Come reassure me, just found a lump

[Notimeforaname]

In my right armpit.
Its very sore to touch/press lightly.

I suddenly noticed the pain about an hour ago and there's a visible red mark where the lump is. Its definitely not an ingrown hair as it doesn't hurt if I drag my finger across the hair follicles if you get me,its definitely in my armpit/a lymph node possibly?

But I've had some other issues over the last few weeks which are really concerning me now.

About 6 weeks ago I started getting pain in that right shoulder,like it was the rotator cuff or something was trapped if I I tried using my full range of motion. I just got on with things. It didn't go away.
For the last two weeks I've had more severe shooting pains in that shoulder and arm.
My neck has been stiff and painful on and off and some small stabbing pains in different parts of my chest and shoulders (sometimes both sides). On and off through the day.
I have lost about 8lbs in the last 3 weeks..I have lost my appetite a little... But I still eat.

Now this coming up in my armpit is freaking me out and I have stabbing pains in my arm/shoulder/armpit area as I write.
The pains are quite strong now. And if I raise my hand above my head...it feels like I'm tugging on the lump kind of..like the lump wont allow me to get my arm up all the way. If that makes sense.

My whole upper arm feels heavy and sore as well as the stabbing pains.

I'm going to call my doctor in the morning and beg to be seen.

My partner was here when I found it. He tried his best to calm me down. I had a shower and got myself together.
He's asleep now and I'm starting to let my mind wander and I really don't want to start crying and panic again so if any of you nice people have any advice,words of encouragement or perhaps a similar story to mine that might help me out do please leave it here.

Thank you so much, I can attach a lovely picture of my pit if it helps but it just shows up as a small red patch on the photo so not very helpful.

I think your doctor's got a fucking cheek being snotty with you. If I were you I would remind them it is now over 5 weeks since you first made contact and the medical profession have yet to complete even basic diagnostic tests on what should surely be red flag cancer pathway symptoms. I would start making a huge fuss right about now.....good luck

@Notimeforaname

Hi lighteincastlewindow I dont have health insurance but did/do have the money to pay for all tests that day at the private hospital. The Doctor insisted he send me back to public even though I could have paid.

I have had my bloods done last week and my own GP sent me a text today to say the results were Satisfactory. And to let her know when I've had my appointment for my xray and ultrasound. Still waiting to hear for those.

I spoke to my own gp for the first time in 2 years,yesterday evening(it was a stand in GP who found the lump and referred me originally)
I called my gp surgery yesterday afternoon and spoke to receptionist, I told her I had a lot of pain and discomfort in both my armpits now and I have felt another small pea sized lump in the other armpit ....and that I am not sleeping or eating and what should I do ,should I keep trying to contact the hospital or should I wait ? (My family friend who is a GP told me to keep pushing and asking for advice) receptionist said dr would call me back.

Well...she did,she called at 6.45pm yesterday...I went through the whole thing with her, I got a bit upset on the phone saying I was trying to avoid this by going private and now what should I do...?

She said ....''You seem to be getting very excited there Notimeforaname, getting way ahead of yourself, sure what do you expect to be done the night before Patrick's day..a bank holiday.?? You need take a paracetamol or something like that and just wait''.... I felt so dumb. Like a fucking moron

That's disgusting, please complain to the Practice Manager. I'm so sorry you've been treated like that.

@JohannaC

Probably a lymph node.

Yes but OP has more than one swollen lymph node including in her neck and the other armpit. And the consultant said he was concerned about her swollen lymph nodes and chest/torso. As she is quite young I imagine he may want to rule out lymphoma (sorry OP I'm not trying to scare you, probably really unlikely), which is why it's so frustrating that they can't seem to even get a bloody chest X-ray done!

That GP sounds appalling. I hope you’re not left waiting long OP. I had tests in the Beacon recently and found they were pretty prompt.

