Skin graft, skin flap, all sorts of skin fun! *photos not for the squeamish*

On December 13th, I had my wide local excision with a skin flap and skin graft, to remove the big lump of cancer that was, by now, rendering me bedbound and virtually unable to walk. 

Because the lump was so large and deep, the surgeons needed to remove a large area of flesh so opted to do a skin flap. This involved cutting out the tumour and about 12cm of skin and flesh around it, going down to the muscle and possibly having to take out the main nerve of my lower leg (thankfully this didn't transpire in the end). Then they cut a flap of healthy flesh from the inside of my knee (imagine cutting three sides of a square so it's still attached to my leg), twizzled it round to the back where they just removed the huge chunk of leg and sewed the healthy bit into place. Then finally they shaved off a big rectangle of skin from my other thigh and stapled it into the hole they'd just made on the inside of my knee. It's a pretty big operation with a long recovery time. Pictures below.

Needless to say, if you are squeamish, don't scroll down. 

If you're having this operation, make sure you have everything in place to give yourself time to recover. Take a month off work. Make sure you get to practice stairs on crutches before you leave the hospital. Make sure the hospital give you PLENTY of spare bandages and padding. I didn't get given anywhere near enough and at one point we had to use duct tape to hold a blood sodden bandage in place whilst my husband went to Boots to buy some more. Make sure you have support in place to get the chores done so you can rest. You cannot be doing things because you cannot risk knocking your skin graft out of place. It is incredibly delicate. Make sure you are given enough pain relief to go home with. The sorest bit for me was actually the graft site because the nerve endings where the skin was shaved off are all cut and bleeding. After a few days, your graft site will start to itch like crazy. DO NOT SCRATCH IT. You will make it bleed and delay the healing process. Instead, take an anti-histamine like piraton to stop the itching.

Okay, here come the pictures. 






19th December, 6 days post-op 

24th December, 11 days post-op

29th December, 16 days post-op

9th January, 28 days post-op

2nd February, 52 days post-op. Note the 
red spots of metastases on my leg.

                                                                                         

The skin flap round the back of my knee, where the large tumour was removed

                                                                                                      

My leg as it is today, September 2018. It has closed up a lot and the 'shark bite' has got a lot smaller. I doubt it will get any less than this but that's fine. I don't let it stop me. I go swimming and if people want to look, then let them. Don't be ashamed of your scars, folks :-)