HI LBre,

A very warm welcome to our forum.

I am sorry to hear about your confusion. I must stress that I am not a doctor, but someone who has had 2 bouts of breast cancer myself. It sounds as if your mum has had a single mastectomy in July, when her left breast was removed. The tissue that was removed at this time, is always sent for analysis and it seems that this showed  there were some lymph nodes involved. The surgery that she had in October would have been to remove the affected lymph nodes. The surgeon considers that all of the cancerous tissue - both breast and lymph nodes have been removed,

I am conjecturing here that, when your mum saw the Oncologist in November, the Oncologist still wanted her to have chemo and radiation, to make absolutely sure that none of the remaining nodes were affected. If the surgeon thought that the cancer had spread, your mum would most likely have been given further tests to identify where the cancer had spread to. As she's not had any tests, I suspect that her surgeon feels that her cancer hasn't spread beyond the lymph nodes. It is only when the cancer has spread to other organs in the body that cancer is described as secondary.

I don't know how many lymph nodes were removed, but it is normal practice to use chemo if the nodes are affected, even if they've been removed. As I understand it, this is the best way to stop any growth and prevent spread.

Has your mum been allocated a specialist breast care nurse? She might find it helpful to talk to her about her confusion in this matter, as I'm sure that she could clarify things for her.

Please keep in touch and let us know how your mum gets on. We are always here for both of you.

Kind regards,

Jolamine xx

Thank you for your quick response, 

Unfortunately yes a full body scan and bloodwork is being carried out this week.

It seems as though the letters suggest to go through Oncology or in this case can you still use breast care team?

With the nodes do they know where they took them from to confirm where the spread is travelling? No one actually clarifies whether the positive nodes were further up that nearer the breast area.

Apologies we are trying to connect a various of dots at the moment. Unfortunately it's not been the best journey and PALS were involved.

Thank you for responding xx

Thank you so much for your help,, I really appreciate the information i know which direction I can go in now. 

I hope you are well now from your last journey. I really appreciate you taking the time out to help others.

Kind Regards 

Lisa x

Hello and thanks for posting

I'm sorry to read about your mum's breast cancer diagnosis.

When the breast care team say the cancer has been removed they mean that the breast tumour itself has been surgically removed during the mastectomy. For them, their part of the treatment is complete.

However, this doesn't mean that all cancer cells have been eliminated. As your mum's lymph nodes were positive it means that cancer cells  have spread to these nodes. This is known as local spread and it is not secondary cancer.  

Chemotherapy after surgery is called adjuvant therapy. The oncologist will recommend this treatment if they think that there is a risk that cancer cells have escaped during surgery or spread to nearby lymph nodes. The aim is to reduce the risk of the cancer coming back. Radiotherapy is usually given  after mastectomy when the cancer has spread to the lymph nodes or is bigger than 5cm. The aim is also to lower the risk of the cancer coming back.

If your mum has a specialist breast nurse involved in her care then perhaps they can discuss this further with you both. You often have to call and leave them a message and they will get back to you.  

I hope this is of some use. Give us a ring if you would like to talk things over. The number to call is Freephone 0808 800 4040 and the lines are open from 9am till 5pm Monday to Friday.

Best wishes,

Celene