Bilateral Mastectomy with Lymphgland removal

Nina27 · June 2016

Hello Members,

I am currently on Herceptin and weekly Taxol.

I have stage 3C breast cancer with skin involvement in my left side and underlying skin involvement in my right side. Positive lymphnodes in left and reactive in right.

They are hoping to shrink everything with chemo before surgery, I am just wondering when I have the bilateral and lymphnode removal... how will they test my blood pressure or take blood in the future? How does this effect my chances of reconstruction?

Thank you

Kind Regards.

x

BarredOwl · June 2016

Hi Nina27:

Here is a thread where dragonsnake recently asked the question about blood draws and blood pressure:

https://community.breastcancer.org/forum/64/topics/845231?page=1#post_4738101

While sentinel node biopsy carries a relatively low risk of lymphedema (and that is a life-long risk), more extensive axillary lymph node dissection (e.g., removing many nodes) carries a greater risk. Regional lymph node irradiation is another risk factor for lymphedema.

Radiation is probably more of a concern for reconstruction than lymph node surgery, but please discuss the potential impacts of both of these procedures with your breast surgeon, plastic surgeon, and radiation oncologist to ensure you receive accurate case-specific expert professional advice.

For more information about lymphedema, risk reduction and self-care, see these sites:

http://www.stepup-speakout.org

http://www.lymphnet.org/le-faqs/nln-position-papers

BarredOwl

Bilateral Mastectomy with Lymphgland removal

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