Did you have sentinel node or axilla dissection?

KathyT · 07-21-2015, 07:32 PM

Think positive,
As far as I know they were not sentinal nodes, there is no mention of sentinal nodes in the report. Hope that helps��

michka · 07-22-2015, 02:31 AM

Brenda, I had NAC. My onc and surgeon recommended NAC hoping it would spare me mastectomy and axillary dissection. Unfortunately it did not work well and there was no hesitation about having axillary dissection. As a result I have trouble raising my arm over my shoulder level, and I still have burning, stabbing episodes and pain in my arm more than 8 years later. The 2 first years it was so painful I took Neurontin. It is better now but I still suffer from my arm. It also made my breast reconstruction very complicated. Maybe I had a bad surgeon but if they use SNB now, it is to try to avoid extra mutilation. All this to say that if you have PCR and SNB is good, why go for axillary dissection? And I am lucky! Some women have horrible lymphedema.
Having done axillary dissection did not save me from turning stageIV 4,5 years after dx. There are a lot of discussions going on between surgeons about the real use of axillary dissection even for the bad cases but there is no clear conclusion.
I am not a doctor but my opinion is that you were right not to go for it since you had PCR and clear SNB.