1 lymph node/each side - IDC found - info needed

Hi, there, I hope I can be of some help. So sorry that your friend has to go through this, but know this board is very supportive. Your friend is lucky to have such a supportive friend. I was also diagnosed with bi-lateral breast cancer in 2004. I had a 2 cm tumor and one postive lymph node on the left side and a 1.5 cm tumor, no lymph node involvement on the right. I did my treament at Magee Women's Hospitial in Pittsburgh, Pa. I went through 8 rounds of chemo first to shrink my tumors, then a bi-lateral mastectomy, 37 radiation treatments, and finally a total hysterectomy. I am currently on aromasin and doing well, almost 5 years out. My surgeon and oncologist were very aggressive in my treatment. Your friend will be in my prayers as she goes through this difficult journey. She will get through this through faith, a great support system and a great medical team. I view each day as a gift from the Lord and she will too. I wish you both all the best and please know that treatment is even better now. God bless you, Kathy

If they have already identified vascular invasion, your friend shoud ask exactly what the additional lymph node dissection is intended to assess.  If they have already identified mets on the left and micromets on the right and are doing/have done the pathology reports post-mastectomy,seems to me they have most of what they need for treatment planning.  They will probably do a number of further scans to check for other mets (bone, liver, etc) as well.  The axillary node dissection is a pain, and  carries that 20% risk of lympheema, which completely sucks; so I would ask why for sure.  Take care and hugs -

I faced similar decisions as your friend after diagnosed with bilateral bc. During my bilateral mastectomy one side sentinal node was positive a a full axillary disection was done. The other side sentinal node was negative but then the full path report found positive nodes. I freaked then had dose dense chemo. My oncologists at Dana Farber in Boston was adamant that I have a full axillary node disection on the other side after chemo and before radiation. My case was discussed at some sort of tumor board there and the full axillary node dissection was their recommendation. My oncologist explained that my treatment plan wouldn't change but it was highly likely there would be other positive nodes and they wanted them out of there. I had the full axillary dissection after chemo but before radiation. I think around 9 nodes were found and they all were negative. Makes we wonder if I should have done this or not. I have no issues with lymphedema at all.