Bumpy mass and breast pain (in one side only)?

[vipersnest1]

I've been experiencing breast / chest wall (I couldn't pinpoint which) pain and tenderness for about a month and put it down to a sore rib initially (I have fibromyalgia and do get a sore - different and lower - rib at times).
It was persistent so I made a GP appointment and saw one today. I pointed out the tender area and she seemed to be able to home on it right away.
Before I went, I could never really work out where the pain was coming from, but since having a feel after I got home, it's a hard bumpy mass in my upper breast rather than a single lump.
I've been referred to the breast clinic for a non-urgent symptomatic breast.
Does anyone have experience and / or a handhold?
I'm worried. I've never had problems with my breasts before (not even especially tender when pregnant), and am in my late fifties so it's the last thing I expected to happen.
(For clarity, I do have another thread running, but this was from when I was first concerned and couldn't feel anything specific myself.)
Any experience or advice would be welcome, as it seems I'm not on the 2WW pathway, but would like to know what's going on ASAP.

So I rang the hospital today and should be seen 'within two weeks' - but the referral hasn't been processed yet, so whilst I know the clock starts when the referral is received, I don't know if that's from the arrival or the processing....

Sorry you are having to wait.

I've had a couple of times when I've had weird lumpy areas and was referred to the breast clinic, always fine.

I've never had a cyst but I know that they can be painful and ultimately harmless.

Have you recently lost weight by any chance? I had a phase when I was super active so I lost weight and could feel lumps and bumps that were normally more padded and covered.

It's completely normal to be worried and anxious about it, I'm sorry that you've got to keep waiting for your check up.

@JayAlfredPrufrock, thank you.
@BreezySunnyDay, I'm would be totally happy to be sent away with an 'it's nothing to worry about'.
I haven't lost weight but my hot flushes have stepped up (I was considering asking for HRT, despite having a lot of hormonal fiddling about due to endometriosis and infertility when I was younger - I felt my body had more than enough of artificial hormones) and I feel much more tired in the last month or so. I'm also not sleeping as well, and have no stamina at all - walking from my car to my room at work is almost enough to wipe me out.
Maybe it's all fibrocystic changes and nothing more
I just want to know.

Here to handhold. Shall we put on your favourite song and sing along to it?

I went to be after my last message, @Irhfb, but thank you for the thought anyway!

Bed!

Sending you another hand hold.

I know 2 people who have had cysts which were lumpy and painful. I also know 3 people who have had breast cancer - no pain - found by lumps/inverted nipple. All 3 have thankfully recovered. Just to give you positivity both ways. The waiting is so hard xx

Thank you @Staggersaurus. Yes, the waiting is difficult - and in my job I can't let how worried I am show, so I'm all smiley there and then come home, hoping that I might have got something telling me I have an appointment, so at least I will have some form of resolution in sight.
I think I will call the hospital again tomorrow if I've heard nothing by lunchtime.

Haha, no worries. I didn’t stay awake much longer either. Maybe I sang myself to sleep 😂 How are you doing today? Xx

@Irhfb, I'm up, down and all over the bloody show to be honest - fine when I'm busy and it's not hurting (although it was hurting in a meeting yesterday - I ended up trying to discreetly put some warmth on it with my hand while avoiding looking like I was groping myself) and it was particularly painful at one point today. I woke up with it not hurting and I spent some time trying to convince myself that it was easing off, but no, the really tender area was still there, just not feeling too annoyed at that point.
I'm finding the evenings difficult, wanting to distract myself but thinking about it, trying to make some sense of what it could be. (And wondering if the pain down my arm is related instead of being caused by my shoulder.)
So, mentally, I'm a mess. It has triggered my (usually manageable) anxiety.
I really hope that I get an appointment soon, and that it's not too far away.

I had tender area of boob a while ago. My elderly neighbour nagged me into seeing a GP (I avoid usually) who had a feel and referred me. Turned out to be a cyst of some sort, but GP said (to reassure me, I think) that generally breast cancer doesn't hurt. Hope you are ok.

@Theoldwrinkley, we might be quite near in age, unless your username is a pun?
You may well be right, but this is so out of the ordinary (never even had tenderness in pregnancy) for me, that this alone makes me worried.

I called the hospital again today and got the same story as Monday (appointment hasn't been processed yet), and the person I spoke to on Monday clearly hadn't made my mobile number the priority one.
The only difference this time round was that I should have an appointment on or before the 18th. Going by the date the referral was sent, it should have been the 13th. Small wonder the wait time in the local NHS page is 20 days.
The waiting is awful.

I have kept an eye on this post over the last few days as I have had very similar to what you describe but didn’t want to comment until I had been to my breast Clinic appointment.

