Likely breast cancer after ultrasound

[spartanrunnergirl]

Hi all after routine mammogram I was referred for an ultrasound, which I had today and the radiologist said it's likely a cancer, thus did a few core biopsies. I did not know that cancer could be detected at ultrasound stage but she was pretty certain it was cancer and said the biopsies were to see what they were dealing with. Has anyone else had this? Thank you

It's so natural to hope @TheHonourablePenelopeBuntyWindermere and nothing wrong with doing so. Good luck with the next steps.
I'm reeling a bit because I have found a lump near the scar of my dmx. Going to see the surgeon on Monday. Just when I am back at work and feeling life could be normal again.

What the others have said @TheHonourablePenelopeBuntyWindermere Never give up on hope. FWIW I was also told at my scan. Keep yourself busy and hope - do not google. The stats are based on older treatments and the demographic is unlikely to represent you and the medical support available from our wonderful nhs.

@StartupRepair that is rubbish news, mate and I’m pleased you’re in quickly to see what’s going on. Will be thinking of you. Hopefully it’s just weird scar tissue.

That’s me signing out for the night from the busy steroid head insomnia gang! Chemo 15 of 16 this week and working through the post chemo drugs to keep me on track.

@TheHonourablePenelopeBuntyWindermere the doctor told me he was 60-70% sure mine was breast cancer, just from mammogram and ultrasound. And it was. I echo everyone else, don't Google, and we are here if you need to vent and fret

@TheHonourablePenelopeBuntyWindermere hello and welcome to the thread. The waiting is the hardest part. I was also recalled after first mammogram and had extra scans and biopsy's taken and at that point was told it looked liked cancer. It was then confirmed by the biopsy results a few weeks later. In December I had a lumpectomy and I'm currently waiting for chemo to start next week followed by radiotherapy. It's been a shock as I also hadn't felt any lumps.
It's an incredibly tough time but of it is confirmed as cancer then the treatment options are excellent and being caught early at a mammogram is exactly what they're there for. Please keep us all updated. Wishing you all the best x

@StartupRepair let us know how you get on with your surgeon. Didn't you just have a clear scan a few weeks ago? Hopefully just scar tissue. My breast feels full of hard umps and bumps post surgery. Doesn't help my anxiety at all!

Hope everyone else is doing ok. Im starting my chemo next Friday. Seems like it's been such a long wait to start this next phase of treatment since my lumpectomy in December.
I'm struggling with my shoulder as well. It feels tight and weird nerve pains. I'm still doing my exercises but my shoulder just feels odd still. Spoke to the BC nurse who said it was normal and can last a long time.

Hi, I just wanted to tell you the same happened to me. I was only a few months out of treatment and lump appeared at the edge of my surgery site. Turned out to be radiation damage. It's actually gone now several years later, but it sent me scatty at the time. I hope it's just that! Good luck!

Thank you to everyone who’s replied, it does seem like wishful thinking than that the biopsies will be negative but I guess it’s a case of prepare for the worst and hope for the best at my next appointment. Will update after my appointment.
@StartupRepair hope all goes well with your appointment with surgeon on Monday. I can fully understand the worry but hopefully it’s the same as @TheFormidableMrsC had and all is fine .

Hello everyone! I've been on holiday which was super sunny and warm... loved it, The last time I was away abroad I'd had my mammogram call back and was waiting to go for the ultrasound so was trying to enjoy it but also out of my mind with worry! What a difference it was this time - so relaxing and carefree.

@TheHonourablePenelopeBuntyWindermere your post took me right back to my initial diagnosis at ultrasound, likely cancer, biopsies, metal marker... cue the agony of worry and waiting for biopsy results - it's the worst and you have my sympathy.

I think of it now like a funnel and the first bit is terrifying because all you know is (likely) cancer, then as you get histology results it narrows it down to get you to an understanding of what you're dealing with, which is a much better situation. My lump was 11 mm with clear lymph nodes and I had lumpectomy, clear sentinel lymph node biopsy, and then 15 days of radiotherapy all very doable and straightforward once the plan was there. I have tamoxifen now which is ok and not too many side effects.

I have not caught up on the thread properly yet .. but @StartupRepair what a worry I hope it is a benign lump.

@chococakey I hope you had a good half term with your little boy and that the breakfast buffet met expectations! Good luck with your chemo on Friday.

@BatshitCrazyWoman trust your surgery recovery is going well..

And everyone else hoping things are going in the right direction!

