BMX 6/11/15 now going back under for more nodes

Thunder7

Okay, so I had my BMX last week, things went well.  Stayed overnight in hospital.  During surgery they took all of the tissue from both breasts and a sentinel node from both sides.

During surgery pathology on sentinel nodes came back looking good but needed to be frozen, diced and stained to be sure.

Monday got path report back on tumor, tissue, etc.  Tumor was smaller than expected 1.3cm instead of 2 - 2.3cm.  The left (tumor side) sentinel node showed stray tumor cells but would be considered negative.  Now the kicker that has put me in a tailspin.  Of the eight nodes that were in the breast tissue there was a node in the left breast tissue that had a 3mm tumor. 

At the cancer meeting today (all doctors, oncologists, etc) about my case they argued that because of the node in the breast tissue having a tumor, they need to make sure that the nodes above the sentinel node are clear.  So I am having surgery again tomorrow to remove those nodes. 

I am so frustrated and angry.  The whole reason I went with the BMX was to not have to go through healing again.  I know it has only been a week and the healing has been going well.

I understand the abundance of caution and all but I feel like I have had the rug pulled out from under me.

Anyone else with this experience?

Thank you

Thunder7

 

 

 

 

muska

Hi Thunder, I am sorry you are in this situation. Has radiation been discussed? I had several nodes with cancer in breast tissue that was taken out durikng MBX - see my profile below - but I got radiation to the clavicular area. Maybe they are trying to avoid radiation altogether but if radiation is on the agenda anyway I would ask for more explanation. A second opionion would be good too.

SpecialK

I had BMX with bi-lat SNB, cancer side SNB declared clear in the operating room, but had 20 IST (isolated tumor cells), so not even a micromet, when the full pathology was done in the lab.  Both my BS and MO insisted that I have full axillary clearance surgery to remove the remainder of the nodes because I was Her2+.  This was at the time when the tide was shifting away from ALND and to declaring IST or micromets in the SNB "clinically node negative" -  my BS is not a reactionary type who would arbitrarily yank all nodes, he was one of the pioneers of SNB and believes in conservation of nodes and breast if possible, but he and the MO both felt that the Her2 status drove the decision.  I had ALND surgery five weeks after BMX and post-operative pathology revealed a .5cm positive node further up.  This does not happen often, but this node was never palpated, and never seen on any pre-surgical imaging (Mammo/US/MRI) - and it was the size of a stage 1 breast lump.  In a discussion long after surgery and chemo were done I asked the BS what my chances of eradicating that positive node with chemo and rads would have been and his answer was 60%. He has maintained a database of every patient he has treated for the last 25 years - so I trust what he was saying.  I am not advocating any particular decision for you, just relaying my experience.