New lump under arm

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Kathie100
Kathie100 Member Posts: 108
edited August 2016 in Surgery - Before, During, and After

I am 3 months post lumpectomy. I'm going thru chemo right now. About a week ago I started noticing pain under my left arm. After about 3 or 4 days I went back to see my surgeon he thought maybe it was fluid from my sentinal node biopsy. After examining it with his fingers he says its too hard to be fluid and he didnt want to aggravate it wit a needle especially since I just had chemo treatment that day. He feels its a lymph node but doesn't know what the lump is. He says it just may be angry. He wants to watch a couple weeks. It aches a lot and if I touch it it starts to hurt under my arm and down the side of my breast. I'm worried about what it could be. Has anyone else had new lumps appear after surgery.

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  • Jennie93
    Jennie93 Member Posts: 1,018
    edited August 2013

    I'm a little surprised he didn't send you to get it ultrasounded. That would tell for sure what it was. I've had a lump in my armpit ever since surgery, but it was kinda gradually subsiding until a couple weeks after rads ended, it suddenly flared up again. Went to see RO, he thought it might be a fluid pocket or something (which could be drained, if that's what it was) so he sent me over to get it ultrasounded to find out what it was. It turned out to be a lymph node. Enlarged, but otherwise normal looking. Nothing to be done about it, it's just irritated from the rads, probably, and all we can do is wait for it to settle down. Sigh. I said, I thought they took out the lymph nodes from my armpit? He said, not all of them. Interesting.

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  • Kathie100
    Kathie100 Member Posts: 108
    edited August 2013

    Thanks for the reply. I thought he would want to look at it also. But he didnt. I guess I will call him again next week and see what he thinks. Hopefully it's nothing.

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  • Catherine3
    Catherine3 Member Posts: 26
    edited August 2016

    I started noticing a lump under my arm, in my armpit basically after my third chemo. My dr felt it and said that he sees this happen all the time during chemo and after a surgery. I had some nodes out there and radiation. He says it's like a big blister and usually it goes away after chemo ends. I just finished chemo so I am anxiously awaiting to see if it dissolves on its own. I will keep you ladies posted. Now interestingly enough, this dr seems to have lots of experience and confidence in this wait and see idea while another dr I spoke with wanted me under surgery ASAP. Hard call on my part but going with my gut here. Keep you all posted

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  • Ivegotthis
    Ivegotthis Member Posts: 28
    edited August 2016

    I've developed a painful lump a couple of weeks after radiation ended. It grew and grew. I avoided laying on that side. RO said it was a seroma and told me to see my breast surgeon. It grew larger and now have another lump near lymph node surgical scar. Saw the breast surgeon. She said it's not a seroma. Is sending me to get a sonogram. Met with my MO, she doesn't know if it's a seroma or what. Also wrote a script for me to have a sono and aspiration if a seroma. I have a sono appointment on the 17th. I'm guessing it's scar tissue. The lump feels solid, not like it's a liquid in there. I can't even think about ever getting a mammo. I'd pass out from the pain. And I wonder how they would expect to find a cancerous tumor behind the thick lump. It's hard to believe that the RO didn't know scar tissue vs. seroma.

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  • Jennie93
    Jennie93 Member Posts: 1,018
    edited August 2016

    My RO didn't seem to know either, maybe they feel the same from the outside. The ultrasound should show what it is.



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  • rosselle
    rosselle Member Posts: 9
    edited August 2016

    h!! Did any of you get to know what that lump was? I just finished my 6th neoadjuvant chemo and now awaiting surgery. Before my 6th chemo, i felt my underarm becoming sore and then after a few days it hurt and soon i felt a hard lump there. Showed my MO and BS before i had my last chemo and they didn't show any concern, well i did! I'm worried right now and it's just days before my surgery. Btw, my tumor didn't shrink so much during neoadjuvant chemo, infact it grew a little. 😥

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  • Ivegotthis
    Ivegotthis Member Posts: 28
    edited August 2016

    Roselle, it was a seroma! It was aspirated immediately after my sono. 10 cc's of fluid was removed yet some remained and now I have another hard lump again but some more swelling under my arm. I feel sore under my arm and it aches to stretch or reach up over my head. I should be getting a mammo in November. If I still have the lump I'll have to get it aspirated before the appointment. The seroma was caused by radiation.im not sure what you may have. I wouldn't know and your doctors won't know with further testing. Keep telling them about it. They can't ignore you

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