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Has anyone forgone sentinel node biopsies?
Breast Cancer | Last Active: Mar 31 7:42am | Replies (21)Comment receiving replies
Thank you for sharing this @reflector75 . That is interesting - we need additional studies to prove whether outcomes can be repeated.
I am excited not to have sentinel biopsies, but at the same time, because this has been so standard as part of lumpectomy surgery, it makes me a bit nervous. Innovations in treatments often feel uncomfortable, but I will go with it and hope that I have the same outcome as you.
Replies to "Thank you for sharing this @reflector75 . That is interesting - we need additional studies to..."
Putting this into perspective of time. 40 years ago, they were still doing radical or Halstead mastectomies, 30 years ago many women still got mastectomies, 20 years ago many women still got chemo AND radiation, 10 years ago I noticed a real shift to do the lumpectomy check the sentinel nodes and if they were clear ……. watch and wait. Since my family has seen breast cancer during all of this time and my own dx 20 years ago, I have enjoyed watching the progression.
I am grateful to you @cmce and @reflector75 for leading the way for yet another shift to less aggressive treatments. Give yourselves a bow for your courage to do this even though it is scary.
Where do you think we might we go in the future? How will you celebrate helping to move to care forward?
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Wishing you well . I was offered this trial option by my surgeon and was interested in it as I’m aware of the complications that can sometimes follow in terms of long term oedema etc from axillary biopsy. In my case I think I made in right call.
As it happened 9 days post surgery I suffered bi- lateral pulmonary emboli , which luckily were treated very promptly with an excellent outcome, although a scary experience. It was considered that these were ‘ just bad luck’ due to the hyper coaguability that cancer can provoke. In fact when my surgeon learned about this she told me she was glad I had chosen the less invasive vacuum extraction trial option, as she considered that had I not gone into the trial and undergone the conventional surgery , my post surgical outcomes might have been even more severe in clotting terms.