recurrent lymph node enlargement 1 year after mastectomy

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Tinanicu
Tinanicu Member Posts: 103
edited August 2014 in Not Diagnosed With a Recurrence or Metastases but Concerned

Hi all,

   I'm wondering if any of you have any experience with this.

 I had microinvasive (stage 1) BC in my right breast. I had a double mastectomy in June 2013 with reconstruction. I also have the BRCA2 mutation. I am taking tamoxifen for 1 year now. My silicone implants were done Dec 2013. About 6 weeks ago, I had a dermatologist diagnose me with actinic kerotosis on both arms (precancerous skin lesions). She had me apply a chemo gel to treat them. My right armpit had a lymph node enlarge and was painful the day after I treated my arms.SHe said to watch it. It did go away fairly quickly. I figured that it was a normal reaction to the chemo. She said that most people do not react that way to that particular gel though.

Fast forward about 6 weeks....I have a recurrent enlargement in the same node but have not had any cuts or trauma to that arm. I had 6 sentinal nodes removed from the right at the time of mastectomy, and 3 on the left. All were negative.

   Is it possible that the node enlargement could be due to a recurrence? I am scheduled to see the oncologist in 3 weeks and have a total hysterectomy in 4 weeks due to my BRCA status.

Thanks in advance

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  • Tinanicu
    Tinanicu Member Posts: 103
    edited August 2014

    update: on day1 I had 1 enlarged node. On day 2 I had 2 nodes. On day 3 I had 3 nodes. What is up with this?

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  • Moderators
    Moderators Member Posts: 25,912
    edited August 2014

    Hi Tinanicu!

    We're sorry you didn't get any real answers to your questions yet. Anyway, it's good to know that you're going see your doctor soon, hopefully he'll know what to do with those nodes.

    Until then, and if you want, you can read more about node involvement in regional recurrence in the main Breastcancer.org site (just click on the link).

    Please let us know how the appointment goes.

    The Mods

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  • Tinanicu
    Tinanicu Member Posts: 103
    edited August 2014

    thank you!

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  • pajim
    pajim Member Posts: 2,785
    edited August 2014

    Hi Tinanicu, I'm not a doctor, and you might want to see yours, but the benign things it could be are (a) a blockage, (b) you have some kind of infection, or (c) you just have reactive nodes.  Since you're missing some lymph nodes on that side, it's certainly possible the others are working overtime.

    If they don't go away in a day or two, time to call the doctor.

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  • Tinanicu
    Tinanicu Member Posts: 103
    edited August 2014

    thank you. I have an appt for Tuesday. I did my already scheduled lab work today which includes a CBC, so maybe we will find out if it is an infection brewing. 

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