My breast cancer was discovered during a routine
	mammogram, and we did some additional tests
		and discovered that it was an early Stage II,
			invasive ductal cancer.
					My surgeon decided that I was a good
					candidate for a lumpectomy, so we decided
					to start with four treatments of FAC and
				see if the chemotherapy reduced the size
			of the tumor. Actually I read about the
		sentinel node biopsy in a magazine, out in the
	waiting room, before the doctor had mentioned
it to me.

I decided to have this procedure since I really wanted to make sure that there wasn't any other cancer in my body. It also was important for us to help determine the follow-up treatment to surgery.

The morning of surgery I went into the mammography area and they used the mammogram to place a needle in the area of the tumor. I went over to the nuclear medicine area where they injected some radioactive material around the needle, and I went on to the surgical area. My surgeon injected some blue dye around the tumor, as well, prior to surgery.

During surgery they removed the tumor and I know that the surgeon went ahead and checked the perimeters to make sure that she had gotten all of the cancer. Then they went ahead and did the sentinel node biopsy and lymph node dissection.

My sentinel node had a microscopic spot of cancer, so it was really wonderful that we went ahead and did it. Both the ultrasound and the physical exams had not indicated that I had any presence of cancer in my lymph nodes, so I am very glad that we went ahead and did the process.

There was a little pain immediately after surgery for which they gave me some pain medicine, but then a few hours after that I really was not as uncomfortable and I just stayed in the hospital for a little less than 24 hours. There was a bluing in certain areas around the breast that was left over from the dye but it has eventually faded.

If I had a friend in the same situation I would recommend the sentinel node biopsy. I refer to my treatment program as my journey to wellness, so it was very important for me as an individual to learn all that I could about the process and what was going on with my body. It was important for me to have all the information that I needed about my diagnosis, and then I was able to better make decisions about my treatment.