sentinol node biopsy?

Wow I see you are getting some wrong info here.

First of all, the sentinel node is the first lymph node close to the area of the tumor. The reason they do it is to see if cancer cells are present. They have to remove the node to test it. If it has cancer cells they take more.

The injections you are getting are radioactive and I am sorry to tell you this. THEY HURT. I had 5 in the breast. But you get over that too. Its just a short burning sensation. After that they put you under a scanner to see where the radioactive stuff goes and that is the sentinel node that will be removed by the surgeon. The dye actually comes after that. I was lucky my doctor could see it so clearly without the dye that I didn't get the blue boob.

Good luck to you, hang in there !!!

I had it scheduled for the same time as the partial mastectomy. The injections into the breast hurt about as much as a regular shot does. It's tolerable. My husband sad with me in the room while the scan was proceeding so at least I had some company while I was laying on the table. I don't remember having a blue boob from the dye but it does go through the kidneys so you may pee blue.

Good luck to you and I'm praying that all goes well.

The sentinal node is located in the left collar bone area. It serves as a stop off point for all the lymphatic drainage from the lower body. So, any cancers or infections in the lower half might show up in this node. The dye is used to map out the lymphatic channels and nodes, to make thier locations easily identified.

The docs are injecting material to find out where the cancer would spread, if it has spread.

the dye shows where it is in the nearby lymph nodes.

They take that node out and examine it for cancer.

If not cancer, it is unlikely it has spread.

If they find cancer, they will try to take more out with a surgical excision of the lymph node area.

Good luck, the old way was just to clean out the entire lymph node area.

Just to clarify the first answer: the sentinal node depends on where your cancer is. A sentinal node is the lymph node or nodes that drain the primary tumor. It is different depending on where your cancer is. For breast cancer, there are usually a few of them and they are most likely located in the axillary (armpit) area on the side where your cancer is. I realize I am not exactly answering your question, but just want to clarify what "sentinal node" really means.

It doesn't really hurt. They should put in an IV line first and feed the radioactive material through that. After that you just lay there and something like an x-ray goes back and forth over the area that they are looking at. It's mostly boring. I had to lay there for over an hour. The worst part of it will be getting the IV line put in and that isn't really so bad. Good Luck!