Swollen lymph node in neck & on hand should I panic?

Has anyone experienced pain in the hand or swollen lymph in the neck? I've been having pain for about two weeks. I can make a fist, but cannot flex my hand. There is a small lump on the top of my hand near my wrist. About a week ago I noticed a lump on the side of my neck that seems to swell and then it goes down. I went to see my Onc last week and she gave me an antibiotic, Cephalexin, but after 5 days there is no change. I go in for Herceptin on Friday and may be able to speak with the doc, but I'm super nervous and just wondering if anyone has experienced something similar.

[Lani]

Swollen lymph nodes can be a sign of an infection. DO you have a sore throat, runny nose, sinus infection, ear ache, infected tooth or gums. Are the lymph nodes on the same side as your breast cancer? Are no other lymph nodes enlarged anywhere else (including the other side of your neck)? Is the lymph node tender (usually with an infection, but not always)

Breast cancer virtually never metastasizes beyond the wrist or ankles. A firm(not stony hard) lump on the back of your wrist is a "ganglion cyst" until proven otherwise. Does it get bigger and or smaller. A "ganglion" is a hernia of the wrist joint, where the lining of the joint has a weak, thin part of its wall. When the joint is irritated it makes extra fluid and the extra fluid bulges out through the weak point in that joint lining wall.

In olden days people hit their ganglions with a Bible to burst them. Nowadays, when they need treatment (they often don't) they get aspirated (fluid drawn off from them) and injected. Rarely do they get operated on (and they can come back after surgery). The ratio of ganglions on the wrist to breast cancer mets of the wrist (even when only looking at the population of breast cancer patients) is probably about 10,000 to 1.

I am not an oncologist, but hope this information will put your mind at ease until you see someone.

Thank you so much for replying.
I do not have a sore throat, runny nose, sore gum or any other problem. The swelling is on the opposite side of my bc site. The swelling does not hurt, but does feel mushy. I don't think there are any other swollen lumps on my body.
The swelling does change in size on my neck, but the hand remains pretty much the same.

[Lani]

From what I understand if the lymph node in your necks gets smaller as well as bigger it would be very unlikely that it was a metastasis. It would most likely only get bigger. As makes sense, lymph nodes reacting to an infection might get bigger and smaller as the infection waxed and waneds. You might have an infected tooth without knowing it ie, infection not yet extensive enough to cause you symptoms and yet the body would sense it and try to deal with it.

Ganglions can stay the same size for long periods of time.

Hope your doctor checks you out soon so you can get some peace of mind.

Thank you so much for your comments. It is a relief to think it might be something besides a recurrence. I hope the antibiotic works. So far the pain and discomfort seem to worsen by the day.

[juanita]

Do you have a port? Or do they put the iv in your hand? Mine goes in my hand and I developed a lump after the one treatment. When I called they told me that it had infiltrated and built up there. It hurt to use my hand at all for about two weeks. The swollen lymph nodes could have something to do with that as well if maybe that's on the same side as the lump in your hand.