katym
8 months agoMember
My ALND was a bust..
Hi everyone, this is my first time posting.
I discovered my lump in late May while breastfeeding my bub, and am now two weeks post surgery for hormone positive breast cancer. Not the clogged duct I had originally assumed it was. It’s been an awful shock, as I know everyone will understand.
So, I have just had a lumpectomy, a LICAP reconstruction on the boob, and level 2 axillary clearance.
I’m looking for advice from those who have had an axillary lymph node dissection.
I just had my post-op and it was a real mixed bag. Breast cancer out with clear margins (great) BUT seven nodes removed and … none cancerous.
While that sounds like great news the problem is that they had biopsied one suspicious node prior to surgery and it had come back positive. So it appears that this positive node was missed. I’m now headed for a second surgery.
I just had my post-op and it was a real mixed bag. Breast cancer out with clear margins (great) BUT seven nodes removed and … none cancerous.
While that sounds like great news the problem is that they had biopsied one suspicious node prior to surgery and it had come back positive. So it appears that this positive node was missed. I’m now headed for a second surgery.
My question is - for those of you who have undergone ALND- is it normal that they didn’t mark my positive node in any way so they knew where it was during the biopsy or prior to surgery?
The doctors are saying they will mark it for the second surgery with magseed and it seems completely ridiculous to me that this wasn’t done initially, when my breast tumor (which was palpable so very obvious) was marked during biopsy. It just seems very slap dash to presume you don’t need to mark as you’re taking everything out anyway.
I am wondering whether not marking or targeting when a clearance is planned is just normal procedure and I should just roll with this situation, or whether my hospital or perhaps the surgeon has not done something they probably should have ie mark the cancerous node.
I have an appointment on Friday with the surgeon, and I feel knowing others experiences prior to that conversation will give me some peace of mind, or perhaps the gumption to at least push for a second biopsy alongside the magseed. I want to be really sure this time that they are targeting and marking the right node before I go for another surgery.
Any shared experiences or thoughts from those who have walked this road ahead of me is appreciated. You are all so brave. This whole situation is very frightening.