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Patty,
It used to be that a mastectomy included a level 3 axillary dissection, which means that all of the nodes are removed. Lymph nodes are not hard to find, but the surgery for them is not terribly specific - it generally involves excising a wedge of fat from under the arm. You would most likely have a second incision and be rather sore from it.
A sentinel node biopsy involves using either a radioactive tracer or a dye to see which node is the first site of drainage from the breast, then removing only that node and testing it for cancer. The thought is if there is no cancer in the first node, the rest are most likely cancer free and do not require excision. Did you have this procedure last fall? Doctors sometimes remove 2 or three nodes instead of just one with that test.
As to why you did not have nodes removed with your mastectomy when the doctor said he did it is a very disturbing question. I agree with the others here that you should get a new surgeon if at all possible. If this one told your family he did a procedure he obviously did not do, he is not behaving in an ethical manner, and you are well within your rights to seek another physician.
Hopeful
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