Starting chemo February 2020
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does anyone know if we will know beforehand how many lymph nodes they will be taking out or do we not know till after surgery. I’m doing lumpectomy and I’m terrified of getting lymphedema.
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does anyone know if we will know beforehand how many lymph nodes they will be taking out or do we not know till after surgery. I'm doing lumpectomy and I'm terrified of getting lymphedema.
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you won't know until after surgery. If it's a Sentinel Node Biopsy it's usually around 1-3
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thank you morrigan that makes me feel better!!
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They don’t know how many they’ll take out until they’re in there. Like Morrigan said, it’s usually 1-3. My surgeon took 3 and 1 out of 3 came back with a 3mm invasive spot which is what sent me to chemo (only DCIS found in breast). I haven’t had any issues at all with having the 3 removed as far as I can tell
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So even if MRIs and other scans pre surgery are clear of the lymph nodes having any cancer it could still come back with them finding some?
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Yeah, it's not definitive until the surgical pathology. There could be tiny bits of cancer found in the lymph nodes too small to be detected by MRI
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I wonder how much they can find in the nodes after chemo. I think I asked this before and the Dr. said sometimes they can find the dead stuff, which would indicate cancer was there before. This is one of my big questions and fears - what they will check and how much they can or can't tell after chemo since my nodes "looked ok" on ultrasound and MRI pre-chemo.
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I remember asking the same thing and getting pretty much the same answer. It's one of the issues I have with neoadjuvant treatment. You never really know what you have. You get a clinical diagnosis based on Mammo, biopsy, MRI, physical exam but, that'a not 100%.
Sometimes I wish I made the decision to have the BMX from the get to and we could have just done surgery first so we knew exactly what was there.
Ah well, nothing to do at this point but, wait and see and hope for the best
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Hray- I didn’t have anything in my sentinel nodes show up on an ultrasound during my biopsies Besides the one auxiliary one they biopsied that came back benign (was inflamed likely to me having a mole nearby removed). I never had an MRI so I’m not sure if that would have maybe picked it up? My CT/PET wasn’t until after surgery.
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my nodes have been clear on all scans so far, I did have one enlarged but it was biopsied the same time my tumor was and the node came back negative. I also have done chemo first before surgery, have two more AC treatments left, so I'm hoping if there was microscopic cancer in the nodes that the chemo is killing it. I guess there's not much to do but wait and see what surgery finds . I'm so ready to be done with chemo and move onto surgery, I'm getting too anxious about it. How long did everyone have to wait from the last chemo to surgery date? I'm scared of waiting too long because my tumor grows drastically every time we're not throwing something at it. I had to miss chemo one week and it grew half a cm and the last 3 weeks of taxol it grew 3cm. So I'm scared of having to wait weeks for surgery.
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3-4 weeks is the standard. Mine will be 4 weeks post final Chemo treatment
I've had a Mammo, Biopsy, MRI and Pet-CT no lymph nude involvement on my scan but, we won't know for sure until surgery
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hray1993, my last chemo is June 19th and my surgery is July 14th.
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I've got one chemo left out of 16 rounds and tomorrow morning is my visit with the surgeon. I've been sad all weekend because I don't really know what to expect. When this journey started I was expecting lumpectomy but since there is lymph node involvement, I don't know what the surgeon will suggest. I do know they have scheduled an appointment with a reconstructive surgeon a few days later so I've been thinking the worst. Can anybody tell me what their first visit with the cancer surgeon is like after chemo?
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Dysonsphere, I had surgery before chemo (and now I am getting near the end of radiation.) I had a lumpectomy and sentinel node biopsy in late December. Six lymph nodes near my armpit were removed with the lump. Stage 1a, grade 2. No reconstruction consult. Maybe the difference is where the mass is located within the breast? Best wishes to you. Keep asking the professionals questions until you are satisfied!
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ugh 4 weeks is such a long time for it to grow! I did read they have to wait till you’re not neutropenic anymore so at least 2 weeks but I’m just terrified my tumor will grow like crazy during the waiting time
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dysonsphere, I met with my Breast Surgeon and Plastic Surgeon before I started chemo. I already knew what my options were and everything.
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dysonsphere - you can still need reconstruction after lumpectomy if the tumor is on the larger size.
Don't forget the decision is yours to make. You've already had Chemo to treat the tumor and lymph nodes. You might be able to do a lumpectomy and radiation. Or the doctor might recommend a UMX instead. Ultimately you have to do what you're comfortable with.
