cancer in nodes.

Thank you all so much for taking the time to respond... I was having a little freak out.... I think it’s because things are changing so fast, I get my head around one thing then the next appointment all is different. I feel I have it more rationally sorted in my head now so thank you xxxx

It's a fairly common story, unfortunately.  I was diagnosed with ILC, 2.5cm and no node involvement and treatment was to be a wide excision followed by rads and hormone therapy.  Path report back after surgery - 4.5cm with no clear margin and 3 nodes involved so a mastecomy and axillary dissection then chemo and rads + Letrozole.  Chemo is no fun but it is doable for most of us - some fortunates, like @afraser, sail through with little issue.  Radiation is barely a blip in the radar for many - a nuisance to go in every day and some local pain if the skin breaks down.

@iserbrown, you're awesome 

Like @kezmusc, I knew it was in the nodes from the start - that was my only symptom. I had chemo first, then lumpectomy & axillary clearance , with a re-excision to get clear margins. Radiotherapy finished the trifecta of active treatment.

None of it's fun, but it's doable. Keep a journal of symptoms/ side effects to discuss with your team at each appointment. Then, if they need to, they can change or add whatever medications you need for symptom control
Take care

Hi @Mic80,

There's nothing worse than a change of plan.  It takes enough to get your head around this thing in the first place.

 My story is slightly different as I knew it was in the nodes to begin with.  That's where I found the lump originally.  The breast tumour was incredibly hard to find but find it we did.

The short version is I didn't want a mastectomy so went with lumpectomy and axillary clearance . Back for re excision for better margins the next week. There ended up being 5 out of 24 involved and the cancer had started to break out of the lymph nodes in to the surrounding tissue.  I had 6 months chemo and 30 rounds of radiation.

Like we all are at the beginning I was petrified also. The fear of the unknown and having your life turned upside down for what seems like an eternity at the beginning is something that is hard to describe
.
 Surprisingly once the ball gets rolling the time moves rather fast and before you know it you're done.

While chemo is no walk in the park it's definitely nowhere near the horror story our brains like to conjure up at the beginning.  I got through quite ok worked, kept my hair with the cold cap, did all my usual things for most of it and had a lot of fun times along the way.  Radiation was pretty straight forward and I had minimal issues. Just a pain in the butt driving there everyday :)

You'll be ok. Promise.  Keep talking on here if you wish.  Nobody else understands like someone that's been there.

All the best lovely.
xoxoxoxo

@Mic80 
It's probably more daunting than anything else as it is so foreign to your everyday, language and specialists and terminology we didn't have any need nor understanding of previously.  The BCNA website itself is a wealth of information and I will put a couple of links here for you to explore and hopefully get a better understanding and maybe formulate questions for your team or even answer some of your questions.

Take care and best wishes and yes keep off google!

https://www.bcna.org.au/understanding-breast-cancer/treatment/surgery

https://www.bcna.org.au/understanding-breast-cancer/

https://www.bcna.org.au/understanding-breast-cancer/types-of-breast-cancer/

https://www.bcna.org.au/resource/fact-sheet-breast-cancer-pathology/

I had only one node malignant but a quite developed tumour, so a mastectomy, chemo and herceptin but no radiation. A mastectomy is quite straightforward and in most cases not painful. Removing underarm nodes can upset nerves and can take more time to settle down. I opted for no reconstruction but there is a special group on this site who will be able to give you lots of advice. Like @Glemmis I found chemo tolerable and worked through it. It helps to take things in small steps, one thing at a time, otherwise it's easy to be overwhelmed. Trust your team, get as much support as you can, don't Google (almost never helps) and best wishes.

It is very overwhelming but it takes time to get the full picture. They told me it was early & talked me out of a mastectomy & then I had to have one anyway.  I think this is quite common so you have to be guided by them. Take care xx

@Glemmis thank you for sharing your story. I’m finding all the changing of plans so overwhelming and frightening at the moment. I guess I just need to trust in the professionals and that they are doing what will provide me with the best outcome. X

Hi Mic80, sorry this has happened to you. I had a similar diagnosis back in 2016. I was advised to have lumpectomy & sentinel node biopsy which came back positive so then had mastectomy & axillary clearance with a further 2 nodes positive, then chemo & radiation. The only real way to tell if the nodes have cancer is through a biopsy. 5 weeks ago I had a mastectomy on the other side with double DIEP and am very happy with results. It is very hard in the beginning with all the unknowns but you have a plan now & can move forward. If you decide to have recon in the future this can be done about 6 months after finishing radiotherapy.  I was petrified of chemo but it wasn’t as bad as I imagined & worked all the way through with only 2 days off. Everybody reacts differently. I hope you have lots of support to help you through it. Let us know how you go xx