"Hello Trouble"

That's how Mr Brackley greeted me when I saw him this afternoon. It turns out that 75% of lymphadenectomy patients experience no post-op complications at all. So not only am I in the minority with this, but in a very big way because I seem to have had everything known to man.

He confirmed that the infection I had started as cellulitis and then got into my bloodstream and caused septicaemia, which led to septic shock. I come off the resulting antibiotics and antiemetics this week so hopefully I'll feel more human and less vomity/sleepy all the time. I am still left with three complications to deal with:

Lymphedema
Now that the drain is out, there has been some lymphedema swelling although not as much as I'd feared. The tissue in my leg is very inflamed and swollen too, though, so there's no point aspirating my leg as nothing would come out. Hopefully it will settle down soon and my body will reabsorb any leftover lymph because it's a very uncomfortable feeling in my whole upper leg, like my skin is two sizes too small for me. My whole right leg feels really heavy and cumbersome, like there are training weights tied to it, and anything requiring balance is now harder. At least it's only mild in my case. Severe lymphedema looks like this (note THIS IS NOT ME!) and it's what I was worried about:

Pain

The shooting/burning/electric shock nerve pains went with my drain and in its place is just a dull throbbing permanent ache across my right groin and down my thigh. It's definitely preferable to what preceded it but apparently by this stage I shouldn't have any pain at all. So I'm trying one more week on ibuprofen and paracetamol before moving onto the proper prescription gear that comes with a list of possible side effects longer than my arm. I'm normally not one for any pain killers unless absolutely necessary but Rachel the Macmillan nurse pointed out that I need to conquer it in order to overcome problem number 3: loss of movement.

Movement
Apparently by this stage I should have almost regained the full range of motion. Instead, I can only lift my leg about 10cm off the floor. Stairs are a huge challenge for me, as is getting up and down from seats, and in and out of cars. So today I've been referred to a physiotherapist for further work. Rachel said that if I'm in pain, I won't push my leg to work hard and she's right. I need to really put the effort in here. Mr Brackley thinks the nerve that controls movement was damaged in the operation; it remains to be seen how permanent that damage is. This is the one that pisses me off the most; I need to be able to climb mountains, let alone stairs. 

So that's where I am really. I'll report back periodically but, touch wood, the worst is behind me. Just one little op left to take off the remaining dodgy mole plus any others that are looking iffy. In hindsight, and it's a very personal decision, I wouldn't have had this operation and would have taken the 95% chance of the remaining lymph nodes being cancer-free, which indeed they were. It's such a big operation with potentially lifelong complications that I wasn't ever warned of. It sucks that removing the nodes is currently the only way of establishing their cancer status, although it's great that sentinel lymph node biopsies are offered these days. At least most people won't need this operation because their SLNB will be clear.

For now, onwards, upwards, and hopefully no recurrences.