense and learn to live with the melanoma rather than have it control your life. Good luck on all!

              Stan

                • September 22, 2020 at 4:52 pm
                Daisy2018
                Participant
                  Hi Stan,
                  Thanks for your replay. You are so right. It is your physiology how it heals.
                  What I noticed I get a lot of redness in the incision are when I am on my feet long. It screams infection. I milk the tubing, lay down and redness disappears next day. It’s quite weird. This is when I came to see my surgeon last time. The tubing clogged up and I got redness right away. He was saying take antibiotics you have an infection. Something was telling me it was not. I went home, laid down and it was gone next day.
                  I have an appointment with him on October 1st. It will be a month. I as Me he might consider removing the drain. I can’t imagine it out because the minute it not drains it screams infection which probably could develop if I accumulate too much fluid there. It’s weird hot dogs puns heal. When I had my Wide resection and a graft the plastics MD was saying he never seen somebody healing this way.
                  When I had one of my moles removed couple months ago it took me 2 months to heal. It looked red and SUV on PET was reading like 2.5 uptake.
                  Now the incision looks swollen , feels hard. When I wake up it looks the same color as my other skin if I walk a lot or gets clogged it looks pretty bad.
                  Weird me! Everyday I wake I think it will be better and it’s not much change. I suspect it will take me couple months, again not sure how I will do without a drain and it you can even keep it for 3 months?

                  • September 22, 2020 at 5:02 pm
                  Daisy2018
                  Participant
                    Sorry for typos. Need to read it before hitting send!
                    • September 22, 2020 at 8:29 pm
                    SABKLYN
                    Participant
                      No need for apologies – I’m usually the worst; especially if I’m typing on my iPad! Speaking of infection, I had redness in my leg that was slowly creeping down. I had a fever and I felt like pure s**t. Some redness and other oddities are probably normal. But if anything doesn’t look right or if you don;t feel well, reach out to your care providers. The amount of fluids collected should be steadily (even if slowly) going down. So if that’s not the case and your doc still wants to take out the drains, ask about risk of infection, etc. In fact I would recomment writing down every important question you wish to ask and communicate those during your next visit. Good luck Daisy!
                      • September 22, 2020 at 9:55 pm
                      Daisy2018
                      Participant
                        Lol. I m only dying first time, what do I know?
                        I never had this surgery I dont know if it looks not right or not. The lymph nodes removal kind changes the picture compare to regular surgery.
                        I don’t have fever, redness comes when I have tubing clogged up or on my feet a lot. The appearance of the incision changes and then I clear the tubing up, lay down and it looks alright. Still hard and swollen. They jump so fast to antibiotics. I mean when its needed I would take it.
                        Just wondering how soon it will heal? I remember I had a patient way out of nursing school working in oncology today not. What an irony?!
                        He was saying when he was younger everything was healing fast and when he got older things changed.
                        Not sure what to do massage, Ice, Lay down all day. Smoke weed?

                  Viewing 1 reply thread
                  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
                  About the MRF Patient Forum

                  The MRF Patient Forum is the oldest and largest online community of people affected by melanoma. It is designed to provide peer support and information to caregivers, patients, family and friends. There is no better place to discuss different parts of your journey with this cancer and find the friends and support resources to make that journey more bearable.

                  The information on the forum is open and accessible to everyone. To add a new topic or to post a reply, you must be a registered user. Please note that you will be able to post both topics and replies anonymously even though you are logged in. All posts must abide by MRF posting policies.

                  Popular Topics