Scared-Lymph nodes positive after neoadjuvant chemo

Amocon - Sorry for your situation. When you get a chance, please go to My Profile and post your diagnosis and treatment plans. That would help us respond.

Are you ER/PR+? I was ER/PR negative. I'm assuming you're not HER2+? But my HER2+ didn't show until they removed the lymph nodes. You probably don't have the HER2 reports back yet. I did 6 rounds of neo-adjuvant chemo and didn't have a pCR (complete response), so after surgery I did 4 rounds of a different chemo and then Herceptin for the rest of a year while doing rads at the same time. I am NED now and have been for 2-1/2 years. Hopefully you'll meet with the doc soon and have a plan. It really does get easier when you have a plan.

Hi and welcome Amoconn. I had 14 positive nodes, it is not a good thing, but also not the end of the world. I was 44 at the time, and that was 8 years ago. Once you get a plan and know what is happening, things do get easier. Best wishes.

I am almost done with neoadjuvant chemo. Before chemo multiple scans confirmed one node involved, but now I am kind of worried there will be more than one node positive after surgery.

Hi Amocon,

I am 45. Here I am! Similar situation..

Diagnosed at 40 and treated with neoadjunct - supposedly no nodes although kicking myself for not doing biopsy before treatment when they suspected nodes and only let them biopsy tumors. Recurrence - regional(?) axillary nodes 3 1/2 yrs later - though was probably camped out there almost all along despite Tamoxifin 10/14 nodes (yikes). Did surgery, ooph, Rads before chemo (ACT first time, this time 4 rounds of Taxotere and cold capping) because surgeon thinks it was contained she jumped in with Onc discussion and suggested rads first. I am a year down the road and just cleared an ultrasound and CT scan though I combed through odd notes on CT scan and worry about anomalies now. I take Arimidex. Have you hit menopause yet? I'm hoping we are both ok as once the estrogen shuts down, it should shut down most if not all remaining cancer that is probably lurking somewhere but hopefully will never grow again! Check out there are threads for multiple node survivors and 5 & 10 yr stage 3 survivors which will make you feel TONS better. Private message me if you need to. I had a very encouraging note from a lady who is 5 years in front of me and told me to hang in there. She had a lot of nodes and it got stopped in it's tracks too. Every year they get better at treating this.

I went through a similar experience; my tumor had 'palpably' disappeared - only I did not have a PCR on anything. No nodes showed up on mammo or US prior to surgery, but I still had 5 positive post surgery (all microinvasion but one). Going back in for surgery is something I thought about, but dismissed quickly. So did my tumor board. I had and ALND, so I (and they) didn't think it was worth it and am counting on the hormone therapy, radiation, and I've also enrolled in the PALLAS trial. I'm not that far out, but I am doing well; I paid for a CTC test from Biocept (test for detection of circulating tumor cells) and it was negative, so that along with a post surgery PET scan calmed my worries a bit. The worries are still not gone, but I feel much better about my decision after the blood test.

I want to be as aggressive as possible, too; if I had your situation, I would probably push for a few more nodes out. But, I am also struggling with sub-clinical lymphedema (which isn't that bad, but I do have to wear my sleeve almost all the time, and it does become slightly painful at times). I definitely do not want full blown lymphedema.

Good luck, and let us know what you decide.