I have not had that type of procedure to see if it was in my lymphnodes. I just had radioactive blue dye injected into my breast and only three of my lymphnodes had the die in it. They were taken out when I had my lumpectomy and of course sent to the lab along with the tumor tissue and all came out negative for spreading.

Hi Lisa631. I had a biopsy of a mass on my nodes and it's not difficult. Other than holding my arm above my head for a long period of time, they numb the skin around the area they go into for the sample. They do it using ultrasound just as they do for a breast biospy. And yes, you can ask for some Xanax and take it about an hour prior to the biopsy. It's not a huge procedure..

They can also do a sentinel node biopsy which is surgery but not difficult. They take a few nodes and test them for cancer cells. They will do a frozen sample right then and there during surgery and then they will send the sample off to pathology. If the pathology comes back negative then they won't need to remove any further nodes. I had a sentinel node biopsy during my lumpectomy surgery and they took 4 nodes out. All but 1 came back negative and the negative node was less than a 1mm microscopic cancer cell so both my surgeon and oncologist said that both immunotherapy and radiation would take care of it and I didn't need any further node removal.

My pcp prescribed a low dose of Xanax to take when I get really anxious. I like that I don't have to take it daily.... just when needed. Big hugs

Ask for a mild sedative from your primary doctor . It will definitely calm your nerves. I didn’t have that type of biopsy but had the breast biopsy and had no idea I could’ve aske for something . Ask ask ask !!

Yes, I did. Luckily for me, they did it during surgery. It took me awhile to pick up my right arm. I had to learn to stretch my arm a little at a time. No cancer in my lymph nodes.