Love Spartan x

@TheHonourablePenelopeBuntyWindermere , try not to let your mind run away with you. When I had my biopsy, they were already fairly sure it was cancer but they described it as treatable even before it was sent off for testing. Turned out to be a 15mm DCIS, which is cancer but not yet turned invasive. Mine was treated with a lumpectomy and I will be having 5 sessions of radiotherapy in a few weeks time. That's all - no chemo and no drugs. They even said I could do without the radio if I wanted. What I'm trying to say is that it doesn't have to be full mastectomy, chemo, radio and 5 years of drugs, there is a lot in between. I do appreciate very much that I am one of the lucky ones and my treatment from biopsy to the end will have only taken 3 months. Others will have different combinations but it's all doable, one step at a time. The waiting to hear what will happen next is the worst. There are a couple of really supportive FB groups out there and Breast Cancer Now is a great app but maybe wait to see what your results are first so you don't get overwhelmed with stuff that doesn't apply to you. Good luck

👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼🙌🏼

@TheHonourablePenelopeBuntyWindermere welcome to the club that no one wants to be in, on a thread full of some of the nicest MNers you could ever hope to meet. I’m so sorry you’re going through this, but as everyone has said, the not knowing / shock part is in many ways the hardest and scariest part of the process. Hold onto your hat and try to line up as much real life support as you can, even whilst you’re in the not knowing stage. At this point, there’s such a huge range of outcomes, there’s really no benefit in googling or panicking, and as you can probably tell from this thread, there’s lots of people who’ve been on this path with great advice and positive stories to share.

@chococakey hope you had a lovely break? Is there anything that helps with your shoulder like gentle massage or heat? I find 2 tennis balls in a long sock (leaning back against a wall) can be quite good sometimes.

@StartupRepair fingers and toes crossed for you that there’s nothing serious going on and there’s an entirely innocent explanation 🤞

@SunnyValemin thanks for the advice. Hope the cording is easing up?

@spartanrunnergirl great to hear you’re doing so well!! ⭐️💜 Absolutely LOVED reading your update 🙌

I start radiotherapy on Monday, and hope to be all finished by the end of the week. Still feeling a bit anxious and really appreciate the support on here.

@spartanrunnergirl What a lovely post! So good to read❤️

@TheHonourablePenelopeBuntyWindermere I agree that there's a huge variation in terms of BC. I had a 3 cm tumour but it had appeared in the year after a series of clear mammos (I was on a clinical trial). I was quite shocked at the size, they thought it was a 2 cm at the most during ultrasound. It was, however, completely contained and node clear. Because I was HER2+ I had to have chemo and Herceptin but only five days of radio. I didn't lose my hair due to cold capping. I have to tell you that my breast cancer journey was not the worst thing that has happened to me, my divorce, on the other hand, nearly killed me. Nobody wants to hear the "sorry it's cancer" words, nobody wants to join that club. However, it is very largely very treatable and curative. Even if you don't get good news, it's going to be ok!

Have had a few days away from the thread - felt I needed not to think about things for a bit!

Welcome @TheHonourablePenelopeBuntyWindermere - as people have said, it's the thread no-one wants to join but is full of lovely helpful people. The waiting bit is definitely the worst.
Wave to @Yamyamabroad - don't remember saying hello to you before

@StartupRepair horrible to have a scare like that - hopefully just scar tissue but very glad they are getting you in quickly to check.

@dancingwhilstfacingthemusic the chemo countdown is going well! Husband is currently on steroids (asthma with chest infection) and gets weird auditory hallucinations with them - he was hearing the doorbell at 6 am!

Lovely to hear about your holiday @spartanrunnergirl

Best wishes to @chococakey for chemotherapy starting Friday and to @Fillybuster for radiotherapy starting tomorrow

Sorry if I've left anyone out!

I've had a good week. Had my appointment with the oncologist (face-to-face!) and it turns out I will only needs 5 sessions of radiotherapy, not 15 as I had previously understood. Very happy about that - now need to wait until the planning appointment and then the actual sessions happen. She says they will put the referral in and hope it will be within 3 months of my surgery but there may be delays.
Meanwhile I am definitely getting hot flushes with the tamoxifen, waking me up to 4 times a night. Does anyone use anything that helps? I do get to sleep again quickly, but I do think it's having an effect on the migraine control (worse with sleep disturbance).

For everyone - signs of spring in the garden this week

Hi @quietmaelstrom lovely to hear from you. Good news about the radio!

I have tamoxifen and the disturbed sleep is my biggest side effect. I'm not even really hot when I wake up, but I do multiple times a night. I had some leftover melatonin gummies that I bought from the USA 18 months ago and I've started using them and it seems to help. Not sure if it's placebo or what but I'll take it. My brother lives in the states so I've asked him to send me more in the post, as you can get it over the counter in UK (why?!)

