Hi, following my WLE & SNB I’m due for axillary node clearance on one side. I don’t know if I can go through with it, and I’m feeling a bit lost and abandoned as there’s been no contact or info from the hospital since my interview with the consultant following the last op. I tried calling my BCN (for the first time) and left a message, but haven’t had a call back.
At the interview I asked if there was any alternative to the op, other than walking away, and was told no there wasn’t. But in researching, I’ve found that (a) radiotherapy to the armpit is a possibility and (b) a study showed about a 1% difference in survivability between groups of women who did & didn’t have ANC. That’s only one study, and I don’t have all the details of my own case or their cases, but if those were my odds, I wouldn’t have the ANC.
I don’t know what to do and feel I need more time. I’m just not ready for this.
I am so sorry that you are in this place at the moment, hopefully your bcn will call you back soon, she might be in clinic this morning so unable to call, She should be able to provide you with some more information
Can I suggest that you write down all the questions that are going through your mind so that you do not forget anything. remember there is a lot of misinformation on the internet and you need to ask the questions of the those who are the experts.
Hello charlotte457, I had an axillary node clearance last July and wanted to reassure you that it isn’t as daunting as you fear. What, in particular, are you concerned about? If it is recovery time etc., my experience was that it wasn’t as sore as the sentinel node biopsy. They will make an incision along the sentinel node biopsy scar so you won’t have an additional scar at all. The only difference I found was that I had to have a drain in overnight but this was removed the next morning. I haven’t had any sign of lymphoedema at all so far, and if it were to occur then there would be help available to deal with this. I know how scary it is to face more surgery, but I personally felt that I wanted to make sure, as much as I could, that any affected nodes were removed. As Helena has said, write down all the questions you have and hopefully your bcn will call you back today so that you can talk it through with her. You don’t have to have any treatment that you’re not happy about, so I hope you will be able to come to an informed decision about it. You could give the helpline on here a call - they are lovely and will listen and help you. Sending you best wishes and take care. xx Lily