Positive lymph nodes

I had mast. Jan.31, 20006 and she took 27 nodes and 24 of them were positive. I cannot seeem to let go of the cancer coming back. Now my shoulder blade on the same side is real sore but to scared to tell my Dr. Has anyone heard of it coming back to the shouldblade?

My daughter was told she had at least 20 positive lymph nodes but over a year later there is no obvious sign of a recurrence - praise God.

She had a masectomy and has Tamoxifen.

She has had no chemo and no radiation either. I would really like to think like the girls above a lot of positive nodes for cancer mean they soaked it up well and did there job! Hope that`s the case.

Whichever way it is nothing is clearly predictable.

Kathy

Hi cvmom,

I am 42 (soon to be 43) and was diagnosed with IDC, 4 cm tumour and 3 positive nodes in Oct 05. I was also er/pr+ and her-.

I am 10 months out of chemo and 6 months out of active treatment with the exception of hormonals and Zoladex injections to chemically shut down my ovaries.

It is all so overwhelming right now for you being in the very early stages of this journey, awaiting surgery, tests and more waiting. Once you have your surgery, get your pathology report (usually 1 week after surgery) and have a plan of attack you will feel a little more at ease knowing that you are doing something to kick cancer in the butt!

The worrying, fear, anxiety,anger tears and anticipation of what lies ahead in this journey is the worst part and very NORMAL.

Being er/pr+ are good as hormonal theraphy is available to you once active treatment is finished--surgery, chemo and/or radiation.

It is a long physically and emotionally exhausting journey but you will be surprised at how much of a fighting spirit you have when you have to do it.

This time last year I was bald, exhausted from treatment and this year I have dark, curly, curly hair --am happy, healthy and NED (no evidence of cancer) in my first followup checkups last month. I am proof that you can come out the other side of breast cancer and live your life beyond this disease.

Big hugs from another bc sister.
Michele

I was dx'd in February at age 43. 3 nodes out of 25 positive, ER/PR+++. My onc told me that with chemo, rads, and Tamoxifen, and possibly Lupron, I have an excellent chance of survival and should plan to be a crazy old cat lady.

Hi Liz,

I also had grade one turmor with half my lymphs positive. Will start dose dense chemo this coming Wednesday. Your's is a good question. I will ask my Oncologist if there is any theories about that.

They really have no good way of knowing if it spread. Susan Love said 30% of people with negative nodes have had it spread and 30% with positive nodes have not. It could spread through the blood vessels and bypass the nodes. Unfortunately they have not created a test to find out whether or not it has spread so this is their very gross estimate which they can only perform after extensive surgery on us.

I was diagnosed in Oct with idc,stage 2a,one node positive and this has driven me crazy also. But you have to think, they say a tumor has been growing for eight to ten years before it is detected. Mine was at least 1.4 cm so ya figure if it was going to spread, it would have already done so.Also, if it is in the lymph nodes, they are doing their job by cleaning up. Weird way to look at it, I guess.

Hi,

This is my first time on the site, but it has been very comforting to read the comments. I had 10 nodes removed that were positive. 8 were microscopic.

That was 8 months ago, and I have had several clean scans. It is difficult not to worry, but I really try to be positive and spend time with my neices and nephews and beautiful weiner dogs, which all make me very happy!

God Bless all of us!

CrazyGracie

Hello Roxi,



I see you are new here, and just want to take a moment to respond. You've come to a good place for support; most of us here have some form of breast disease, from new lump to high risk to DCIS to invasive cancer.



There's a saying here I learned. Prepare for the worst, but hope for the best. There's a lot in those eight words I've come to understand. No one wants chemotherapy for instance, yet it has offered life for most of us with invasive breast cancer. A decade or so ago, Herceptin was breaking ground, and now HER+ disease is found to respond so well to it, and recurrence to be cut by almost half.



So, my hope for you is that you do not despair. Breast cancer is a very treatable cancer nowadays. I came to hear just this past week at a breast cancer talk, that most breast cancer diagnosed after 2007 will survive their diagnosis. I don't have a statistical reference for those words, but the source was major university hospital breast cancer research/clinician based, and no fellow cancer specialists corrected the statement. That sent shivers up my spine, since it so reflects all the true determination of patients and researchers and clinicians alike over the past decades to make headway on breast cancer.



