• Extra fluid in your arm(s) where you had any lymph nodes removed or damaged
• A side effect from damage to (radiation or injury) your lymph nodes
• A side effect from the doctor taking out some of your lymph nodes
• A chronic disease
• Not curable
• Manageable for most people

• Not at all to you
• Immediately after your cancer treatment
• 1 to 2 years after your cancer treatment
• Many years after your cancer treatment
• After your treatment, but started
  • Because of an insect bite or some other minor injury
  • After a lot of physical activity
  • After a plane trip

• Are small glands
• Help drain fluids from your arms and legs
• Help keep good fluid balance in your arms and legs
• Get rid of
  • Infections (like harmful bacteria)
  • Waste materials (waste happens even when cells act normally)
  • Poisons in your body (like from medications)
• So many new words are used that most people don't understand a lot of what is happening to them. The lymph nodes help fluids to drain from your arm. They are important in fighting infections

Cyndi Thornton (Western Cherokee) Dx 1990 Breast Cancer

"But the thing that I wasn't ready for was the 17 lymph nodes that they had to remove along with my breast. And I said OK, what does a lymph node do anyway? What do I need it for?" to play Video Vignette - click audio onlyclick twice for IE

• It is small tubes that are in your body tissues
• It contains infection-fighting white blood cells called lymphocytes
• Lymph nodes are small glands that help balance fluids and get rid of waste materials
• The lymph system also includes the spleen, thymus and bone marrow (Marion and Potts, Choices 2003, pp. 697, 196, 197, 422, 423)

Where are lymph nodes in my body?

	Printed with permission from Morra and Potts, Choices . 2003 p. 698

How many lymph nodes do most people have in their entire body? About 50 Between 51 and 100 Between 101 and 300 Between 301 and 500 Between 501 and 700 Don't know / Not sure Click for: Answer The body has between 501 and 700 lymph nodes (the number of nodes varies from individual to individual). About half of the nodes are in the middle of your body (stomach or abdominal cavity). The lymph nodes near your armpits and groin have about 100 nodes. Thank you, Saskia R.J. Thiadens R.N., Executive Director, National Lymphedema Network

• To help prevent infections and injury
• To help fluids drain from your arms and legs

• Is not able to drain from your arms
• May contain bacteria or wastes that stay in your arm(s) or leg(s) (soft tissues).
• When bacteria and wastes stay in your tissues (rather than draining away), they have time to grow and become infections.
• Causes pressure that may also cause pain

• The providers need look at your lymph nodes to see if they have any cancer cells in them
• If they see cancer cells in one or more lymph nodes:
• Then your cancer may have spread to other parts of your body
• The type of treatment you get will be different from someone else who does not have cancer cells in their lymph nodes

• The lymph nodes are very small and it is easy for the surgeon to accidentally cut a lymph node
• Radiation can also damage the lymph nodes

• Lymph nodes may be removed at the time of the first biopsy. Other times lymph nodes are looked at or removed after receiving the biopsy results.



Ruth Demitt (Athabascan/Tanacross) Dx 1985 Breast Cancer

"In August they did a biopsy and we find out it was breast cancer. It was located by the nipple... Then a couple of weeks later they did a biopsy on the lymph nodes and had to take three out and one of them was positive." to play Video Vignette - click audio onlyclick twice for IE




• Sometimes things happen so fast you may not even realize what is happening.



Mary Lou Davis (Caddo/Cherokee) Dx 1993 Breast Cancer

"Then I went back five days later and they removed the fifteen lymph nodes and glands, and that was the way it happened, and it all happened so fast, it was kind of a surprise." to play Video Vignette - click audio onlyclick twice for IE