Fucking hell notime gp sounds awful. I did the exact same thing when I found a lump a few years ago i.e. had a private and public consultation and my doctor supported it as he knows the system is so rubbish.

Mine turned out to be a sebaceous cyst/nothing serious so hopefully yours is the same.

OP I think you should just take yourself to A and E and ask for a chest X-ray. I wish I'd done that. A chest X-ray is really really easy for the hospital to organise and once you are there they won't send you home.

Your GP is being complacent. Again, I don't want to scare you but you do have red flags for lymphoma. Lymphoma can grow VERY fast. If I had taken myself to A and E a week earlier, when my friends were nagging me to do so, I wouldn't have progressed to be a medical emergency and at immediate risk of a stroke or aneurysm because of the size of the mass pressing on my major veins, which I was by the following weekend when I finally got into the hospital for an X-ray and CT scan.

I have everything crossed that you have something much more minor going on but your GP's dismissal of this is frankly terrifying me.

Hi all. Thanks for the support.

I know people can be quick to have a go at doctors and they get a lot of crap but this woman must hate her life.
She was miserable when I was a small child and she's still miserable now.

I feel like,if I start making complaints now, it'll make me look crazy.
My family friend said doctors do make little notes at the end of our referrals if they think someone is not being genuine or prone to exaggeration.
And from the way my doctor spoke to me,she's got the wrong impression of me.

She probably thinks I found a lump and am running with it.

In not sure she even knows it was a doctor who found the breast lump and not me!!

It sounded like on the phone
...that she 'had my number' thought I was looking for attention and getting 'excited '

My family member offered to ask again in hospital for my xray to be moved up but as I've been told several times to wait...I dont want anyone to ask anything because that too will make me look like 'a dog with a bone'

Jesus I fucking hate when you get off on the wrong foot or someone gets the wrong impression of you and theres no time to redeem yourself

Babamamananarama
I've just read your post now. I feel like I'm stick inna back and forward...I'm thinking 'this doesn't feel right ,call up and push them'' but then when I do, I'm sneered at.
And because this man works both the public and private hospital,I'm terrified he will get the wrong impression of me or my doctors will have said something and they wont take me seriously as my own gp doesn't now.

I dont want to bite the hand that feeds so to speak...or piss anyone off. It seems the more I show up at hospitals enquiring for scans and calling for advice I'm having more eyes rolled at me and told to stop.

Stuck in a *

I feel like for my own sanity..I should just try to ignore it and wait for the calls. I mean I've gone private..and public. And this is where I am.

The stress of calling up to be treated like a fool and told to wait again would be too much for me.

Hi Op fellow Irish woman here I live in the UK though. It makes me so bloody angry that women are still being treated like this in Ireland and paying through the nose for the privilege
UK people don't always realise how lucky they are. I had a one stop tit shop referral last February and was seen and diagnosed within 10 days. They do everything all at once if needed ultrasound mammogram bloods and biopsy.
If you feel there's something wrong you keep pushing. Bloody stupid Irish men thinking the stupid women are being a pain in the arse and if your gp is female shame on her. As women they should understand the mental stress this would cause. Mine did and phoned and got my appointment straight away I was seen the next morning while I was at work. Irish healthcare has too many flaws for women's health

I know exactly how you feel,worried about causing too much fuss. But you shouldn't be. Someone who could potentially have cancer has the right to do just that. Keep that in mind. This is not just a bad knee!

You said you've lost a bit of weight and lost your appetite a bit. Have you had any night sweats?

Thanks for helping me feel sane!! 💕
No,no night sweats.
I'm not losing weight nearly as quickly now. Its obvious it's due to my lack of appetite.

Just pain and discomfort around my armpits. Some stabbing pains on and off around my clavicle, lymph nodes in neck seem to be coming up for 5 or 6 days, going down for a few days and back up again. Sometimes I get little sharp pains in the nodes in my neck. But they pass pretty quickly.

I'm starting to wonder now how much of it is in my mind..

