Surgical Breast Biopsy

[seadraem]

Round two  Apparently the results from the original core biopsy didn't say that the lump was benign - that was a mis-interpretation of my doctor (old doctor - I switched to a new one). What it REALLY said was - this is normal breast tissue, i.e. we missed it! So says the surgeon my new doc sent me to for a second opinion and follow-up and she wanted to do either another core biopsy on the spot (that was tonight by the way) or to do a surgical biopsy - which I understand is another phrase for a lumpectomy. So... I don't want to go thru the core again and be unsure so I said - go for it! So she said - great! Check yourself in at the hospital next door at 5:30am... tomorrow... in 7 hours .

So... what does recovery look like for these things? What's the typical healing time? She said she'll be cutting around the nipple part way to get at it, as it's right at the edge. I heal pretty slow as a diabetic, but I was looking for a general time span.

Thank you!

[Dennis MD]

Hi.
How are you doing?
Typically, wound healing should be completed after about 1 to 2 weeks after surgery.  Since you are a diabetic, you need to ensure that your blood sugar control is adequate to hasten would healing as most diabetics with poorly controlled blood sugar level have prolonged wound healing time.  Impaired wound healing is one of the complications of uncontrolled diabetes mellitus.
Good luck on your biopsy.  Hopefully the result will be benign.
Regards.

[japdip]

Healing shouldn't be a problem IF you're in good health and you pay close attention to your blood sugar levels. Surgical biopsy doesn't necessarily mean lumpectomy. It certainly didn't in my case and I don't think it does as a rule. You might clarify that with your Surgeon before the procedure though. Good Luck ......

[seadraem]

Thanks - I'm doing ok - it hurts a lot but there's pills for that. I'm a brittle diabetic so I'm doing the best I can, but it's a challenge. I tend to let it stay a little higher when in unpredicatble circumstances such as this because when I feel sick, and my sugar is low, it's a problem. Not too high, just won't go to sleep with my sugars under 150. I took two units of Humalog when I woke today, before surgery, and it dropped me twice what I would have expected, such that they had to inject sugar prior to surgery.

japdip - She didn't remove the whole thing, so I guess lumpectomy wouldn't be the right word. She said it was like lumpectomy to help explain it.

Thanks for the encouragement - let the wait for results begin again.

Susan

[japdip]

Sounds like you have things well in hand Susan ... good for you. Everyone says the waiting is the WORST but it's one of those necessary evils. Good Luck ......