I have a swollen area on the left side right above my collar bone its pretty huge and i am going for surgery to get it removed on the 28th and I was wondering if anyone has done anything like that and if it hurt I am very scared

I have a large mass on the right collarbone area and have been told that it is a very dif place to operate, esp b/c my tumor is compressing the huge major nerve and bood vessels there.

I just had a small surg there to take a tissue sample for biopsy, and the surg itself was not a prob, but it is the potential nerve damage that is. It has only been 10 days, but I am in excruciating nerve pain. I do not know if it is from the surg aggivating it, or b/c my tumor is getting bigger.

I would advise getting several opinions and make sure you have a nerve specialist right in the operating room and a thoratic surgeon.

Good Luck!

They said it was not cancer I had a biopsy last year and it was all just fluid Its huge though and I am in a wedding with a strappless dress and really need to get it out do you know what yours is?? The Dr said I was born with it and he was going to take the whole area out something about lymphocytes.

[This message has been edited by Donna100 (edited 07-31-2003).]

If it is not cancer and not hurting you or anything in your body, i would not take it out, except maybe do a needle aspiration to get the fluid out.

Surg in that area can be very complicated and cause more probs than what you had ion the first place.

I do not know what mine is yet...still waiting on biopsy results. They first said it was most likely lymphoma, but sisnce there is no sign of cancer anywhere else in my body, they are slightly more optimistic now.

Well because its huge it like the size of an orange sticking out of my neck and if it gets drained it will come back. its really big. The Dr didn't seem like it was thet huge of a deal to get it out he said there were alot of nerves for my arms around the area but he said thats why its going to take a couple hours. Also at the beginning of this they told me they thought it was cancer I was sick for a week and a half till they did a biopsy. And it wasn't. Thanks for the advise.

the nerves are they reason it is tricky surg. my biopsy only took 30 min, and i have been in agonizing pain ever since(2 weeks). i would rather have something sticking out or even lose my arm than have this pain every day.

however, when i had a HUGE(grapefruit size) mass on my kidney causing me pain years ago,(it was not cancer), they drained it and to try and keep it from growing back, they shot in some acid kind of stuff to kind of discourage growth. so far it has worked great..and it has been 5 years.

ps. the one that i have in my colarbone now is also huge...orange size or more. i have been told it is practically inoperable...even if it is cancer.

really? I don't know what to do cause I got a biopsy done last year and it didn't hurt at all I was so surprised got myself so worked up and they said it was just clear fluid and ya the Dr said that there are all the nerves to your arm and that after surgery he wants me to move it up and down. I'm getting scared but he is a head and neck surgeon and oncologist and a professor at McMaster University so and he has done this before. I don't know what to do but I really appreciate you talking with me.

well he sounds like he knows what he is doing, and that's good, so you prob will be fine, but usually one wants to go the least invasive route first. why not try the needle aspiration and then if it keeps coming back do surg? Unless he really wants to get a definitive diagnosis for biopsy for some reason b/c needle aspirations are not at all a sure thing for detecting cancer. but they do get rid of the fluid.

Well I've already had a biopsy done and they said it was just clear fluid and it is not cancer and last year I got 3 opinions so I believe its not that and they drained it when they did a biopsy and it came back like a week or 2 later now its huge. And i want to get rid of it and I guess thats the only way how I figure this Dr takes tumors out of peoples brain so this is probably an easy one. I don't know Im scared in one way but in the next I say screw it I just want this nightmare gone you know.Did you get you results yet??

P.S The biopsy was nothing when I came out of it I was not in pain at all I guess we have 2 different things eh. My lump is soft its not hard at all either.