Lymph nodes

Hi Sha123

Mine were not removed but I believe there can be a variation between hospitals. Before surgery I only had the biopsy and then a CT scan.

Jane

Hi Sha123,

I had over 40 lymph nodes removed but examination following surgery, revealed only 4 contained cancer cells. On the day of my surgery I spoke to my surgeon about having lymph glands removed and couldn’t they take one or two and test them. He explained they couldn’t tell from just looking at them which lymph nodes contained cancer and if they took just a few they might all be ok but nodes left behind may contain cancer. Even if the nodes were swollen it didn’t necessarily mean they contained cancer cells. Luckily I haven’t really had any side effects to speak of. In my case I had a more aggressive type of womb cancer called serous so that was why my surgery was more intensive. 

Hello Sha123

i had 18 pelvic lymph nodes removed during my surgery, because they were very enlarged.  Thankfully biopsy afterwards showed that they were all clear.  I had my hysterectomy over three years ago and haven’t had any side effects as a result of the lymph node removal.  I am fit and well and am just glad that they were tested!

Pippa xx

Thanks for your reply, It’s mad the way different hospitals vary in treatment x

It’s a mine field!!! Like yourself unfortunately I have the serous cancer but was still not prepared to make decisions about lymph nodes. I suffer with swollen legs at times so this decision was a big deal for me. Did you have  any further treatment after the hysterectomy? X

Oh that’s really good news that they were all clear and 3 years on, it’s good to get some feedback on people’s experiences this is all new to me x

Hi I had two sentinel nodes removed from each side 6 weeks ago with stage 1a grade 3 womb cancer the surgeon said mri said they were clear but he would see them during surgery and decide if to take more or just sentinel nodes x 

Hi Sha123, 

After my hysterectomy I had 6 rounds of chemotherapy (Paclitaxel and Carboplatin), followed by 4 sessions of brachytherapy, which is internal radiotherapy. I did not have to have any external radiotherapy. Unfortunately I was Stage 3c because the cancer had spread to those 4 lymph nodes, although not anywhere else. Personally I made the decision to accept any treatment that was offered to me because it was serous and I wanted to reduce any chance of it coming back.

Aww I’m sorry to hear that it was stage 3C, how long ago was your surgery? Yes I agree to take everything offered after surgery to prevent it coming back, hope you are well x

yes they said to me the CT indicated that they looked ok but surgery is the only way to really check. Like yourself I’m just getting 1 or 2 removed to check x