Auxiliary clearance

not quite in same boat but I am having lumpectomy and full auxiliary clearance on 13th too. I would definitely ask this question from your team unless someone can help on here. I haven't come across many blogs from patients having the clearance. it does feel a bit overwhelming...Good luck I'll think of you as I drift off to sleep on 13th ..thank god its a Monday not a Friday x

Thankyou hev999 for your reply, 

I know what you mean about the Friday thing , wouldn’t have been a good date to be having an operation.

Hope all goes well for you , I will think of you too , Nice to know we are not alone in all of this. Good luck for a speedy recovery.

Hi I had a lumpectomy on 23rd July, had my results in August and had my auxiliary clearance on 30th September as I was going away for the weekend of the 10th September, they weren’t concerned about waiting and they would have had to wait at least 6 weeks to make sure I was healed and ok after the first general anaesthetic. So I think mine were 2 months 1 week apart.

Thankyou Di54,

I feel a little better now knowing this ,

I think the mind works overtime worrying the longer it’s left the more time to spread .

I think if they had taken 3or 4nodes the first time and 2 of the 4 had contained cancer I probably wouldn’t have been so concerned regarding the wait but as they only took 2 which were both cancerous, I,m left wondering if they all contain cancer as my breast tumour was nearly 10cm when found so had obviously been there a long time .

I had a  bilateral lumpectomy in September, during which they found extensive cancer in my right breast. So they sewed me up and did a mastectomy about 6 weeks later. However my mastectomy was originally booked for 26th November so they felt it was perfectly safe to wait 8 weeks. I was originally diagnosed in my left breast 30th June, so clearly there isn't usually that much of a rush, and it is safer to wait until you've recovered from one operation before doing another 

Thankyou AnaBrock for Sharing your experience, I guess I should try not to worry, I can’t fault the NHS , all treatment and scans have been done really quickly  and the breast clinic at my hospital have been fabulous so far so .

Hi  Missi k

I had full clearance with lumpectomy before all results back. Apparently its the hospitals policy were I was treated. 

Xxx

Hi Pusheen,

To be honest , I wish they had done the full clearance at the same time as my mastectomy as I would know the full extend of involvement and also would have all healed by now ,but because nothing shown up on scans in lymph nodes I don’t think they were expecting to find anything so only removed the two , and they don’t usually like to remove lymph nodes unnecessarily .

They aren’t actually doing a complete clearance. The consultant said they only take about 20 , although I’m worried that if all 20 contain cancer , what happens then , im not sure if they go back and take more or just hope that chemo will be effective.

Hi Missi k

Yes everyone has a slightly different amount of lymph nodes I had 24 removed which was all of them and 19 had some cancer so glad to be rid of them. Naturally after that I had chemo then rads also to axilla and boosts. I said boost away ! Hit it with everything.  If there's a small amount I think they can treat with chemo and rads but I'm glad they're out. No problems so far xxx

I just found out today that everyone has a different number (and size) of lymph nodes. Fascinating! So 19 might be a lot or a little and some people have as few as 18 in total. I have only had 3 removed from each armpit but I’ve had a load of pain, swelling and nerve damage. Apparently that’s just how some people are. I also found out it’s much easier to see tumours in the lymph nodes than the breasts due to the lack of other complex tissues obscuring them, which is reassuring for future. All the best to everyone having auxiliary clearance