Sentinel Node Biopsy

Vera1966

I am having my lumpectomy and biopsy on Thursday and I am really scared. Based on the ultrasound my doctors thought that the nodes were not involved. Does this tend to be accurate? Does anyone know? If the nodes are involved this lowers survival, is that correct? Thanks for any help. I am really panicking right now.

chronicpain

Odds are good your nodes are not involved, with the info you gave. But even if involved, rx can be good on lowering recurrence and improving survival.

Just let them put you to sleep and they will remove the lump of CA and do the SNB to know for sure, then take it from there.

Considering asking your primary doc for expedited anti-anxiety meds in the meantime, for the panic. We understand.

So sorry you are joining us. Post your path data when you get it so we can better help.

Unhappy New Year with BC, even if SNB is negative (:

But fingers are crossed for good results

bravepoint

If nothing was a concern with your nodes in the ultrasound, then likely you will be all clear. I had 1/5 cancerous which meant chemo for sure! I don't think it necessarily lowers your survival but it will mean a more rigorous treatment of both chemo and radiation.

Good luck to you!

Vera1966

Thanks chronicpain and bravepoint for your responses. I'm normally such a calm person, but I have been constantly in panic mode.

moth

Hi, so about the lymph nodes, this is how I understood things:
Sometimes radiologists (& the oncologists, when they do the physical lymph node examination) can tell / have a good suspicion that there is something there. What they can't tell for sure is that there *isn't* something there. They can't demonstrate the negative.

That's why we need the biopsy.

My radiologist & the surgical oncologist both thought my nodes were clear and so I was staged preliminarily as T2N0M0 but they explained that final staging doesn't happen till after the pathologist is finished and checked the sentinel node.

They need to make sure. I know it's easy to freak out about this but just try to breathe. Whatever they find, you'll soon have a firm diagnosis and a plan.

Do you really want to know numbers about recurrence?

I have to say I'm ambivalent about knowing. I really only peek at numbers through my fingers. Just before diagnosis I (coincidentally) finished a university course on medical stats - while I appreciate knowing how to read stats and do my own confidence interval ratios, I'm really reluctant to look at numbers at all. I even started a bc blog called "never tell me the odds" (points for people who recognize the movie lol)

BUT, there a good new 2017 study which does give risk of recurrence if you complete your 5 years of hormone treatment based on the original TxNxMx staging.

http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1701830

Just remember stats apply to populations, not to individuals.

Will you be having oncotype testing? I'm waiting for the results of that.

Vera1966

Thanks Moth. I’ve become kind of obsessed woh statistics. I know it doesn’t help and is probably making me feel worse. Thanks for the info