5 years post dcis diagnosis....any thoughts?

Hello, I used to post occasionally years back but forgot my previous sign-in info. Just looking for any thought or insights. Five years ago I had what was believed to be a prophylactic mastectomy on the right. More than a year before my right mastectomy, I had been diagnosed and treated for invasive, node negative tnbc. When I had my left mastectomy, scattered dcis was found. It was small, different grades. My closest margin on the skin side was 2 mm near a small area of dcis. My chest wall margins were good. At the time of the right mastectomy, I had tissue expanders placed. The reconstruction didn't work out for me. I left my expanders in too long (2 years) and managed to rupture my right expander because I couldn't stop feeling it all the time. I had severe capsular contracture on the left (had expander placed post radiation). My chest wall was in pretty rough condition (like ground meat) because I kept scraping the ruptured expander on the back and forth on the inside of my muscle. No cancer cells were found in any of the tissue samples biopsied when my expanders were removed. Drs. told me at the time of my expander removal that they would not do any reconstruction that involved a foreign body. I did not pursue any other reconstruction.

So now 3 years after my expanders are removed and 5 years after my right mastectomy, I felt something small (but not pea like) up front about an inch or so from my armpit. My radiation oncologist saw me today and she was able to feel it too, barely, and thought it might be a muscle irregularity. It was difficult to feel and doesn't have a real lumpy feel. She said it was subtle and small and said it felt like maybe a centimeter. She got me in for an ultrasound though. The ultrasound tech said she could feel something really tiny as well. She did the ultrasound. Then the dr. came in to check himself. He said he could see something, but couldn't tell what it was without looking at it in real time. So, after looking at it he says I have an enlarged lymph node and that it is 2 x 3 centimeters!! I think this is huge. They didn't check all my lymph nodes, but from the ultrasound they could see only one enlarged. I had no other masses visible on the ultrasound and no other palpable masses were detected.

I am pretty sure this must be bc again. As far as I can tell I have no palpable nodes under my arm and no other lumps. I am also pretty sure that the node is likely bigger from how much I pushed on it. I have a crease at my scar where the skin kind of folds over. It became irritated earlier this week, likely from sweating. I felt it so much that I scratched the skin and the entire area became really inflamed. Once I quit picking at it as much the redness went away as did all the irritation. But I still prod myself regularly. It is like I give myself a self exam at least 10 time a day. When I found the little ridge, I prodded it so much that my the time I saw the dr. it looked like I had a bulls eye over the area. So, I am pretty sure that I made the enlargement worse than it would have been otherwise, but I also don't think it could be just a reactive node. I had an enlarged reactive node with my left mastectomy that was negative for cancer, but I don't think I was able to feel it. I am worried that this is not a new cancer but something that has been growing for years. I did not have a snb with the right mastectomy. I had a path review and physical done at Penn at the time 5 years ago and no further treatment was recommended. I know breast cancer can do anything, but my impression was that since I do not have reconstruction that any recurrence or new cancer would be likely detectable through regular chest wall examinations. which I have.

The radiologist was noncommittal. He said it was abnormal because it is large but he couldn't tell what was making it enlarged. They are going to try to get me in asap next week for a needle biopsy and told me I need to quit touching the area. I have only felt it about three times since seeing the dr. but am going to be pretty nonfunctional until I get some answers.