Whats the chance?

Hi Sorra

Sorry to hear that you might have breast cancer again. While I don’t have an answer for you I noticed you haven’t had any replies yet so I thought I’d reply to you,to move you to the top of the discussion. Hopefully someone will be along shortly with an answer for you.

Best wishes

Daisy53

Thank you. I'm taking the lack of response for a good sign to be honest because no one else is saying they've had a similar experience. Hopefully that's not just wishful thinking but no news is good news at this point

• Mixed news after my appointment. The lump I felt is just axillary breast tissue although I assumed I didn't have any after my double masectomy but turns out I have it left there. For completeness  the radiologist also checked (with ultrasound) my original breast cancer side and she found a suspicious axillary lymph node which she then went onto do a core biopsy of. This was near to where my scar is from my previous axillary node clearance. I'm hoping it could be enlarged because of an infection some where and thinking positively at this stage. But my question is, if I had an axillary clearance why have I still got a lymph node there? Is it that they can't 100% remove every lymph node during a clearance. Although I remember my original surgeon saying he left level 3 nodes as to limit my lymphedema risk so maybe its one of them. Also is it possible to have breast cancer cells in a node and not in the actual breast ( because I've had a masectomy) and nothing else was found in my breast area. Just waiting for the biopsy results now to be sure one way or the other. 

Hi Sorra

While I don't have answer to your question I thought I'd reply to you to suggest that you put that question to one of our experts in the Ask an Expert section of the website, though you need to wait for up to three days for an answer.  Here's the link to the Ask an Expert: Ask a Nurse .

Wishing you the best of luck with your results and hopefully it's just an enlarged lymph node.

Best wishes

Daisy53

Hi Sorra, I had a full axillary clearance and just after my yearly mammogram I feel a small lump in my armpit. I had it all checked out with my surgeon and an ultrasound and it was a little fat necrosis cyst thing. I checked as I thought it was a lymph node too and it had been missed. My surgeon explained that she had cleared to level 3 everything she could see but that there are some left as they are to difficult to reach. From what I understand they can see the lymph nodes as they are hidden in the tissue/muscle so that’s what they remove. 
Wishing you all the best 

Hugs from cuffcake x x x x x

Hi cuffcake, that's great news for you. And thanks for clarifying what your surgeon said about they can only take what they see, makes sense. That explains why I still have one there. I also know he didn't do a level 3 clearance but I think its too low to be those, although i do feel frustrated he didn't take that levelnow...i didn't realise until after the surgery so becauseof this episode thats starting to niggle me now knowing thay they are there. Hopefully results this week so just got to be patient doh!

Thanks again x

Have you had any further treatment ? Things like radiotherapy would hopefully kill any cells that might be left in that area. Chemo would also hopefully kill any further cells that might have broken away and be floating around the system. 

Good luck with your results and wishing you all the best

Hugs from cuffcake x x x x x 

On my original diagnosis in 2019 I had chemo first then double masectomy. I didn't have radiotherapy tho, even when they found residual cancer cells in my sentinel node before my clearance. I did wonder why I never got radiotherapy then and ladies who didn't have any residual cancer cells did. In hindsight I wonder whether I should have questioned my treatment plan more and pushed for it. I'm still hoping for it just being a reactive node due to some infection its fighting. Positive thoughts hey eek