Painful swollen lymph node 2 weeks after mastectomy

I had BMX with TE on February 28th. I'm healing very well: had my drains out on day 6, had both plastic and surgeon follow up, both said my incisions look great, and plastic was going to start the fills today (I already have 200 CCs on each side, at surgery).

My armpits were tender since surgery but gradually got better, and yesterday I was comfortable enough to rub them a little bit in the shower. Imagine my shock when I noticed a painful swollen node in my right armpit - cancer side!

I also have a little bit of skin infection on my right forearm. I mentioned both - the painful node and the infection - to my oncologist today. She examined me and said that lymph node is just doing its job - fighting infection. She did tell me to follow up with her if this doesn't get better by next week.

I'm trying not to freak out, but I'm thinking - can mastectomy and expanders themselves cause lymph nodes in the armpit to become inflamed? It feels like I've had something swollen in both armpits since the surgery. I also feel a little swollen something on the left, but it's not as bad as on the right. Of course, throw in a little bit of skin infection, and my oncologist's explanation seems logical.

Anybody with lymph node swelling right after mastectomy?

Also, I had 4 nodes taken on the right side and all came back negative for cancer. I had neoadjuvant chemo, and my oncologist told me I had a "fenomenal" response - less than 3mm of cancer left after starting with 2.8 cm tumor. She said it was great response for someone highly hormone positive (I was ER/PR+ at 80% on biopsy and 95% in the remaining cells).

Thank you, beach2beach, for replying.

I can very much relate to the "purses in my armpits" feeling. It was awful first week, and is getting better, but it's still there.

I'm not worried about this feeling of fullness or the fact that my armpits are tender. But the fact that I can feel a lymph node there is what's bothering me. I realized it's not that big, probably the size of a small pea, but is very tender.

Hi FarAwayToo

Thanks for your update. I had a lumpectomy and have at least one swollen lymph node (surgeon suspects that's what it is) in my armpit. I will have an ultrasound in a couple of weeks to identify what it is. Surgeon wants to wait several weeks to see if it gets smaller. It's hard not to worry though.