My appointment was this afternoon and I am beyond relieved to say that they have found absolutely nothing sinister! I had an examination with the consultant (he actually found 4 lumpy bits that he wanted scanning!!!) You can imagine my anxiety when he started marking crosses all over my breasts of areas to be checked. 😫

They’ve put the ‘mass’ on the left side down to dense tissue and one of the ribs in my chest is sticking out slightly more than the right making it all feel worse than it is. The 3 other lumps/bumps he found are all thankfully normal breast tissue too.

I burst into tears when they said no further action needed & I could go home.

One thing I will say regarding your appointment, if you haven’t already download the NHS App - I saw my referral appointment on that before they contacted me. I just kept checking it (probably hourly as I was obsessed with just wanting to know when I would be seen) and within a few days the appointment date and time was there and then they called later that day to tell me (I never received a letter)

I’m hoping this offers you some reassurance as I would not wish the anxious waiting on anyone, it’s truly awful.

x

@TTC2021x, I'm really pleased that it's good news for you.
I've got an appointment showing on the app, for the 13th (see attached, its for admin purposes only), but I hold no hope it will actually be then or before.

@TTC2021x, do you mind if I ask how long you had to wait between seeing the GP and your appointment?

I went to the doctors on the 29th June at 11am and my breast clinic appointment was today at 3.50pm. So exactly a week. Much quicker than I anticipated!

Agree the waiting is awful but try to remember the vast majority of referrals do turn out to be nothing serious. I say that but I barely slept in the period I was waiting.

I had breast pain late last year, which caused me to have a feel and find a lump. Turned out the pain was muscular (I suspect climbing up and down bunkbeds) and the lump was a (completely unrelated) cyst. They offered to drain it but I wasn't bothered. Hope all goes well for you and everyone else in similar circumstances.

I had stabbing pain there last year and the consultant said it's not a usual sign of cancer but is typically due to the ligaments. It transpired to be fine.

I can get very anxious about cancer but I suspect that 95% or so of people that go for tests are given the all clear. That's very good odds if you think about it.

@TTC2021x, that was very quick!
@guinnessguzzler,
I'm glad for you that it was something that made sense and not serious.
@grass321, I had investigations last year to rule out bowel cancer, but I didn't have any symptoms that would have caused me to think I had it, although admittedly I was worried (I had the tests due to a rectocele).
I've tried to rule out other causes with this as I do get random (although not exactly random, IYSWIM, pain due to fibromyalgia). Although I have a rib that sticks out more than the other side, the breast itself also feels different - harder and more lumpy, whilst comparing like for like.
As I've said before, I'm very confused and worried, and the waiting isn't helping at all.

You mentioned that pain was unusual for you. It was for me. I've never had any tenderness or anything noteworthy before, not during pregnancy periods etc (if I can remember that far back!). Hence my dismissing the pain (I couldn't feel any lump) as being something to get on with. But neighbour had had BC and was concerned. I think you've been medically reassured now? The waiting and feeling alone bit breeds anxiety, even if you have a partner.

@Theoldwrinkley, you're absolutely right - my logical head says it should be ok.
However, the anxiety devil on my shoulder (if you want to put it like that) tells me I've messed my body around hormone-wise, at a time when no-one was aware of what the consequences could be (and believe me, the treatment for my endometriosis had a devastating effect at the time and I still live with the consequences, but luckily not all that I could have experienced). I also have a history of breast cancer in my familly, but not immediate relatives.
I know you're trying to speak to my sensible mind, and during the day if I'm occupied and not feeling pain, I'm fine. It's the rest of the time, plus the ridiculous appointment scenario that make me anxious. As I've said before, I just want to know one way or another. That I can deal with, but it is this no-man's (woman's ???) land that is so awful to deal with.

t gets deeper....
This morning I looked and the 'admin appointment' had disappeared. I called the hospital in a panic and said what had happened (my ridiculously illogical mind thought that the referral had been cancelled. I was told it was still there, and to expect a call to arrange the appointment at the end of next week - the call, not the appointment itself. (That will be over two weeks since my referral and completely contradicts what I was told on Wednesday.)
Then at just before five this evening, I get the attached. In case you're wondering, I've cropped the name of the hospital out of the top.
It still hurts, I'm still worried and now have the added issue that I have a much-needed holiday towards the end of the month. I just hope that I'm not put in the position of having to choose which I go to. (Obvs the appointment will come first, but I'll likely lose a whole load of money.)

You could look up the consultants' secretaries and give them a call to explain you have a holiday booked and likely timings.

A friend did this for a recent NHS referral for the same thing and they were very helpful in arranging an appointment for her.