Have I got Secondary Breast Cancer?

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Hi Dotty

Great to hear that your scans were clear!

I guess that the onc saying stray cells were floating around is pretty standard, I think I was told that, that was why I was having chemo - “to mop up any stray cells that might have gone beyond the lymph nodes before they attach themselves to anything!” or something to that effect.

Take care and hope the chemo does the trick!!!

Nicky xx

To add to that I had chemo before surgery and it completely obliterated the tumour, there was no evidence of it being there, I still had the margins removed for security. When I found out 9 lymph nodes had been infected the ONC said that if the chemo had managed to break down a solid tumour the size of mine (3cm) it would have been able to wipe out any stray cells drifting around my body. That gave me peace of mind for a while!

22

Hi Dotty

I think that everyone with node involvement or even vascular invasion has the potential for cancer cells to be roaming around. That is the point of chemo. To kill off the cells before they get the chance to latch onto something. There are an awful lot of us in that situation. They give chemo to women even if they have no node involvement just make sure they catch roaming cells. Dx