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Lymph node involvement pre vs post surgery

JenStatistic
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Hi everyone

i am stage 3 breast cancer, HER2 and hormone positive and have had chemo/targeted, with some residual cancer remaining. I have been told by my medical team that I am lymph node negative, however this is purely from scans. I am due to have my mastectomy soon and I have been told by my breast care nurse that there is still a chance I will be lymph node positive when they are removed and checked under a microscope. Im just wondering if any ladies out there have been lymph node negative pre op, and positive post op? Im getting very worried about what I will wake up to post surgery and would appreciate hearing others’ experience  ️xxx

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    Hi JenStatistic

    I had an ultrasound pre-op and was told there was no spread to lymph nodes, I was also worried that they would find cancer when operated on but I came across a study on the effectiveness of ultrasounds in determining lymph node involvement which showed ultrasounds were very accurate. In my case, it turned out that the radiographer was correct and that cancer hadn't spread to my lymph nodes. I guess the breast nurse is just trying to prepare you for worse-case scenarios but I would put my faith in the experts.

    Fingers crossed all goes well for you, x

     

  • Offline in reply to Magpiemaggie

    Aw that's great news thanks so much for your response, it's definitely made me feel much better. I guess you're right that there will be the odd case but hopefully not common. Also I'm thinking it means if they had missed it it would only be one or two involved and not a lot .... fingers crossed!

    thanks again x

  • Offline in reply to JenStatistic

    Hi again

    I did a quick search on the forum as I remember others asking about lymph node involvement. I only came across one that was told ultrasound showed no involvement but post-op pathology showed micrometastes, however, the treatment plan did not change.

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