Hello all. I had a mastectomy and immediate reconstruction with SNLB 8 months ago. On the morning of my op I was very worried because I hadn’t had my radioisotope injected so I kept asking and asking anyone that I could…Noone knew when I’d have it. In the end my surgeon said that the supplies hadn’t arrived, but tried to reassure me that they could still pinpoint my sentinel node using blue dye alone. I was very distressed but had it done. When I woke up they had taken 4 nodes and had also put a different implant in to the one they said they would when I signed my consent. I developed cording and then a seroma under my axillary scar and finally lymphoedema. I have looked up NICE guidelines and they recommend dual technique for SNLB (blue dye AND radioisotope for accuracy). Can anyone give me advice on what to do?
Hi Parky
I am so sorry that you’ve been through this and can understand your distress. I had both blue dye and radioactive injection and have not heard of anyone here only having the dye. I also had a seroma and coding under my arm which is quite common.
I suppose it depends on what you want now. It might be worth contacting PALS to see if they can help. If you have concerns about whether the surgeon was able to identify the sentinel nodes you might want to think about having full clearance to give you piece of mind.
Mary
Thanks Mary …didn’t even think about the cancer implications. …durrr…
No. I think (hope) I’m ok…it’s just that he took more than I thought. It makes me wonder if he took more than usual because they were harder to locate with the blue dye on its own…
Thanks Freda. I was really worried at the time but of course the worry about cancer that was the largest.
If people have ANY lymph nodes removed there is a risk of lymphoedema, but there is higher risk, the more nodes they remove. So now that I have lymphoedema I can’t help but look back and wonder why they went ahead with my lymph node biopsy without one of the vital elements…The clock can’t be turned back, but I’m not happy…