+ nodes in both axilla/armpits?

Anonymous · November 2013

Anonymous · November 2013

Hi, I've never come across someone with positive nodes in both armpits and have been told by my onc and surgeon this is a regional recurrence making it stage 3. 2nd opinion doc says 4 because in both armpits and could be traveling. HELP! really need to talk to someone. V

peacestrength · November 2013

V - I have not experienced this myself. Have you had a PET scan?

Anonymous · November 2013

Yup, Pet is clear other than as mentioned above.

jennyboog · November 2013

That is crazy V....I have never heard of this. Hope you find someone here that has, be sure to post in different forums. Wishing you all the best & sending you hugs.

Kathleen26 · November 2013

You may have an occult (unseen) breast cancer in the opposite side. Have you had a BMX? Have they done an MRI on that side?

Anonymous · November 2013

bmx coming as soon as chemo is done. many mris - nothing seen on either side/breast.

Elizabeth1959 · November 2013

I think occult lesion makes more sense than mets. I'm sorry you're going through this. How were nodes found?

peacestrength · November 2013

Elizabeth 1959 - I agree.

V - Much love to you. How do they know it's bc on left side? Biopsy? Light up on PET?

Denise-G · November 2013

Gosh, I have heard from hundreds of women through my blog and have

never heard of this nor knew of the possibility. I pray someone on these

boards will have some answers for you. I am very sorry you have to go

through this. Unfortunately, you are educating all of us.

Anonymous · November 2013

PET scan confirmed nodes in both axilla and supraclavicular nodes and no where else - not in breasts. My onc thinks possibly new primary and possibly recurrence with occult tumor or more likely simply but sadly a regional spread that is beyond a local spread but not metastatic spread.

hopefour · November 2013

HVV, I hope you will let us claim you as a stage III sister!! We love to support, encourage and cheer each other on here and we'd like to be there for you with such a difficult DX. It would seem being diagnosed with cancer would be difficult enough, but that your BC presents itself with in such a difficult way makes it all the more lonely, frightening and hard to mentally get your head around!! Thank you for helping us understand what you are dealing with!

lintrollerderby · November 2013

Please forgive my posting on the Stage III board, but I saw this in Active Topics and it intrigued me. I recently had internal mammary nodes light up on the opposite side of my previous cancer and dove right into researching it. The docs have put off investigating it further because they think for me, it's reactive to something other than cancer. I research things like crazy, so when I was first faced with something sorta similar, I found some info. HVV, did you have lymph nodes removed previously? If so, I've found research that states that when there's a disruption to the lymph pathways, in a small number of women, a local recurrence will spread to the contralateral axillary lymph nodes because of this altered lymph drainage. I don't know if this applies to you, but thought I'd offer it up. Best of luck to you!

lintrollerderby · November 2013

Incase you're interested, here is a link I found awhile back while looking up contralateral internal mammary node involvement.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21319520

Anonymous · November 2013

Hopefour: Thank you! I'm in.

Lintrollerderby: That is very helpful. Please send me any of that info you found!

lintrollerderby · November 2013

HVV,

I apologize. I thought I favorited this topic, but I guess I didn't. I just saw your response. Here are some links, but there are quite a few more out there. Best of luck!

Page 15 of this link addresses it, but describes it as a distant recurrence, instead of regional.

http://www.cdc.gov/cancer/npcr/training/nets/module9/nets9_3.pdf

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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/17319857/

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http://books.google.com/books?id=Fi8IIddPUkIC&pg=PT108&dq=contralateral+axillary+metastasis&hl=en&sa=X&ei=59aQUpSVG4zxrAHMwYCYDw&ved=0CDsQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=contralateral%20axillary%20metastasis&f=false

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http://annonc.oxfordjournals.org/content/18/9/1579.full

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http://www.cos.org.tw/DB/Jour/1/20111031/6.pdf

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http://meetinglibrary.asco.org/content/102977-125