Hi again to all…
as I have my op done next week I have a lot of anxiety…the most of it is about a node thats found possitive at sentinel biopsy and is enlarged…i dont know of course how many nodes there will be involved …in fact till op I dont know anything and that’s the thing that stresses me most.
I’ve been googled of course and I’m terrified…
I’ll be glad to hear about you and your “node cases” to know what to expect …
Hiyer NoteRed,
I think you are asking what do they do if they find that the sentinel node contains cancer cells? I am presuming that at the moment you have been told that they don’t know if the node contains cancer cells or not, but it is enlarged?. The sentinel node is under your arm in the case of the breast…and it is the first one that the lymph usually goes to and therefore the first one that might show cancer cells. So, what they do is, remove it during the lumpectomy surgery (if that’s what you are having) and send it immediately to be looked at by the pathology people during your surgery. If it is found to contain cancer cells then they would remove further lymph nodes (whilst you are still under anaesthetic), further along the chain that the lymph travels. They do this until they get to ‘clear nodes’. My surgeon said to me before my surgery that certainly this one node would be removed, but she couldn’t be sure if she would need to remove more or not until that had been biopsied. I don’t think I’ve explained this very well, I’ll see if there is a leaflet on the site.
Charys x
Hi I’m having my surgery Monday Lumpectomy and full node clearance,I had needle biopsy to my enlarged lymph node and showed cancer cells when I was diagnosed…I also have the worry of what if there’s more affected when they do surgery Monday but either way there taking all mine out whatever the outcome! Sam xx
Hi NoteRed
I’ve had chemo I finished it 4weeks ago,I have surgery Monday then radiotherapy…I had chemo 1st as I’m Her2 positive and I think everyone has chemotherapy if they have lymph nodes involved x