Groin Lymph Node Dissection

bambooluver
bambooluver Member Posts: 1
in Skin Cancer #1
I am married and mom to 4, grandma to 1. I am from Seattle and for now living in Ny State. I have Melanoma, stage 3b now. I had a surgery already to remove skin surrounding a mole and had one lymph node removed in the groin area. But I have to go again on Nov. 14 at Roswell to have a Groin Lymph Node Dissection on my left side. I am a little scared about this surgery; 4 days in the hospital and 4 weeks recovery. Has anyone else had this type of surgery and if so did you recover after 4 weeks? Thanks

Comments

  • Jasmiina
    Jasmiina Member Posts: 6
    #2
    support
    Hi bambooluver,
    I am very sorry to hear about your current situation. I truthfully think that you will get better in time, and everything is going to be fine!
    Unfortunately, I haven`t had such surgery, I can only offer you my support and belief, that this will all be over soon.
    Best wishes for a fast recovery,
    Beatriice
  • tnsexton
    tnsexton Member Posts: 6
    #3
    Hello,
    My husband was
    Hello,

    My husband was diagnosed with Stage 3 Melanoma in March this year. His first surgery he had was for a sentinal lymph node biopsy. They ended up removing three lymphnodes. Two were positive for Melanoma and were matted together. They referred us to Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, FL to consult with a surgeon regarding a Lymph Node Dissection. He ended up having the surgery in early April. The first few days post surgery when he was still in the hospital he was doing well. They gave him medication to keep the pain down. His job is physically demanding, so he was off work for 6 weeks. These six weeks were up and down. Some days were good, some days weren't. Biggest problem was lymphodemia, which, he still struggles with. During the 6 weeks he really wasn't up to doing much besides resting. Very difficult to do when you have a toddler running around. After around 3-4 weeks he was feeling up to getting some light exercise, walking in the neighborhood... but then he returned to his work at 6 weeks.

    A week after he was back at work getting in the routine of things he started 6 weeks of radiation 5x a week...if it wasn't for the radiation I would say that he was fully ready to return to work around the 6/7week time frame. He's 30, and job is physically demanding though.

    For lymphodemia- cut out as much salt from diet as you can, keep leg elevated even when you sleep, stay off of it as much as possible, and...compression stockings have worked wonders for him

    Hang in there...
  • tnsexton
    tnsexton Member Posts: 6
    #4
    Hello,
    My husband was
    Hello,

    My husband was diagnosed with Stage 3 Melanoma in March this year. His first surgery he had was for a sentinal lymph node biopsy. They ended up removing three lymphnodes. Two were positive for Melanoma and were matted together. They referred us to Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, FL to consult with a surgeon regarding a Lymph Node Dissection. He ended up having the surgery in early April. The first few days post surgery when he was still in the hospital he was doing well. They gave him medication to keep the pain down. His job is physically demanding, so he was off work for 6 weeks. These six weeks were up and down. Some days were good, some days weren't. Biggest problem was lymphodemia, which, he still struggles with. During the 6 weeks he really wasn't up to doing much besides resting. Very difficult to do when you have a toddler running around. After around 3-4 weeks he was feeling up to getting some light exercise, walking in the neighborhood... but then he returned to his work at 6 weeks.

    A week after he was back at work getting in the routine of things he started 6 weeks of radiation 5x a week...if it wasn't for the radiation I would say that he was fully ready to return to work around the 6/7week time frame. He's 30, and job is physically demanding though.

    For lymphodemia- cut out as much salt from diet as you can, keep leg elevated even when you sleep, stay off of it as much as possible, and...compression stockings have worked wonders for him

    Hang in there...
  • tnsexton
    tnsexton Member Posts: 6
    #5
    Hello,
    My husband was
    Hello,

    My husband was diagnosed with Stage 3 Melanoma in March this year. His first surgery he had was for a sentinal lymph node biopsy. They ended up removing three lymphnodes. Two were positive for Melanoma and were matted together. They referred us to Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, FL to consult with a surgeon regarding a Lymph Node Dissection. He ended up having the surgery in early April. The first few days post surgery when he was still in the hospital he was doing well. They gave him medication to keep the pain down. His job is physically demanding, so he was off work for 6 weeks. These six weeks were up and down. Some days were good, some days weren't. Biggest problem was lymphodemia, which, he still struggles with. During the 6 weeks he really wasn't up to doing much besides resting. Very difficult to do when you have a toddler running around. After around 3-4 weeks he was feeling up to getting some light exercise, walking in the neighborhood... but then he returned to his work at 6 weeks.

    A week after he was back at work getting in the routine of things he started 6 weeks of radiation 5x a week...if it wasn't for the radiation I would say that he was fully ready to return to work around the 6/7week time frame. He's 30, and job is physically demanding though.

