I remember the injections into the aureole around my right breast nipple as being one of the most painful things about my breast cancer treatment--although each shot was brief and the pain was off the charts. I don't have any idea how many lymph nodes they took, but I think I was told that the shots of a radioactive substance were to determine which lymph node my right breast "drained" into the most and that one was to be removed. There was no sign of involvement, which was positive. My tumor was 11 mm and 95% estrogen positive and the surgeon got good margins. I had had a stereotactic biopsy in 2018, which was benign. I still wonder if sticking that 3-foot long needle into my right breast stirred up the monster that became my tumor and I also wonder why the doctors didn't target me for an MRI in the years 2019 and 2020, since I had this "close call" of calcification in 2018. I still have calcification in both breasts, it is in a straight line (not good, I'm told) and I have had 2 major infections in my breasts, one after breastfeeding my first child in 1968 and one after my lumpectomy (seroma) in January of 2022.

I did not have any lymphodema from the removal of the lymph node, fortunately, and I had 33 radiation treatments thereafter. I took both Anastrozole and Tamoxifen for a full year (total) but could not tolerate either one and quit when the Anastrozole put me in a wheelchair for 6 months. I am now going on 3 years out and hoping that there is some sort of test to help determine whether cancer is recurring, because I have a 35% chance of a recurrence according to my onco score of 29, which I did not get until 2023 from a Texas doctor.