Sentinel node injection

Artferret

I'm due to have the sentinel node radioactive substance injection on Tuesday in preparation for surgery the next day. Can anyone tell me how long it takes?

primek

About an hour or a bit longer. The injecting takes no time really, it's just travelling through the nodes that take time. 

Hopes_and_Dreams

I had 3 injections into my tumour and spent about an hour massaging my breast to help disperse the dye.  Just a tiny sting, absolutely nothing to worry about.  The actual scan took around 10-15 minutes.  I was marked with exes all over my chest and underarm but this doesn't mean there is anything to worry about. They just note the nodes the tumour is likely to drain into.
I had 2 sentinel nodes and another "guard" node removed and all were clear.  Good luck xx

Artferret

Thanks ladies!

Barney74

Im having that aswell  the morning of my surgery .i to was wondering bout this.

socoda

Hi @Artferret, mine took approximately two hours but that was due to the scan machine I was supposed to go to broke down and I was swapped to a suburb 1\2 hr drive away - which was no big deal and I was incredibly grateful I could still have it done. The Dr also had to travel the 1\2 hour and the actual injection would have lasted less than a minute. I had 4 areas injected and then only had to massage 10 minutes. The process feels like someone is giving you a nipple cripple. 
I found the whole process absolutely fascinating. Had the full body bone scan at the same time and I had a good laugh when I looked at those results because I had my arms above my head and it looked like my skeleton was yelling out WOOHOOOOOO!!! All the best. Xx Cath

melclarity

Hmmm  I had 6 injections around the nipple, is that the same one? yeah can't say it was an 'ok' experience for me, and I did think it odd when the technician said I could swear whatever I wanted. Im thinking huh? what? aaaah thank goodness it's relatively quick. You'll be absolutely fine! xx M

gurneys

Mine took a while. The injections themselves were quick but it took a while for the stuff to disperse through. Spent ages there massaging my boob trying to get it to where it needed to be. I was in there for well over an hour. Perhaps closer to two. I was late to surgery as a result.

Glemmis

Mine took a while as well as first lot of massaging didn't disperse the dye so they had to stop the scan & start massaging again. I was also wondering whether the massaging was spreading the cells . 

Barney74

I had mine this morning and it took a while for it to go thru aswell.