I hope you'll post more should you wish. The circumstances are difficult, but we welcome you to breastcancer.org discussion forum. Lots of great information on the sites main page. And we're here 24/7.



Take care, Roxi.

Tender

The path report after my mastectomy said one out of 4 nodes was positive. After my mastectomy and prior to starting chemo, a couple of nodes showed up on the CAT scan. So they thought that before starting chemo I should have another surgery to go after more lymph nodes. 6 out of 12 were positive that time. I had thought that the lymph node excision would be easier to go through than the mastectomy, but it wasn’t, because I had an infection after it, so that delayed chemo by a month or so.

I don’t know how many lymph nodes I have left in that area. I think I read that different people have different numbers of nodes to begin with, and also that the surgeons don’t always know how many nodes are in the excised tissue at the time it is removed. If anyone has any more info on that, that would be great.

It is hard not to think about recurrence at first, in the midst of the numbercrunching atmosphere of the path report, but it gets easier with time and as we get stronger. I try not to think about it, but of course I do, especially when checkup time is approaching

I think I am lucky to have made it this far with NED. Since I finished radiation almost 3 years ago, I've had periodic odd sensations under my armpit. One feeling comes and goes and later a different feeling comes and goes. I had mentioned this to the onc, but all my scans after radiation came back clear, so I guess I just have to live with these occasional sensations, until the next tests, or until there is some pronounced change.

Cp418, I too blamed myself for not catching it sooner. (Though nothing had shown up on the mammogram 9 months earlier, I should have noticed the lump sooner.) The onc said the same thing you did: that there is no point in looking back now, but to move on with life. He is a very spiritual person and this outlook reinforces the benefits of viewing the future positively. It has been sort of a new way of thinking for me anyhow. Funny how the bc experience helps move us along on our thinking. Take care,

Sue

I was someone who had Chemo first, with at least four pos nodes, and a complete reponse, not one cancer cell left, so for those of you that had chemo after, you must remember that chemo can kill the cancer cells!!!  If its killed it in the nodes and breast, its likely to have killed any rogue cells is my understanding.  Also surgery works, so even if you do not have a complete response, surgery can remove it all.  Pretty good odds if you ask me, i have to remind myself of that constantly though LOL.

Hi there:

  I had a 7.5 cm tumor, 2 positive nodes with extracapsular extension, ER/PR+, grade 3, Her-.

It will be 5 years since I was dx (March 29,2004) and I am still NED. I did not have neo-adjuvant chemo. In fact, my tumor was taken out in two pieces because my first surgery was supposed to be the removal of a cyst since my mammo and ultrasound were normal. So the surgeon and me were shocked when it turned out to be cancer!

Anyways, I had a mastectomy, lymph nodes removed, AC/T chemo, 30 rad treatments, tamoxifen for a year then a hysterectomy and oophorectemy and am now on aromasin. I am tired and I do get every virus it seems... I have gained alot of weight in my gut which I have trouble getting off... I do tend not to feel well most of the time... malaise, achy, sinus, and  a lack of vigour or energy. But I AM CANCER FREE.... for what that is worth.

I do not know why I just vented. I just wanted to let you know that there is hope. Positive nodes are not the "best" predictor of recurrance.

And, I do believe at my next follow-up in May I will be able to stop the aromasin and I do think alot of my aches and pains will leave me then. So I have hope to that I will feel much better soon.

Hang in there....

Wendy A 

Oh, my goodness...I found this thread at just the right time for me;)

I had a relatively small tumor removed in one breast...it was 2.1 cm...as my surgeon put it "not impressive!" LOL.

BUT, I had 15/17 positive nodes removed, too. And I have been emotionally wrecked about it ever since.

This thread has given me the info and experience of others that I needed to find peace with that node number.

Thank you, everyone

Welcome Dogsaver to the board....

I was reading your post and you mentioned your mother was diagnosed with BC but passed of ovarian cancer.

Have you had the gene test done? BRCA 1&2...that is something I would bring up with your onc...if you tested + your treatment may change a bit.I only suggest this due to your family history and age.

Be well

THX lexi, i am going to go ahead and do 4 rounds of TC. Onc says this will be suffice to get anything that may have spread and help with recurrence. I was really afraid of chemo at first but the onc explained that chemo today is diff than the chemo i saw 20 yrs ago with my mom. And its better to get it now than later and if it means a few months of side effects, i would not always have to wonder what if. thx all! and i hope you have an easy summer