Lymph node status

That's good that you don't need more surgery @Sydney

I had 6 lymph node removed when i had the mastectomy those lymph node shows blue on the sentinel. On the initial test its all negative but further test shows 1 lymph node has cancer but very small. My doctor said I don’t need to have another surger.

Lymph node transplant is a thing! Still early stages yet and results are pretty variable. Of course current treatment uses lymph nodes from elsewhere in the body not the ones removed in an axillary clearance, but if it improves, who knows? So far, it seems only worth considering if you have considerable swelling/pain/difficulty of movement - looong procedure, costly and not guaranteed - but worth watching. 

Thanks  @Brenda5.  It's a shame that so many people have to lose lymph nodes which are perfectly ok. If only the surgeons could put them back when they find out they're clear!

My blood tests never showed cancer. Ultrasound on lymph nodes showed no involvement. After mastectomy and sentinel node was tested, it showed positive so a full clearance of all nodes was done but none of them showed positive.

Thanks @Irb_03. I’m into my second cycle of chemo and so far having no problems. Much milder than I thought. I have four cycles all up, finishing in December. Maybe it gets worse as time goes on? In some ways, I would have preferred to have op first, just to have the cancer cut out. It would have been easier to deal with psychologically, I think, but doctors know best of course. (Chemo first seemed to work well for you.)  Thanks for your reply.

I was told my nodes were clear but after surgery my  sentinel node came back positive so I had a second operation to remove 9 nodes and there were are clear. It is difficult sometimes with MRI I told at the beginning no nodes and no chemotherapy now I am undergoing chemotherapy

Hi @Lane, my only symptom was discomfort under my arm, which led to me finding a small lump there. GP sent me for mammogram,  USS +/- FNA if indicated. This all located my tumour - core biopsies, and suspicious nodes - FNA of one indicated node positive.  I, too had neoadjuvant chemo, then lumpectomy, node clearance, followed by radiotherapy. 4 years ago, I had just finished chemo. 
Hope you're going ok with chemo

Thanks, Primek. Was your MRI accurate at detecting your lymph node status? i. e. Were the number of affected nodes, as shown in MRI,  similar to what was discovered during surgery?

They had a good feel of mine beforehand and I had a mri beforehand to see if needing more than a sentinel node on one side (as had both breasts off )