Taxotere is a nightmare

No.... The 25% includes recurrance plus new cancer stats... I continue to be higher risk due to old ADH  plus other birad 3 things currently in breast and pappilloma still in breast... AND and a lot of scar tissue from 2 surgeries and 2 biopsies plus the whole dense tissue thing makes it hard to monitor... And even though rads plus lump have a similar recurrance rate to mx, having rads on my left breast could damage my heart... and it would compromise my skin if I did have a recurrance and needed recon after... All these things lead me to want a PBMX over rads, but I want all the info of MX risks like Lymphedema... No more nodes from my armpit would come out... that I know.

I think I understand bdavis - I will ask my LE therapist on wednesday if she knows of any increased risk for LE with the removal of intramammary nodes with mx.  Did I get that correct? 

Also, I think the rads planning these days (provided you have a very good rad onc) does a pretty good job of avoiding the heart.  But you have other considerations as well. Also, I don't think she saw the breast node with MRI but with the US.

Diagnosis: 6/21/2010, IDC, 2cm, Stage IIa, Grade 3, 0/2 nodes, ER+/PR+, HER2+

Back to the weight issue for a second. I lost a lot of weight during chemo: about two dress sizes. I went from size 10 to 6/5. I know it is bad, but now, I am trying to eat a lot and gain back some of the weight. I hope I will be able to do it. Ok, I don't want to be a size 10 but a size 8 would be nice. I would feel a lot better.

Yes there is breast, chest, truncal LE. Now that really doesn't seem like fun at all.

info here

So Lago... can an MRI show what nodes are in the breast??

bdavis- The IM nodes are not removed during MX. The IM nodes are located under the breastbone and between the ribs. Almost impossible to get to, and even if cancerous aren't usually removed. They aren't in the breast tissue, so aren't removed during MX. I had an IM node as a sentinel node. It was the very top one. My breast surgeon had never removed one in 10 yrs of surgery, but was able to get it out since it was at the very top of the IM chain. Fortunate for me....as it ended up being positive. Haven't had any LE symptoms. It has been 2 years.

Doesn't matter what you call them.  There ARE lymph nodes in the breast tissue that are NOT under the breastbone.  I've only ever heard them called IM and the diagrams I find call them that too.

I had two lymphs in the breast tissue upon lab dissection and they weren't SN.

Sorry Omaz,

I didn't even look at the link...that's what I get for posting before coffee!

TonLee - From that I think there are IM nodes in breast but they are rare (that's what it says) so really both things are true it's just a matter of who gets what!!  Who would have thought I would have trouble with rads and LE/pain down arm with just 2 SNs removed.  I should be low risk I would think and yet I am having some troubles with my arm.

Looks like alot of the confusion is in referring to both (internal mammary nodes and intramammary nodes) as IM nodes. My surgeon referred to my internal mammary nodes as IM nodes. Who knows what is correct??

Well. I guess the best thing to do would be to ask the BS... perhaps everyone's anatomy is different and what I have and would need removed and what someone else has are different... And I do have my MRI DVD, so perhaps that would shed some light on this issue...

Omaz, Tonlee, bdavis, lago, marjie, jacee, et al, I have been thinking of you all over the weekend, hoping yours was as good as mine was.  Saw PT on Friday morning, started pool therapy and already feel more optimistic!  Also saw the MO on Friday afternoon to address the continued problems that I think are related to the taxotere (although I also started tamoxifen just about the time I was beginning to recover from chemo #4, added additional pain and other meds about the same time, so who knows which is the culprit - more likely combination!). Anyway, had 2nd PT this am, still have better mood and have been out of bed more than half the day for the past 3 days in a row!!! I am SOOOO pleased!!! 

I have been reading the posts about lymph nodes, treatment options, decisions.... it seems to never end because once you finish one phase of treatment, there always seems to be another step with more decisions required!!  And because we are each different (different size tumor, grade, node involvement, response to therapy, genetics, SEs, life values) it makes these decisions more difficult because we each will have a different response.  At the end of the day, we make them and don't look back doing the woulda, coulda, shoulda; being at peace with  yourself is what really matters.  I have made a couple of choices that my mother (who is an 18-year survivor!) would NOT have made, but I am very much at peace with them, just as she is with hers.  And yet I try to use the same techniques for survival that she did: love, humor, determination.  Please know that I appreciate the support you show for me and all others on this discussion board.  Peace to you all today. 

tracie - Oh No!!  You need a lawyer or there must be laws for that.  Can't be passed off as a pre-existing condition!!  You need some expert advice.  So sorry for this trouble.