Surgery for vulval cancer

I have just had surgery to remove the cancer of my vulva, along with lymph nodes. It was successful but a week after I am still in pain my vagina and vulva still very swollen. I am worried that I am not cleaning myself properly and it will get infected. I have a general shower twice a day and swoosh with salt water twice a day too (as I do not gav3 a bath) I was advise to do this by the surgeon. I daren’t look at myself down there so cannot see if there is anything awful going on or if I am not cleaning it properly. I live in my own and do not feel at all comfortable asking anyone at all to look at it. Any advice or thoughts would b3 gratefully received x

  • Welcome to the forum JR4143, although I'm sorry to hear you're still in pain after your vulval cancer surgery.

    Hopefully some of our members who have had the same surgery will stop by soon to share their thoughts and experiences with you soon but if you'd like to ask one of our cancer nurses about this, you can do so by making another post in their section of the forum called ask the nurses. They are very well informed and will do all they can to offer you further information and advice.

    We also have information about the possible problems that can occur after vulval cancer surgery on our website.

    Do keep an eye on this and if things don't improve, then you will need to let your medical team know as they are in the best position to check on you and give you the best advice.

    We're sending you all our support JR4143 and wishing you all the best with your recovery.

    Kind regards,

    Steph, Cancer Chat Moderator