What to expect during lumpectomy

Shony1982

What will possibly take place during a lumpectomy procedure? IDC Cancer stage 1, grade 2

Will i have a catheter , how long is the procedure, if lymph nodes were taken during an ultrasound guided axillary lymph node biopsy and were negative will they do sentinel node biopsy, how long will I have to take off work

healinhand

I`ll tell you the procedure my wife had:

The day of surgery. I spread EMLA cream on her aeriola about 1/4 inch thick, and about 1 inch around it. I then covered it with saran wrap and taped all of the edges. We arrived at the hospital at 7am. We checked in and went to pre-op. She was given a gown that opened in the front. She was given an IV. The next thing that happened was a nurse came in, and removed my handy-work, cleaned he up and gave her 2 injections in the aeriola of radioactive material. It was painless (BE SURE TO USE THE EMLA CREAM) or it will be extreme. The anesthesiologist came in, asked a few questions and left. At about 10am they took her into the operating room, and slid her onto the table. she was awake about 5 more minutes. She wasn't given a catheter. I waited about an hour and she was brought into post-op. she was there for about 45 minutes while she woke up. She then went to recovery, and I went there. They removed a 3cm lump in her right breast, at the 9 o'clock position, 9 cm from the nipple, 1cm from the surface. the incision was made around the aeriola about 2 inches long. She`s a 44dd. the tumor was removed, and the margins were examined. She felt like a little more margin would be better, so she removed more tissue. There was also an incision on the lower arm pit about 2 inches long. 2 lymph nodes were removed . 1 sentinel node and 1 auxiliary node. She was fitted with a special bra. We went home. total time was about 4 hours. Pain was a little intense the first night, but ibuprofen was fine. she was given tramadol, but didn't take it. Her surgery was on a Monday. she went back to work the following Monday. She developed a little bit of cording in the right arm, but I was able to take care of it with massaging her. I also messaged her whole body every night... like I have done for years.

The pathology report came back a week later . All margins were clear. 2 weeks after surgery her ONCA DX score came back as a 12. (no chemotherapy) 5 weeks later she had radiation therapy for 2 weeks every other day, but thats another story.

Her surgery was September 11, 2022. Today, she is a little tired all of the time, but getting stronger. She`s also working on finishing her masters degree. Shes 54. Shes taken a total of 3 weeks off from work during this ordeal. Mostly because I made her stay home....

I went to and attended, every mammogram, biopsy, and every radiation treatment. The only time she left my side was in surgery. Some of the staff didnt like me, but mostly I was praised

Shony1982

https://csn.cancer.org/discussion/comment/1700691#Comment_1700691

Thank you so much. I am glad you are there for your wife. Having a supportive husband is very important. Glad your wife has you and I have my husband.

healinhand

You’re very welcome, and thank you. If you would like to have more information, I will try to help you. I tried to be detailed, but I might have missed something. Also the surgeon was a plastic surgeon

rachellynn99

Hello,

I'm 40 and had a lumpectomy on Oct 7 of this year.

I started by going to get the radiation in my sentinal nodes, they gave me a tiny prick of numbing cream, which worked! and I didn't even fell the injection.

Then I went to a pre-op room, they started an IV, had a few folks come to talk to me and they took me to surgery. They put a mask on me and I counted back from 10, then I woke up in post op. My husband came and got me and took me home. My appointment was for 11:30, I was home by 4 pm.

The process itself wasn't bad as far as pain. I certainly understand that you might be nervous. This was on a Friday and I went to church on Sunday, was back at work on Monday. This was just my experience.

Shony1982

https://csn.cancer.org/discussion/comment/1701055#Comment_1701055

Thanks. I feel better now.. praying for a speedy recovery for both of us