Found a boob lump

[Exhaustedlady]

Obviously a bit scary, any advice on logistics going forward. Will contact work, but is is a day off?

i hope you’re okay. It’s very worrying but hopefully nothing serious. Contact GP first thing Monday morning and get a same day appt. They should be supportive for a lump.
GP will assess and if they think it’s needs checking will refer you on two week cancer pathway (doesn’t mean they think it’s cancer but means they can’t tell what it is and cancer needs ruling out).
You may need a sick day if you GP is far from where you work and your appt is later in the day.
Quite often women have lumpy boobs or it can be a cyst or something…
keeping everything crossed for you x

I'm not in the UK, but I suppose the first step is a GP appointment to arrange further investigations. I know it is super scarey and I was so worried when I got called back in after a mammogram but it turned out to be something benign. Most of these lumps are not cancerous but you must get it investigated. I am sure other mumsnetters with better UK knowledge will be along shortly.

Appreciate your reply. I’m planning on contacting GP first thing Monday, just unsure how to navigate with work

Tell work you have an urgent medical referral, you don’t need to specify what for. You could take time off just for the appointment, or if you feel you can’t work then take a day. Nothing much will happen until you get your appointment with the breast clinic, assuming there’s anything to look at further.

Just to reassure you, DD found a lump, GP said she was concerned and put her on the urgent pathway which meant an agonising two weeks waiting for an appointment at the breast clinic. Once at the appointment she had an examination, mammogram and scan, and was told on the day she had benign cysts which needed no treatment.

Most referrals go that way, wishing you all the best.

Dr Google is not going to be your friend tonight. Keep repeating that when tempted to self research. In a positive story my friend found 3 lumps, it wasn’t cancer. Sending positive hopes your way. ❤️

I've had this happen a couple times and they turned out to be cysts, it's very common. Hopefully that's the case with you too.

I have multiple cysts, it's just the two I noticed were bigger.

Add me to the cyst brigade! More than once.

it was scary thinking about it but all was well.

Hopefully it’ll be nothing OP.

My advice is to go to work and try to get a gp appt same/next day to be assessed. I'm guessing you'll get a mammogram referral and go from there. No need to tell work the specifics. Follow usual protocol for a medical appt. Fingers crossed for you.

It’s not something you need to ring your work about first thing on Monday and tell them.

Your priority should be getting an urgent GP appointment, and then you can let your work know that you will be absent for that appointment.

When I have a GP appointment, I work from home, and then just take an hour out to pop to the surgery. It’s not a ‘whole day off work’ thing. How do you normally handle appointments during the workday?

If you're well enough to work Monday then make a GP appointment and attend but go to work after (and /or before). I'd be a nervous wreck so I'd take a sick day, which is also fair enough, but there's no need to. It won't be a long appointment. The GP should refer you to the breast clinic who will offer you an appointment with enough notice that you can book time off work to attend. That will need to be a day off as it can be a long wait and other tests may be ordered for the same day. Fingers crossed it's nothing.

As others have said, there are a lot of benign changes that arise. Difficult but try not to assume worst case scenario at this stage. Ring the GP on Monday and arrange appointment. It may not be the same day. Save your leave for when you have testing done.

Where's your nearest hospital? Your GP will probably refer you for tests under the 2 week pathway. You'll need to allow an hour or so for those. Take it as sick leave.

The GP appointment shouldn't take long. In my experience it's just a brief examination.

You don’t need to say anything to work just get your gp appointment and take it from there

I wouldn’t do anything with work yet. Go to GP, they will refer you, usually within 2 weeks you get a breast clinic appointment. Then booked that off work. Can be a few hours. Most lumps are harmless. Stay positive

Also posting to say I had this happen quite young, in my twenties, and I was very worried - GP put me on the 2 week cancer pathway so was seen in clinic v quickly but it turned out to just be dense breast tissue. Nothing sinister.

I've had 3 different lumps investigated which were fortunately all cysts. Good to see you're contacting your GP first thing tomorrow; say you need an urgent, same-day appointment as you've found a breast lump. As pp's have said, this appointment will be short; the GP should just do a quick examination and refer you on the 2 week pathway. They're unlikely to say much more as they aren't specialists.

The hospital appointment can take a few hours. Each time, I saw the consultant, had a mammogram and a scan then saw the consultant again. So it takes a while to get round. The consultant gave their verdict straight away though so I wasn't left wondering. The rest was then to confirm the diagnosis.

Allow a bit of time too to process it mentally afterwards. Even though it was good news for me, I still felt very emotional. I also had my cysts aspirated twice (fluid removed using a needle) and my breast felt very tender for a few hours after as they were large cysts. So depending when your appointment is, you'll need at least a half day off work but if you can have a full day, I would.

Go to GP.

Cysts here as well...painful mamogram and the second visit i was only told why.
Relax and wait to find out.

I’ve had this twice - both cysts. The second was scarier because I had a biopsy. Waiting was the worst bit. Something like 90% of referrals to breast clinics turn out to be benign.

I’d call the GP first thing tomorrow and get an appointment asap for the referral. Unless you find the anxiety intolerable I don’t think it’s a taking time off work thing except for the actual appointments.

Good luck - hope you’re seen quickly and reassured.

At my urgent appointment they did all the tests in one session and told me to allow 3 hours. They told me it was benign at this appointment. I didn't have a biopsy but if I had that would be the only result I'd have needed to wait for.

Work is really unimportant right now although I appreciate you may be focusing on it to stop you worrying about everything else. One step at a time. Call the docs, find out when your appointment is then go from there.

I have very lumpy boobs, all biopsied, all benign. I hope yours are too. 🤞

My boobs are full of cysts!

I went it gp who had a look and then was referred - be aware though although it's called 2 week wait, I waited more like 6 by the time my mammogram appointment came round. I had an ultrasound too at the same clinic and told all was fine there and then