mast and taking lymp nodes

helenap

i am having a mast.. which is probably overkill for my diagnosis.. I am older and just dont want to deal with more surgery later and like the small numbers for re orrcurance. the radiation also scared me.. but this looks worse... I have a small amount of DCIS.. should I chance having them take my lymp nodes and have this happen. The doc made it seem that if the do the mast that it is common to take a node ot two....

it is really peace of mind that I am doing the mast and just because it is usual practice to take a lymp node or two.. it sounds awful to suffer from lymphedema.

i hate to mess up the complicated system as it is and since I dont have a gallbladder or appendix - i need those lymph nodes.

Anonymous

helenap-

There doesn't seem to be a consensus among doctors about the necessity of taking lymph nodes with mastectomy.  Some do and some don't.  My surgeon took a few sentinel nodes  which are the first nodes the cancer would travel to.  (They find them by injecting dye during your mastectomy and seeing where it goes.)  My surgeon told me there is a much lower risk of lymphedema taking sentinel nodes.  The bad news is not every surgeon is trained in this procedure.  You need to find one that is very experienced.

A lot of women opt to do it because once you have your mastectomy those nodes are gone and it gives them peace of mind that the cancer hasn't spread to other areas.  (Which is unlikely with DCIS but can happen.) 

If you do have some nodes removed your surgeon should give you a packet of information about the things you can do to prevent lymphedema.  The first thing is after your mastectomy they should not take your blood pressure or take blood for tests from the arm that had the nodes removed.  If you have them removed from both sides then they need to use your legs.  The majority of women are not told this (I was one of them) and you may even encounter a lot of nurses who don't know this. 

Look for the posting of a member on here called Binney4.  She has posted some links to sites dealing with lymphedema and she seems very knowledgeable about the subject.

Good luck!