Has anyone had lymph node clearance and told that all the lymph nodes had cancer in them. I would like to hear some positive stories where people have had successful treatment.
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So technically is that all of them? What does your team say? I had 2 infected…but plenty of people have more. To be honest I don’t think it matters how many as your treatment will be the same if it’s 2 or 15. If you search on here you’ll see others had a high % infected and they’re fine!
Trust that your team will do the right thing. It will mean chemo but that will kick cancer up the arse so don’t panic !!! 
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Hi
I had 8 nodes removed and all had cancer in
That was 6 years ago and I’m still ok although incurable I’ve been ion medication that has kept everything stable
Hope all goes well for you too xx
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They only managed to find 9 nodes and 7 were cancerous. Then another node that was left behind (it’s impossible for them to get all of them out normally as some are microscopic) blew up and was enormous. I freaked, it was biopsied and then it came back negative for cancer so I’m now 7/10. My oncologist said it makes no difference if it’s 2 nodes with cancer or 15. It’s in the nodes and could have spread. I have no secondaries showing on the two full scans I’ve had and she said that’s the point of the chemo. You can have surgery and have cancer left behind and chemo STILL has a 70% success rate at killing any remaining cancer. Then radio adds another 10-12% cure rate. That’s without drugs like Tamoxifen decreasing recurrence risks. There’s so little difference in prognosis between Stage 2 and Stage 3 and it’s all because of chemo, Tamoxifen, ovarian suppression or Herceptin.
I was stunned at how much they hit home that it doesn’t matter. What matters is the scans and where there vascular involvement in any distant goings on. As long as your scans are clear then you’re no different to someone with 1/2 nodes. Xx
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Thank you for your email. That’s reassuring to know. All I was told is I’m at high risk of recurrence and they want to reduce this risk as much as possible by giving chemo, radiotherapy and drug treatment afterwards. It’s true it doesn’t matter how many and my initial scan about 2 months ago showed it hadn’t spread. I wonder if they’ll offer me another scan after treatment or whether there’s no point.
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Yes they said all of them. I’m hoping chemo will help and I don’t have any reoccurrence which is hard to predict.
They will never turn you away from scans because they want to know too. Don’t EVER think you’re a hindrance. I had two surgeons tell me the left behind node wasn’t a node so I asked for an ultrasound between Cycle 2 and 3. I was right. They were wrong. They were lucky it wasn’t cancerous as I may have had a giant shit fit. They smitten they were relieved.
Trust your instincts and also know that a friend has bilateral breast cancer TWICE and it already to liver. She is disease free and has been for 3 years. Literally no evidence of disease at all.
I get scared by all the posts of “My nodes are all clear” but now I’m learning to cope with it. I’d love to have had no nodes with cancer but I found mine in my nodes as my starting point.
I also see the upside that we get bells and whistles treatment because of the nodes and that’s a good thing. I don’t want conservative treatment. I want everything and I want life long Tamoxifen and they’ve offered ovary removal instead of just drugs if I want it.
Xxx
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Thank you for your reassurance. That’s true. I’m getting the full treatment whilst someonebody that hasn’t may not get it all and it may still come back. I might ask for another full body scan at the end of chemo/radiotherapy and see if they’ll do one for reassurance.
I was diagnosed in 12/22 my surgery in January ’23 revealed 17/17 lymph nodes all cancerous. They’ve thrown the kitchen sink at me & I’m constantly closely monitored. My full body CT scans are now 6 monthly. It’s hard, probably the hardest part for me. I’m 8 month into abemaciclib & living life likes there’s no tomorrow 
good luck xx
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I was diagnosed last July with 7 positive LN. I had chemo, radiotherapy and now lucrin / letrozole and abemacyclib. I know I’m high risk of recurrence (not just bc of the number of positive LN but also bc of the size of the tumour) and I can only hope that any cancer cells that wasn’t killed by chemo or radiotherapy, will be taken care of by letrozole and abemacyclib. I will have my 1st control post surgery in July (MRI scan). I’m not offered any PET/CT scans but maybe I will ask for it, for reassurance.
Did they offer you the scans under NHS? When I asked they said as there’s no evidence of the cancer spreading on last MRI they dont usually offer regular scans. I don’t want to go privately as they’re quite expensive.
Hi, yes all scans are on the nhs at Ipswich hospital, Suffolk. Different areas different policies I guess. Have you started chemotherapy yet?
That’s very reassuring for you but I imagine anxiety provoking but at least you’d know. I’ll ask the doctors if I can have one too and see what they say
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Found out the day of my op that sentinel node was cancerous. I thought it was just DCIS I was in surgery for but my surgeon found a 1.6cm tumour behind and she removed 15 nodes too but only the first one affected. Effectively had a breast reduction (I had big boobs) as they reduced the right to match. I am a year post op, had radiotherapy and on Letrozole and Verzenios. They will monitor you closely so try not to worry. I have had 3 scans in that year and I am sure they will at least do that for you.
I had 19 lymph nodes taken out but had no margin of non cancerous ones. All 19 were infected. Had all my treatment in 2020. Now in 2024 i have secondary breast cancer in my spine so back on chemo. Terminal but can try and keep it contained. So keeping everything crossed.
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I had 36 lymoh nodes removed in Aug 2023. They told me 27 of them were cancerous and there was one they hadnt been able to get because it was too close to the arteries in my neck.
Ive had 8 rounds of chemo and 15 rads and now on letrozole and abemaciclib. Ive been told i wont be offered any more scans but that i should get back in touch if i have any symptoms. So the only thing they’re monitoring is my taking Abemaciclib.
I might have a similar treatment plan as you. Thanks for your response x
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I was told the same thing. No PET/CT scans will be offered because they did not see any lesions in my body but they will only offer if I have symptoms. I have difficulty understanding the rationale. If I have symptoms, I guess it means it has already spread a lot and I would want them to check before symptoms appears. I will try to get one at some point. I just need to figure out when would be the best time. At least they offered a MRI which I will have in July - one year post surgery/6 months post chemo and radio.