Micro Mets in lymph nodes and re-excision

Hi ToniS, sorry to hear of your diagnosis. Whilst I had clear margins, 1 of my sentinel lymph nodes was positive so I had to have an axillary clearance. My surgeon went back through the same scar so I didn’t have more scars under the arm. I am still recovering from this surgery. It has been sorer this time round and also it’s taken longer to be able to stretch to do the exercises. One in particular I’m finding difficult. I am sorry but I can’t help on experience of radiotherapy as I have not yet had that as I will be having chemo first due to being triple positive. 
Hopefully your surgeon will also be able to go through the original scars from the first surgery to remove more margins and if you have the lymph node clearance it can be done the same way.

There will be others who will have had a similar experience you are having and will be able to let you know in more detail. 

You can click on my name and see me journey. Others also add their biographies too so people can see what they have experienced on their journey and what type of cancer they have. 

Sending you best wishes for your op and the rest of your journey.

Hugs from cuffcake x x x x x

Thank you. I'm sorry you have had a similar experience with the lymph nodes. My cancer is grade 1 ER/ PR + and HER2- so I'm not sure if they have said to treat with radio therapy as it is a different type. My head is just in a bit of a spin. 

Thank you for sharing. I'll take a look at your bio.

Toni x

Hi Toni,

I had a slightly different experience, but may be able to help in terms of my recovery.

I was diagnosed last year aged 35 after having a 'benign' lump removed. Once they realised it was cancer (I had a grade 3 triple negative aggressive type), I was booked back in for a re-excision to take the margins and the sentinel nodes. 2 of 3 nodes came back as cancerous, although no mention of breaking the wall. Then I started chemotherapy and at the end they did a third operation to take 4 axillary lymph nodes to check for any signs of cancer. Luckily all came back clear and then I started radiotherapy to breast and nodes.

For the first 2 ops (lumpectomy + margins/lymph nodes) the surgeon went in through the same opening to reduce the scarring, and for the axillary lymph node op I had a new incision in my armpit. Both scars have healed incredibly well and are seamless and very discreet. The recovery from the axillary node op was a little harder as I experienced some cording and tightness. I have been seeing a physio for a few months and this has helped immensely and now it's pretty much back to normal.

For the radiotherapy, personally, I didn't notice any difference in having it to the node area too. I was prescribed a moisturiser and used it religiously as instructed and didn't really experience any issues. Still now 8 months later I moisturise my scars and breast most days, I think it's just habit!

For my whole journey, I trusted my team and followed their advice on what they thought was best as I didn't want to take any chances.

I totally understand that your head is in a spin at the moment, it's a scary world to be thrust into and there's a lot of info to take on board and come to terms with at the beginning. Try as best you can to take it one day at a time and I wish you the best of luck with everything!  xx

Thank you for coming back to me. It sounds like you went through a lot with your diagnosis! Mine was similar in the sense that they didn't think it was much until they tested it. It seems everytime I go back they tell me more bad news. I just keep thinking 'surely there will be some good news soon!'.

I had my letter from the consultant on Friday. The official term for the breaking the wall is extra capsular spread. I spoke to a lovely nurse at macmillan that talked me through the letter. There was a section about vascular invasion which sounds quite scary. She's unsure why they have given me the choice of re-excision instead of a full mastectomy. She thinks the cancer is behaving strangely for a grade 1 cancer. I'm going to call my BCN on Monday for a bit more info on Monday as they are the ones with the results sat in front of them. I don't think they would offer something they didn't think would work.

Thank you for sharing your experience. Did you have rads to the whole breast and nodes in the end? Was it just the nodes under your arm? Xx

Hi Toni, I only have experience of Question 1, as lymph nodes were clear. They had to do a re-excision becasue of a mistake in angling the tissue for one margin,which hadn't given enough clearance.The second operation was easier because you know what to expect, and your body does heal much faster, according to my consultant "it was already in healing mode from the first operation." However, the cosmetic result wasn't as good because they had taken more tissue and I have small breasts and the original tumour was already 3 cm. But they got a clear margin on re-excision.

I hope you managed to get some clarity and information from your BCN and that things are a bit clearer. I hear you on the good news aspect too. I always thought that the day you find out you have cancer would be the worst bit and naively thought they knew all about it at that point...but it's all the waiting, scans, operations, more results, endless thoughts and figuring out what the hell is going on that is the hardest. I really hope that you will get some good news soon! For me, it became much easier once that bit was done with and I got my treatment plan - there was a lot less chaos and I could just crack on with it! For radiotherapy, I had it to the breast and nodes. xx