Scared for my mum - breast clinic appointment

[colourdream]

Posting in here as I feel the Cancer threads don’t get as many responses, and I am desperate to speak to people.

my lovely mum has an appointment at the breast clinic tomorrow and I’m terrified. I want to go with her but my partner can’t get out of work and I have no one else to look after our two kids. My dad and her best friend are going with her.

she found a lump 2 weeks ago on one of her breasts, she found it because she lifted up her arm to close the car boot and her breast was hurting. She had a feel around her breast and found a lump. The day after, she couldn’t find the lump and the pain had gone. She went to the gp who found the lump straight away, and did an urgent referral as she didn’t like the feel of the lump and was concerned about the history of breast cancer in our family (my mums sister had it, and three of my mums auntie)

tomorrows my mums appointment and I haven’t been able to function at all today. My mum was in pain again yesterday - she now thinks the pain is coming from her ribs and not the lump. Of course my mind is in absolute overdrive

she is a lovely mum to me and a devoted grandparent to my two children. We see her nearly every day. I am dreading tomorrow and what kind of phone call I’m going to get off her :(

please can I hear of your experiences? I want to be realistic

Good point. It was manageable for me. Others I met through the process found it harder. And indeed had it harder. And as I sit here sweating buckets in my chemically induced menopause maybe I’m not giving it due credit for being the bastard that it is.

@colourdream I’m so sorry you’re going through this. I’m an 18 year breast cancer survivor and when waiting for results I had all sorts of aches and pains in other parts of my body that turned out to be nothing sinister. The one day appointments are much better because people are told on the day (although not staging/grading). Breast Cancer Now have a helpline and forum if it does turn out to be cancer - 9 out of 10 lumps are benign. 💐

Me too!! Was always scoffing at people complaining about the heat, now I’m the one moaning the loudest 😂

I would also say - my preference was not to have anyone attend appointments with me. I went to every appointment alone through the whole of treatment.

But this wasn’t through finding it particularly easy or stoicism. I just wanted time to process on my own without taking into account someone else’s reaction and to be able to speak freely to my consultant.

So I would say check what your mum actually wants in this regard OP.

I also think it affects people differently even if their cancer is similar. I found the diagnosis process hard and scary. Not really because I thought I would die but because of the difficulty of managing treatment as a single parent with little support and worry about the long term affects of treatment. It turned out to all be easier than I thought and my prognosis was better but it’s easy to forget how awful it was initially.

Well .....there we are. We'll agree to differ.

Hi everyone,

I am so relieved to tell you all that my mum has had the all clear. She had a mammogram and ultrasound which showed she had a cyst and not a tumour. They said the rib pain could be strained muscle. She has been told she still needs to go for the genetic testing given our family history.

thanks again everyone for your kind words!

Excellent news ♥️

Amazing news, so pleased to read this!

So pleased - what great news

So pleased that it's a good outcome.

Thank God. I am so relieved for you all.