New here; mastectomy and reconstruction with lymph node clearance

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Hi there,
I am new to this site and thought I would introduce myself. I was diagnosed on the 26th March 2013 with invasive ductal carcinoma grade 2 ER and PGR stongly positive 7/8 with a negative HER2 result grade 2. There was some discrepancy regarding the size as the ultrasound showed the tumour to be 35mm and the mammogram showed it to be 28mm. I wanted to have a lumpectomy so I had an MRI which showed it to be 38mm so unfortunately a mastectomy was the only option due to the size of my breasts.

I had my mastectomy on the 14th May 2013 along with a SLNB which showed up negative. The surgery went very well and apart from some movement/pulling it was nowhere near as bad as I thought!!! The pathology report however showed that the tumour was 4.8cm grade 3 with 1 inframammary node which was positive and a micrometastasis of 0.4mm on the sentinel node biopsy. They said I could opt to leave the node or I could have level I and level II clearance. I had the clearance surgery on the 24th May 2013 and we got the results today; 14 removed and 14 clear!!!
I have a CT scan tomorrow and bone scan on Tuesday but the MDT and my BCN has told me they are not expecting to find anything and especially now with 14 nodes being clear; I wished I shared their enthusiasm but I am trying to remain positive!! They are all over the moon with the 14 clear nodes and whilst I am happy I am also aware that there is still an opportunity for another curve ball to be thrown so whilst it’s good that both surgeries went well, I have my realistic head on…is that normal or should I be celebrating a small victory???

Karen
x x

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Bumping this up for Nazgirl

Jo, Facilitator

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Hi I have had slightly different but I think you can be positive. I had a masectomy on 9th may due to high grade dcis and being 7cm in size I was worried. Nodes all clear though and no further treatment needed so my fingers are crossed for you xx

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Hi Tonsky,
Thanks for replying, was begining to wonder if I had posted in the wrong place as nobody had responded :slight_smile:

I am glad you did not need further treatment, I bet that was a relief. I had my CT scan on Saturday and today had my Bone scan so we need to wait on both of those results also I guess.
I have a full day tomorrow of appointments, follow up on the 14 clear nodes, follow up on the reconstruction and first fill up followed by first physio! I am hoping that during any of these appointments we might get to find out that what the next stage is, they had said following the lymph node operation that I wouldn’t require radiotheraphy or further surgery so I guess if both the scans are clear then the only other option is chemo or not!!
I hope we find out soon though as I feel like I am back in limbo again :frowning:
Take care and thanks for replying

Karen