Yes, I am furious about those lymph nodes being removed. Soon after the surgery I refused to go back to her. That surgeon was terrible for so many reasons.

At the time I was over weight, so she should have known I was at high risk for lymphedema and taking out so many lymph nodes would put me at a higher risk.

There was no good reason for it. I get riled up thinking about it. Then when my arm started feeling funny and I complained to the oncologist she said, "Oh, that will be there." I asked, "How long?" She said, "Longer than you'd like." She acted like it was no big deal.
I sent a message to the nurse navigator who didn't reply for three weeks. She told me she had been on vacation. She was glad I was doing well. I thought, maybe I'm just a complainer.
When I kept complaining, the oncologist sent me to a PT who wasn't trained in lymphedema.
I didn't realize I needed someone certified in lymphedema therapy. When I found out that I needed a lymphedema therapist COVID had started and they didn't want to give me an appointment with the lymphedema therapist. I threw a hissy fit and said it was an emergency.
By this time my arm was 20% larger than my other arm and I was into irreversible lymphedema.
It looks a whole lot better now but I have to wear compression on my arm and hand 24/7 and I use a pneumatic pump.
It took a while for me to do it, but I finally went to a major cancer Center in Boston. What a difference in care!

I never heard of two surgeries, one for the lymph nodes. They did it all at the same time. I woke up on September 20, 2019 with no breast and missing 26 lymph nodes. I don't know if it was the anesthesia or just a reaction to the whole thing but I went into a tailspin and got very depressed too. Considering the number of women I have heard from on this platform and elsewhere who get depressed after BC, you'd think doctors would be more sensitive to that and reassure us that it was a normal reaction. Like you, I felt alone and thought I was going crazy.

Here's the Qi Gong class. https://events.aarp.org/event/AARPRITaiChiMarch182025/summary

Here's Moving for life https://www.movingforlife.org/classes/

I looked up breastcancer.org It looks awesome. You also might be interested in SHARE cancer upport. https://www.sharecancersupport.org/

I hope this information helps other women too.

I had 32 axillary lymph nodes removed - 8 when we did the initial lumpectomy, thinking *only* 3 were involved, but the post-operative pathology showed 6 involved, so they went back and removed the whole “packet”, which was 24 more, to be sure we were clear. Thankfully, no more were found to be cancerous, but it made me kind of wish we could put them back. The lymphedema, cording, and numbness has been harder than anything else, made worse with radiation. I was treated at Mayo in Rochester. My understanding is they try not to do it if there are only a couple nodes involved, but once there are more, the indication is to do a full dissection. My surgeon felt she was on the fence with mine during the first surgery with 3 known - she was trying to save me from the full dissection, but once they saw 6, she felt it was necessary.

As for fatigue - I am only 3 months out post-radiation. I’m on letrozole and just started verzenio. Also getting zometa injections every 3 months. Not sure which is contributing most to my fatigue but I am EXHAUSTED! I think they all are, plus stress. I have been doing acupuncture which helps many of my other symptoms. The fatigue is hard to touch though.