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I agree with Morrigan. If you really want a lumpectomy and it would possibly be “disfiguring”, a plastic surgeon can do some different things to help make it look more symmetrical. When you consult the plastic surgeon, take your time to go over all possible options and ask for photos to see what post procedures can look like. I was fortunate to have a surgeon and plastic surgeon that laid out all options for me and let me decide what I wanted. They told me what they would recommend, but I never felt like they were pushing me towards any one decision.
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if anyone has trouble staying hydrated you may want to try this IV in a bottle drink. It’s supposed to be like getting a bag of IV fluids. I haven’t tried it yet because the store we checked is sold out right now but it might could help some of us. My fiancé says he’s seen them at dollar general and the gas stations I added a pic of it and a review I found from a cancer patient. The reviews are really good and a lot of cancer patients use this. I hadn’t heard about it till my fiancé told me about it this morning
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Hray- I’ve never seen that before. I could have used that during chemo!
I had my first radiation round today. Lots of laying around topless while a machine moves around you. I guess they don’t tattoo anymore, which is different from when my aunt got radiation for breast cancer just 5 years ago. So interesting. I’ll be curious to see what side effects come up from radiation. They gave me special lotion to use
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I guess I have some good news and bad news. Good news is that I can have lumpectomy with bilateral reduction/lift. Bad news is that I will have all my lymph nodes removed and also have radiation. Apparently, if you are have 4 or more positive nodes during testing then they remove all of them. I wasn't expecting that but at least I have a better idea of what to expect in the coming months.
hray, thanks for the tip. I never heard of that stuff.
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you’re welcome! I hadn’t heard of it either so I figured a lot of people haven’t. If I can get my hands on one I’ll report back on how it tastes. Reviews from cancer patients also said it helps nausea and fatigue too. I’m hoping I can find one before chemo Thursday. They have them on amazon to order but I don’t want to order a whole case till I try them
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dysonsphere that’s awesome you can have the lumpectomy. It sucks about the nodes though. Do you mean if you have 4 positive nodes at diagnosis or are you talking about that sentinel node thing they do
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They discovered 4 positive nodes during ultrasound and did biopsy before chemo so they are skipping the sentinel node surgery and doing a full dissection.
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oh okay I’m sorry
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I got delayed for round #6 today. Platelets were 67 - which is at least better than they were when I got denied round #5 (47). At least this time I was mentally prepared for it and I had pre-planned a bunch of fun things to do this week just in case I got denied again.
I did meet with the PS this morning though, so the day wasn't a total waste. Some things I learned...
- I'm not a candidate for nipple-sparing because my boobs are too saggy
(that's how I interpreted it - but I wasn't interested in nipple-sparing anyway) - teardrop/textured implants off the market now, not an option
- They will fill the expanders a little with saline and air at time of mastectomy, and they will continue to pump them up to desired fullness before radiation. (I previously thought I would be flat for 8 months so this is good news)
- final implant surgery will need to be about 6 months post-radiation
- If radiation damages my breast enough (it's like it makes it shrink because the skin tightens so much) then my only option may be flap - which I can find the benefits of (tummy tuck) if it comes to that
Now... to pass the time until next Tuesday.0 - I'm not a candidate for nipple-sparing because my boobs are too saggy
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dysonsphere, I'm sorry. That sucks more than losing my breasts imo.
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My surgeon originally was pushing for lumpectomy and told me the same thing about it being just as effective. But after my MRI, we realized how large the area of my tumor was, she didn't feel comfortable with the lumpectomy anymore. So once I was going for a mastectomy, I decided to go for both, since I have also known many other who find signs of cancer in the good breast after mastectomy.
Had my first HP only infusion today. Seemed pretty easy. Took forever because they ran labs and that was slow, and then the pharmacy wouldn't process the treatment until the labs came back. But in the future they won't run labs every time, so it should go much more quickly. It was nice to drive myself, and I don't feel any different. I'm mainly on the lookout for diarrhea from perjeta.
I feel alot better from the TCHP side effects three weeks out. My eyes are still watery and I have had really achey legs, they even swell a bit at the end of the day. But otherwise I'm ok. I'm so excited for my hair to start to grow.
I hope everyone else is doing ok
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micdpowers- bummer about your infusion. Hopefully those platelets get up soon. I lost both nipples in my BMX...is strange, but not as strange as I thought it would be! I actually don’t mind it! I got direct to implants and am now doing radiation..I’m curious how my skin/implants will be impacted and what that could mean for me (more surgery?..)
Fab4mom- I have my first HP only on Thursday. I’ll also be on the lookout for the perjeta diarrhea...I’m curious to see how my side effects are without the TC. I’m so excited to be done with it!
hope everyone is well
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