My mom had a lumpectomy 4 weeks ago still in severe pain and a nurse and doctor have to aspirate daily

[randidallas]

Mom had  the sentinal node and  cancerous tumor removed from left breast 4 weeks ago. She is in severe pain at the incision site, it has not closed yet. Nurses come daily using peroxide and distilled water to clean out 5 centimeter deep and 3 inches wide wound. The doctor cuts out what looks  like skin from inside the wound twice a week. This constant pain is unbearable. Not only does she has cancer but she might have to have a vacuum type device attached to her breast
for at least a week 24 hours a day,and was told that would be very painful. Is this doctor doing the right thing and when will the wound close. She really can't talk too much to the doctor and she feels she can't go to anyone else at this stage of the game. We are very worried about this situation and need help Please!!!!!!. She cannot get radiation due to the open wound.

[J.M. Keyes, MD]

Hi there,
I'm really sorry to hear that your Mom is going through so much, both physically, and emotionally right now.
The daily cleaning of the wound and the regular debridement (cutting out of dead tissue) has probably been the best bet to this point.  The debridement is important to prevent infection.  Infection is something to consider if the wound is severely painful and it is taking very long to close.  The doctor is probably keeping an eye on this possibility, but it never hurts for you to ask about whether it may be infected.
At this point, it might be  a good idea to go to something else, like vacuum-assisted closure, which I think is what you mean when you talk about the vaccum type device.  This will help speed up closure of the wound, but it can still take several weeks.
Depending on where the wound is, and what facilities you have access to, hyperbaric oxygen therapy also theoretically speeds wound healing, and might be worth getting an opinion on.
I know it may be tough to approach your mother's doctor, but I'm sure he/she understands your concern, so try asking about getting an opinion from a wound specialist if there isn't already one involved.

I hope this all works out well.  Good luck.

JMK MD

[J.M. Keyes, MD]

Forgot to mention-
You should also talk to your Mom's doctor about options for pain control- maybe something extra to take before she will have her wound cleaned, debrided etc.  It sounds like pain control maybe needs to be addressed more closely.

JMK MD

[randidallas]

Thank you so much for your advice ,should this be happening?. I know of so many breast cancer patients that have had lumpectomys ,none had this problem. My mom also is allergic to just about everything,so the only med for pain she can use is tylenol. When she first had the surgery it all day for her to come out of the anestegia( doesn't look right) she had the surgery at an out patient facility. We had to just about carry her home. The next morning she past out on the floor in the bathroom and had to be taken by ambulance to the hospital,where she stayed for 6 days. They ran extensive tests and found nothing.  My mom is a very young 75 year old woman and is really with it. She has every report and xray she was given. Why would something like happen. She can't start radiation until the wound heals. I'm alittle nervous about that. I can't even imagine being in so much pain for this long. Any comments would be helpful. Thank you Randi

[mommy2_2]

My mom actually had to have both breast removed from breast cancer, the doctor completely messed everything up and she had to go in three more times to have surgery. It was crazy. Anyways, she also had an open wound that wouldn't heal. To make matters worse all the surgeries that she had done made it even harder to heal. She went to the wound clinic they have here at the hospital and they got it to finally heal. My mom didn't have to go through any other of the painful ways to close open wounds. It started out being 3-4 inches long and it is now healed. Just another idea for your mom. Have her look and see if there is one close to her. I don't know if her doctor would have mentioned it to her, my moms doctor never did and he was even on the board on it. Good Luck for both you and your mom!