Hi Murphsmum
That’s great news. I’ll match that: yesterday, after 16 months in the circus, I got my (almost) marching orders or liberation papers or whatever from my oncologist - I’m clear. Yippee.
The day before, I was with the Rehabilitation Physio, a delightful woman who had shown me how to get my arm ready for radiotherapy by massaging my scar and underarm, working on my cording and generally damage-limitation exercises. She sees me every 2 months and works on another problem area. I asked her how long before…? The answer was ‘never.’
Unfortunately, the harsh fact is that surgeons cut brutally in their efforts to remove all potential evidence of cancer and nerves get severed. I had a full axillary clearance, with 19 of the 21 nodes removed infected so the surgery was a lifesaver. It seems the number of nodes in different locations in the body varies from person to person, so your 10 may have been the equivalent to my 21 (you don’t say if it was full clearance). I was told my numbness is permanent. I have an area from the arm joint down to the elbow, on the outer arm, that is almost totally numb. I say almost because the level of numbness varies a bit (I always assumed numb meant numb but I’ve learnt there are nuances lol). On the inner part of my arm, my armpit is numb, fullstop. The area down to the elbow is ‘fine,’ so I can feel what’s going on there.
I’ve got used to it but it can disguise problems. Then I get a burning in my elbow skin and I know I’ve forgotten to do my sweeping exercises, sweeping firmly from elbow to shoulder, then sweeping across my back to the nearest lymph nodes (not forgetting to end with a few shoulder squeezes to help move the lymph along). This will be a daily (several times daily) requirement for the rest of my life but it seems a small price to pay. The fact that I forget shows that it does get to the point where you just don’t notice it.
If you’ve had axillary clearance, your physio will show you how to massage the armpit and sweep down to the groin lymph nodes. The armpit is prone to cording as other things collapse into the space left by the removed nodes. I get a solid wedge that can be a bit painful unless I do my exercises religiously (which I try to keep on top of but…). This cording can move down your arm and is visible and hard to the touch but it can be massaged away. All my cording has gone now, except in the armpit.
In terms of the radiotherapy, just make sure your breast muscle and underarm are pliable by lots of massaging skin to skin, using a good oil-free cream like Aqueous or E-45. This will make the physio exercises easier and you’ll soon have that arm up by your head. If you’ve had full node clearance, you won’t need radiotherapy there (yay, we find one positive). You may find you have cording that you haven’t noticed running from your armpit down your arm - it’s the remaining nodes not having any idea what to do without their base under the arm and clustering together till the stick tightly. It can extend to your wrist - I could see a ridge all down my arm. Circular massage (and the groin sweep) will shift this.
Sorry it’s not encouraging news but, just as the number of nodes varies, maybe the degree of damage varies and you may regain some sensation. However, you will need to be sweeping to different lymph systems permanently - it becomes habit, like cleaning teeth! I hope my experience helps you rather than completely depresses you. It’s a nuisance, a reminder, it can be painful but it’s the result of a lifesaver so be kind to it 
Hope the radiotherapy goes well.
Jan x
8-). The numbness so far doesn’t bother me at all except one time (just one), I ate something and triggered my allergy. I felt very itchy there. I scratched ‘nothing’, poked ‘nothing’, heat burned ‘nothing’ squeezed ‘nothing’ and finally, the itch was gone after a hot shower.