    For lymphodemia- cut out as much salt from diet as you can, keep leg elevated even when you sleep, stay off of it as much as possible, and...compression stockings have worked wonders for him

    Hang in there...
  • NewToCancer2011
    NewToCancer2011 Member Posts: 5
    #6
    Groin Lymph Node Dissection
    Hi Bambooluver...first of all I'm very sorry for your situation. My husband was diagnosed with Stage 3 melanoma this summer. He had the original mole removed, then a wide excision and sentinal node biopsy which came back as having cancer in them. He then had the groin lymph node dissection. All of the lymph nodes in his groin area were removed - 21 in all. The surgery took about 5 hours and he came out of it well. He spent one night in the hospital but mostly because he is a bit stubborn and didn't want to be there any longer than he had too. He thought he would be up to doing more than he did...walking was difficult and he used a walker for a few days. He had a drain in the area for 3 weeks and after it was taken out, he was still having pockets of fluid which the doctor would have to aspirate. It did take a few more weeks before the fluid reduced enough that he didn't have to have it removed by the doctor. He is doing well now. He does deal with the lymphedema. He wears a compression tube on his leg often to help reduce the swelling. We have also been shown how to do lymph massage to help move the fluid in the area to where the next lymph nodes can pick it up. My husband is 52 years old and in fairly good health. He just started his follow up treatment of Interferon yesterday.
    I wish I had read your post before you had the surgery...I hope everything went well and that your recovery will go well.
  • Guardianone 2000
    Guardianone 2000 Member Posts: 30
    #7
    I missed the bullet...
    In May of 2010, I had Stereotactic Radiadion done on my left lung to stop te bleeding and kill the tumor. I am a stage 4 melanoma cancer survivor and want to offer my prayers for all who are suffering this dreadful disease. When I had my PET Scan it showed two areas' of concern for mets cancer, of course my left lung, but also my groin. I was shocked and concerned for the multiple locations. I told my Dr.s' I thought they were wrong and that we should focus our concerns on the lung.

    They wanted to remove the testicle and the lung. I told them neither of those choices were even a consideration on my part. We did do the Stereo Tactic Radiation and stopped the bleeding. The testical has been sore (or was it in my head) but I always thought it was a wrong diagnosis, because I thought it looked like the same spot on the scan as my vasectomy.

    UPDATE 12/11/2011

    I went to my Radiation Oncology Dr.'s and right now the next step is a PET Scan, before any decisions can be made. Removing a portion (wedge, not whole lobe) (grape or strawberry jelly) of my left lung was briefly discussed... Then of course I told one of them that option was off the table. My senior Dr. agreed with me and we talked IF needed, we could re radiate...

    Update January 2, 2012

    January 2012, I have just reurned from oncology yesterday where I was given a no sign of cancer anywhere in my body. I still have the six nods left and the tumor which was radiated last year. I live with the pain of the radiation damage which has cause scar tissue, but I still don't take prescription medicines.

    The latest Pet Scan showed both side of my vasectomy lit up and the Dr.s' understood they had made a mistake in reading the last Pet Scan. If I had blindly followed my Dr.s' guess what I would be missing rigt now.

    Even through my Belief and Love for my Lord, I still depend my Doctors and their gift's God has given them...

    The rest of this story can be found on my website: bradleydallasnorth.net
  • wraybuffonew843
    wraybuffonew843 Member Posts: 1
    #8
    sorry to hear about that
    Hi, i am sorry to hear about that. Hope your husband will get better soon. - lower abdominal pain
  • briniusyuzh602
    briniusyuzh602 Member Posts: 5
    #9
    tnsexton said:

    Hello,
    My husband was
    Hello,

    My husband was diagnosed with Stage 3 Melanoma in March this year. His first surgery he had was for a sentinal lymph node biopsy. They ended up removing three lymphnodes. Two were positive for Melanoma and were matted together. They referred us to Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, FL to consult with a surgeon regarding a Lymph Node Dissection. He ended up having the surgery in early April. The first few days post surgery when he was still in the hospital he was doing well. They gave him medication to keep the pain down. His job is physically demanding, so he was off work for 6 weeks. These six weeks were up and down. Some days were good, some days weren't. Biggest problem was lymphodemia, which, he still struggles with. During the 6 weeks he really wasn't up to doing much besides resting. Very difficult to do when you have a toddler running around. After around 3-4 weeks he was feeling up to getting some light exercise, walking in the neighborhood... but then he returned to his work at 6 weeks.

    A week after he was back at work getting in the routine of things he started 6 weeks of radiation 5x a week...if it wasn't for the radiation I would say that he was fully ready to return to work around the 6/7week time frame. He's 30, and job is physically demanding though.

    For lymphodemia- cut out as much salt from diet as you can, keep leg elevated even when you sleep, stay off of it as much as possible, and...compression stockings have worked wonders for him

    Hang in there...

    Sorry for that
    I am upset to hear that, hope it be well as soon as possible.




  • saisai
    saisai Member Posts: 1
    #10
    vvv
    vvvv

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