Eileen, I am so sorry!!!!!! Its certainly a terrible feeling when you have a recurrence! I wish you all the best with your surgery.

I had a mandibulectomy which took a large piece of my arm muscle, artery and also 3 leg graphs. Not sure if its different between hospitals or between how things are done in the US vs Canada. My arm has a scar that is about 3" wide by 5" long. I had 40 staples in it which hurt like heck! No cast, it was covered with a cool hydrogel type thing then covered with gauze. It was covered for about 3 months.

The graph sites on my legs are what Cheryl described. It was like they took a thin top layer off and used it to help with my arm wound and also on my cheek/neck area. Those were covered with the hydrogel stuff then tegaderm. My visiting nurse would change the dressings every other day. The leg wounds were kept covered for about 3 months too. I cant say which area was the worst, all were very tender and painful.

Overall I was in pretty bad shape from the mandibulectomy, maybe thats why I had all the wounds covered for so long. Even after the 2 month hospital stay, I was sent home when I was still very fragile and weak. The mandibulectomy is a different surgery than what you will be having. So I am hoping what you will go thru will not be anything even close to what I went thru.

Best wishes with everything you are facing!!!! May you have a speedy recovery and no more recurrences.