My story. And some questions. :)

Hi ladies! I haven't been on here in a long time, but need to update and also ask some questions.

First a little history. In 2012, at 38 I was diagnosed with triple neg b. cancer. Went through chemo, had a dbl mast with recon and moved on with my life. Exactly one year...to the day.....of my mastectomy, I was rediagnosed with it again in my subclavian lymph nodes. The first time I felt the lump, when I went to my breast surgeon, she said, "Why cant you just go home and enjoy being cancer free? I know you say you feel something but I dont and I say you're fine". I went back the folllowing week because I KNEW something wasnt right. Guess what. Started chemo July 24.

I did lots and lots of chemo. But kept my hair! And kept working! Ive been on chemo for.....gosh....16 months now and still trucking. However, 16 months ago, when I was rediagnosed, that same breast surgeon told me that I was not a candidate for surgery because some of the affected lymph nodes were on my carotid. Well....I found an awesome surgeon. Like crazy awesome. He even does heart surgeries on newborn babies. He told me that he COULD do the surgery, and he did. I was lucky, the chemo had killed all of the cancer cells, everything he removed was dead.

A couple of months later, I had a PET scan. Shoot. We missed 2 lymph nodes that didnt show up before. TWO!!! Went back to the first breast surgeon (why did I do that) and she said she didnt believe the scan because it didnt look like cancer, and she didnt think I needed surgery. My poor oncologist was at a loss and didnt know what to do. But I did. I went back to the amazing surgeon. And...had surgery 2 weeks ago. I go back to work tomorrow. The breast surgeon? Yeah. She's fired.

These 2 lymph nodes that were still cancerous...somehow they were missed before. However, all of my margins are clean now. Im hoping for a few more rounds of chemo and then a BREAK. This surgeon...he had to go in my right armpit....all the way under my implant...to get them. Heres where my question comes in...I have swelling and fluid in my arm pit. I am not sure what to do about that? Can you ladies tell me anything about this? It hurts! Not horrible, but it definitely hurts.

I know Im rambling a bit here. Please forgive me. Im looking for answers but...I also want you ladies to know...there are AMAZING surgeons out there. They dont have to be breast surgeons. If you are told you cant have surgery, sometimes it just takes finding the right surgeon. I read stories on this site of women like me, who were so afraid. Because we were told chemo better work or???? The surgeon who saved my life is a cardiologist/thoracic surgeon. There is always hope.

Any info or help with my fluid question will be greatly appreciated. Thank you for looking past my rambling. My journey has been going on for 3 years, sometimes theres so much in me that I need to say it comes out jumbled.

Robyn