Positive lymph nodes

I just got my pathology report back from my  June 30, 2010 lumpectomy...Found out my margins are not clear...Additionally,out of 13 lymph nodes 11 were positive...Medical oncologist wants me to start chemotherapy before another lumpectomy or mastectomy...I am 37 and I am going crazy... I am scheduled for a pet scan Tuesday...Lastly, I am triple positive...I am going crazy,uuuggghhh...

I am not sure if this board is still active, but I want to respond just in case.  I shared the same concerns when I was diagnosed with stage II breast cancer at the age of 34.  That was 18 years ago.  The tumor was so small that the doctor could not feel it; however, the cancer had already spread to two lymph nodes.  I thought my life was over.  For years I worried that every little lump, ache, or pain was recurrence.  Statistics do not tell you what may happen in your particular situation. Slowly, I got over my fear of recurrence.  It takes time.

LizM - I kept scrolling back and forth, looking for some kind of post about the very same thing you posted here.  I had to double check yours to  make sure I had not written it myself.  I know exactly how you feel because I was diagnosed with stage 1 bc also, due to a tumor sized 7mm to 11 mm (depending on which mammogram or ultrasound, etc., you go by).  Now, although no one told me, I know that the stage 1 changed to stage 2 as soon as there was any node involvement.  It was only in my sentinel node, a 3.5 mm tumor.  Then they took out 17 more nodes, and none of them had any cancer.  I believe your cancer also was stage 2 (since you had one node involved), but I see that you also had grade 1, just as I did.  And I understand your trying to understand how your cancer was able to spread to a node, when others with much bigger tumors (3+ cm) and more aggressive grades (2 or 3) didn't spread at all.  That just doesn't seem to make any sense to me.  Not that I would wish any bad luck or worse diagnoses on anyone else, but it just doesn't make sense that a small, less aggressive tumor would spread and many larger, very aggressive tumors wouldn't spread.  I flat out asked my onc, and all she could tell me was that obviously something about my cancer was aggressive, causing it to spread.  I have even wondered if the 3.5 mm tumor in my sentinel node actually broke off the main tumor in my breast and travelled to the node by the time that I had the surgery.  My bs said that the only sure way to tell how big the tumor is, is the actual pathology report once they take out the tumor.  But it seems odd to me that the size of the tumor was supposed to be 11 mm, then it was only 7 mm when they did the pathology report after taking it out.  It looks like to me that this could be possible because if the needle from the biopsy broke off a 3.5 mm section of the 11 mm tumor, that would pretty much account for the size difference.  It is all very puzzling.  Like you, though, I had chemo, rads, and now I am on arimidex, so hopefully we have done all we can do to protect ourselves.  It was really good to see that someone else had the same question I did.  Good luck! 

Horsegal: I too, had just a lumpectomy with clear margins (1.7 cm) and no radiation, no lymph nodes removed (my choice). I feel that all of this invasion causes more problems than just leaving things alone. I don't agree with "standard of care".