Wound care after surgery

Anonymous

Wound care after surgery

Madsy

hello

I don't know if this topic has been discussed already but i really need your help

Mom got diagnosed with breast cancer months ago. She did chemo and after that she had surgery. Im not sure if it is a mastectomy or a lumpectomy (the tumour was extracted from her breast but the breast itself was not removed).

After that she had to go on radiation treatment.

As far as i understood, the radiation kind of delayed the healing of the wound but that isnt all.

Mom has big breasts. And with the incision being on the lower breast tissue (where you start feeling the ribcage) it's hard for her to put on a bra without irritating it.

The wound is pretty moist and difficult to keep dry and as i said earlier seems to be extremely slow at healing if not at all. Mom went to see a dermatologist who prescribed to her a disinfectant and a topical solution to avoid germs and fungi from growing.

Showering is another thing we're having difficulties with.

Im not sure if mom should shower or not. Is the healing going to be perturbed when she does its not dry? It has this thin coat of white "fluid". I'm 100% its not an infection (the doctor confirmed it). It looks more like smegma? Im not sure. I think its the skin regenerating. Im not sure of this either.

The point of this topic is to find people who had the same difficulty. How did you deal with it? And how are you know?

Any help and advice is tremendously appreciated. Please my mom is very scared and worried

Moderators

Hi Madsy-

We're so sorry to hear of the difficulties your mom is having. The procedure you've described is a lumpectomy. where the tumor is removed but the breast is left intact. The radiation would've had an impact on her healing, that's quite common, but people also heal differently, and have different needs. We want to direct you to our Lumpectomy Lounge, which is full of lots of great info and advice on everything from what sorts of bras she could try to minimize her discomfort, to wound care and tips on day-to-day stuff like showering. You can find that forum here: https://community.breastcancer.org/forum/91/topics.... Please feel free to join in there with your questions, the community is very knowledgeable and welcoming and their feedback could be very helpful to your mom during this healing period.

The Mods

Moderators

Hi Madsy,

Just checking in to see how your mom is doing and hoping that this post bumps your thread into the active topics, where it will be seeen by others who can weigh in with some advice.

Please keep us posted on how you're mom is doing! We're all thinking of her!

--The Mods