Hi, was diagnosed yesterday and am waiting for biopsie results but am terrified the cancer has spread as my lymph nodes were abnormal. When and how do they look to see if it is elsewhere? Every ache and pain is scaring me!
Hi
I know it is really hard, but try not to panic. Abnormal looking lymph nodes can be caused by things other than cancer, they filter out any infections.Even if there is cancer in the nodes, it may not have got any further Please phone your breast care nurse and ask what the procedure is in your hospital as they all tend to have slightly different systems for scans etc. It is so hard to be patient. You can phone the helpline to talk through what is happening, they are very good.
Take care.
Dx
Hello,
I know exactly how you feel and stomped my feet until I got a CT scan which was clear. I did feel better afterwards. Only 5% of people have mets from diagnosis so you most likely do not. But I completely empathise with wanting to know for sure and I still worry about every ache and pain!
If there is cancer in the nodes you will most likely have to have chemo which will kill any cells that might have escaped (but having cancer in the lymph nodes doesn’t necessarily mean any have escaped - your lymph nodes are like safety nets and try and catch any nasties). If you are ER+ (oestrogen recepter positive) then you will also be given Tamoxifen after your treatment which also kills any escaped cells. If you are HER2+++ you will also receive Herceptin which also destroys cells. So they will throw as much as they can at you to destroy any escaped cells.
Once you have your treatment plan and find out the details of your cancer and understand it a bit more, you will feel more in control and less panicked. I have cancer in at least 2 lymph nodes and had chemo prior to surgery. I finished my chemo 3 weeks ago and will be having my surgery next week when I will find out more about how many lymph nodes are involved.
When do you get the biopsy results?
x
Don’t panic - take a deep breath and let it out again slooooooowly…
Now, I had abnormal nodes as well - they took them all out (12 in my case which is actually quite a low number - most people have more) and 6 had cancer including an apical node which is the very last line of defence, but it hadn’t spread elsewhere.
Your lymph nodes are there to protect the rest of your body and to try to stop any further spread. Of course that doesn’t always work and the cancer can get further and start to develop, which is when it becomes stage 4, however in most people with affected nodes it hasn’t got any further.
If you’ve got affected nodes yes, you’ll probably need to have chemo. You will almost certainly have some scans as that’s very common (maybe even standard) with node involvement. I had a CT and a bone scan (the most common places for spread are lungs, liver and bones) but some have an MRI so any combination is possible depending on where you’re treated. You also may have a heart scan before chemo as some chemos can affect the heart so they need to check that first.
Waiting for the results of a scan is really horrible, I won’t deny that, but if/when (fingers crossed) they’re clear, you can relax and get on with your planned treatment.
Jane xxx
Hi Herbi
Great info already given to you. I also know exactly how you feel and just wanted to add my experience. I too was very worried about spread as i had a backpain concern that came and went quite regularly and it originated from before i was diagnosed so was very worried this was related.
When they did the initial tests they were concerned about one of lymph nodes so had to go back and have a further lymph sample taken, i was told my lymph nodes were clear after sample. They took a few sentinal nodes (with blue dye) as a precaution at time of surgery which were also clear (6 in total), i was still concerned about my back pain so persisted for a bone scan which i have now had that also came back clear.
So they tend to be precautious, abnormal lymph does not necessarily mean spread. Hope you get your results soon and your mind is put to rest a bit regarding spread x