Thanks @spartanrunnergirl. Good thought about the melatonin. I do have some of it from a trip to Canada (we have family there) so should give it a try.

I do seem to be really hot each time though, which is why I'd assumed hot flushes (summer weight duvet, radiator off). Oncologist suggested evening primrose oil could help so thought I'd ask the knowledgeable folk here.

@spartanrunnergirl and @quietmaelstrom the best thing I can recommend for feeling hot at night is a silk pillowcase. It's always blissfully cool on the skin so whatever else is happening it helps reduce the hot and bothered feeling.

Thanks @quietmaelstrom and @PemberleynotWemberley

I meant to say you can't get melatonin OTC here... I will try evening primrose and silk pillowcase sounds good. All part of a better sleep hygiene commitment.

My oncologist was quite dismissive when I brought up side effects of Tamoxifen at my last meeting with him - suggesting that any side-effects I would experience would be those of the menopause naturally and not Tamoxifen. However, it was like flicking a switch - literally the day I started taking Tamoxifen my sleep stopped working and I was getting hot flushes which I've never had.

Yes, same for me, Spartan. My oncologist said 'sorry' with a sad shrug when she put me on Tamoxifen but wasn't explicit about what to expect, and because I was stupidly toughing it out and not seeking support or comparing notes with others I didn't realise beforehand what it would do. When I did mention the effects the response was 'well you would have been in scope for menopause anyway'. It's great that menopause is much less taboo, better understood and better provided for than even a few years ago. It's just a bit galling that the magic go-to solution for menopause symptoms (HRT) isn't a safe option for those of us with oestrogen receptive cancer.

The flushes and disturbed sleep do pass- it's the process of withdrawal of oestrogen that's tough. If you want a recommendation for silk pillowcases, Blissy are good, and are quite beneficial for skin and hair too.

@quietmaelstrom thanks for the good wishes and for sharing the beautiful picture from your garden. None of my bulbs have done much so far this year although the hellebores are looking lovely. I’m so glad you managed to see the oncologist in person in the end - hopefully that was a bit more reassuring, even if you’re back to waiting? - and hurrah for 5 rather than 15 sessions!

@spartanrunnergirl & @PemberleynotWemberley ive been taking melatonin every night for just over a year and it’s made a massive difference to my sleep quality. I brought then back from NY last winter and discussed it with my gynaecologist sometime last year - she confirmed that it was probably a good idea even though she couldn’t actively recommend or prescribe them for me in the uk. I started on 3mg a night and switched up to 5mg a few months back. Definitely worth a try if you have them - as you say, you can buy them over the counter pretty much everywhere (I just picked some up in Spain over the summer for a friend) except the UK.

Also, I’m really riled reading about your respective consultants responses to the onset of menopause symptoms. It all just seems so bloody unfair.

I’m very grateful that I don’t need to take tamoxifen. Will be interesting to see what happens when we review my HRT in a few weeks. In theory the surgeries and radiotherapy should level set my risk back to the same as anyone else, BUT I did have oestrogen positive receptors in the biopsy results so it’s going to be an interesting conversation about what happens next.

@Fillybuster It might also depend on genetic markers- if you have the cancer causing BRCA gene you might want to eliminate risk to a greater extent than if you have no heightened family history. When I discovered my BRCA variant I went the whole hog and had my ovaries removed because that's a cancer I really don't want. So any smidgeon of oestrogen that Tamoxifen left me has gone without trace!

@PemberleynotWemberley my consultant insisted I had a full genetic test before any surgery, as she didn’t want me to go down the lumpectomy route without full knowledge of any markers etc. and I come from a high risk group. All mine were clear (including for other cancers) so thankfully that’s not a consideration. NHS guidelines are not to prescribe oestrogen after any breast cancer related treatment, which is a very broad brush approach, and it was interesting that the oncologist was quite supportive of me challenging that. I’ve cut my dose slightly since the surgery and felt the impact of that already, so am very reluctant to reduce it further without at least talking through how it might increase future risk.

@Fillybuster that's brilliant about your genetic markers, and good grounds to put this episode behind you psychologically as well as medically once you are on the other side of treatment. 💐

My surgeon was pretty reassuring
He could feel the lump and is sending me for an ultrasound but said he didn't think it was cancer. Scan tomorrow and results in a few days. It was surprisingly hard going back into his rooms.
Just remembering all the cold dread I had last year.

@StartupRepair that is the positive flip side of specialists knowing the bad news without waiting for results- your surgeon will have seen a lot of scar tissue and have a very good idea of what is cancer and what is scar. Fingers crossed for happy confirmation of that initial view.