Breast Cancer Surgeon Explains What to Expect After Lumpectomy

If you’re having or considering a lumpectomy to remove the breast cancer, according to Dr Soumen Das, a breast cancer surgeon in Kolkata, here’s what you can expect after the surgery.

Hospital Stay

You’ll be taken to the recovery room after lumpectomy surgery, where personnel will monitor your heart rate, body temperature, and blood pressure.

Staying overnight in the hospital is not ordinarily essential with a lumpectomy unless you have more than a few lymph nodes removed. You also need to remain overnight if you get an oncoplastic lumpectomy that incorporates a breast reduction or breast lift, or more extensive surgery.

Taking Pain Medication

Pain medicine may be administered in the recovery room, and your surgeon will almost certainly provide you with a prescription to take with you when you leave the hospital.

You may not require the medication, but it’s good to have it with you in case you do.

Caring For The Bandage Over Your Incision

Inquire with your breast cancer surgeon about caring for the lumpectomy bandage. Occasionally, the surgeon will request that you wait until your first follow-up visit before removing the bandage.

If you undergo an oncoplastic lumpectomy, you can anticipate thicker bandages and a special support bra.

Caring For a Surgical Drain

If you have a drain implant in your breast area or armpit after your breast surgery in Kolkata, it may be removed before discharge from the hospital.

Occasionally, however, a drain is left in place until the patient’s first follow-up appointment with the doctor, which is typically one to two weeks after surgery. If you return home with a drain in place, you will need to empty the fluid from the detachable drain bulb several times daily.

Ensure that your surgeon provides you with information on properly caring for the drain before you leave the hospital.

Sutures And Staples

Most surgeons utilize sutures (stitches) that disintegrate over time, eliminating the need to remove them.

However, occasionally, the end of the suture will protrude from the incision like a whisker. If this occurs, your surgeon will easily be able to remove it.

During the first clinic visit following surgery, surgical staples — another method of closing the incision — are removed.

Exercising Your Arm

Your surgeon may demonstrate an exercise regimen that you can practise following surgery to avoid arm and shoulder stiffness on the side, says Dr Soumen Das, a breast cancer specialist in Kolkata.

Typically, you will begin exercising the morning following surgery. Certain exercises should be avoided temporarily until drains are removed.

Consult your surgeon with any queries you may have to ensure that the workout regimen is appropriate for you. Additionally, your surgeon should provide you with written, illustrated instructions on how to perform the exercises.