This was originally a sore right shoulder and sore lump in right armpit. That lump went away after a week.

I feel I've been set on this road..and then told to calm fucking down and stop walking... feels a bit gaslighty almost

Lurkeycakewoman I'm glad you were taken care of so swiftly! At least some women are being made a priority💕
Yes the system in Ireland is very flawed.

I just can't understand why consultant said he'd send me straight back to public. When It was noted by the secretary that I could pay all tests on the day. Including biopsy.

Was it just that he was being nice and wanted me to avoid paying through the nose(he did say he NEVER refers anyone for blood tests in particular, at the Beacon because its so expensive?)

Or, could it simply have been that he got his €180 consultation fee for 15 minutes with me and any test I would have paid for after,would have gone to the hospital and not him...so likely it would have taken up a bit more of his time arranging those for me so instead sent me on my way after a few minutes?

I dont know. I'm obviously overthinking things that make no difference to the situation. Just feel like a bit of a knob 😅

I don't think ANY of this is in your head, and you shouldn't be feeling like a knob. You're being treated really badly by a shit healthcare system. Just because some of the lumps are getting bigger and smaller doesn't mean there isn't a problem. That's what lymph nodes do- swell and go down again, but there's an underlying reason why so many are inflamed in your upper body- and that's what needs investigating urgently, especially together with pain, weight loss and loss of appetite.
When you're feeling brave- you could try ringing the private consultant's secretary, and the GP practice manager- spell it out like above- tell them you're worried it could be lymphoma and you've now been left 5 weeks with no tests. Don't be emotional. Just state the facts.
They'd have to be idiots to ignore the possible medical negligence lawsuit that could result if they don't take urgent action. Good luck.
X

Just to add to my post above- if you can't face it- have you got another family member that could?

InSpaceNooneCanHearYouScream my partner has offered to call but I doubt anyone would speak to him. I keep going back and forward between feeling worried and then trusting that I'll be fine.

On one hand I feel I should keep chasing it but on the other(and I know this is ridiculous) I worry if everything comes back ok theyll think I'm a mad or made it up.

This happened to me before in a different country. I had hormonal problems,a doctor asked me to write down EVERYTHING to do with my menstrual cycle from teens to the current time. Asked for everything.

I wrote it all,had it translated and sent to him,he brought me into his office and said ''It's very simple,what you have is psychosomatic...look at all you've written, it's all your mind thinks about''

That affected me for a long time.
The same feelings are coming up now and I'm so conflicted.

And when I went to the public hospital last week for my bloods...the receptionist went to the consultant to say I was looking for my xray and he said ''I told her to go home and wait for a call''

I then called my gp to ask what to do in the mean time and she said stop and wait.

The people I know working in the hospital say there has been no dates made on the system for any scans for me yet. If I call or ask someone again to look into it...one of the doctors will get extremely annoyed with me. They already seem that way.
And since hes the top guy in both hospitals..I dont want to bite the hand that feeds so to speak..

As long as you give your consent they can't refuse to speak to your partner.
You know this isn't psychosomatic as the nurse found the lumps and the consultant was concerned.
If everything comes back fine, who gives a shit what they think of you?
Hopefully, everything WILL come back fine, the point is, at the moment, they don't know that this isn't cancer, so they aren't doing their jobs properly by not ruling it out in a timely manner. Pointing this out to the practice manager and the consultant secretary might sharpen their focus a bit.

Regarding your last post- how long are they expecting you to wait before even getting a date??? It's fucking ridiculous! For suspected cancer it's supposed to be more than two weeks from point of referral to having the scan.

*no more than two weeks

They've gotten the wrong impression of me and seem to think I'm one of these health anxiety people who's trying to make problems or get attention(?) Ive been to my gp surgery twice in the last decade! Including this latest time.. they just got me all wrong and i think any more poking trying to get things moved up ..will just make them think I'm 'excited ' for this
God this is depressing .