Question about nodes

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2timer
2timer Member Posts: 590
edited June 2014 in IDC (Invasive Ductal Carcinoma)


I have a question about positive nodes. Two months ago when I had my bmx, they took 6 sentinel nodes from my left breast (where the cancer was) and 3 from right. They all tested negative so no ALD. After the surgery the pathology showed that there was a node inside my breast (I think) that had 2.5 mm of cancer. The BS decided against any further node removal.


My question is this: does it make a difference *where* in the nodes the cancer is found? I asked my BS and MO and they didn't indicate it would make a difference, a positive node is a positive node. But it seemed strange that 6 sentinel nodes were clear yet a node in the breast was not. I'm not really too worried about this but I was disappointed to find out that I did indeed have positive node(s) since it would have made me a 1a instead of a 2a but bc is a crapshoot anyway.

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  • Annie54
    Annie54 Member Posts: 247
    edited October 2013


    2timer,


    For what its worth, my MO told me in the beginning before my surgery - that even if I had a positive node it wouldn't make that much of a difference in my diagnosis. Fortunately, the nodes that were tested were negative for cancer but due to what he said, I wasn't as worried about it. I'm thinking with the treatments available, they can knock out the positive nodes - but even with negative nodes, bc can spread through the blood system so chemo is often necessary for this reason.


    Annie

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  • LizzyinMI
    LizzyinMI Member Posts: 43
    edited October 2013


    Annie - "For what it's worth" - that was my mother's favorite expression. :)


    Anyway, for what it's worth, I had one node test positive during my biopsy. I did chemo first and then had surgery just 3 weeks ago. The node that was positive in the biopsy also happened to be a sentinel node and it came back negative for cancer in my path report. So, yes, treatment can knock out the positive nodes.

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