Similar to my own diagnosis pathway. The hospital appointment isn’t a cause for concern - you need that for your results to be notified whatever the outcome. Did they confirm that it’s likely cancer ? They did with me. Once l’d had the mammogram, ultrasound, and biopsy and the marker inserted the radiologist showed me the mammogram on which l’d had the recall and said that she was 99% certain that what she was looking at was lobular breast cancer at a very early stage. She was right. Like you, l was unaware of any lumps or bumps beforehand. If you’ve been told it’s very early that’s good - mine was and cure was mentioned throughout.
You’ll be assigned a consultant and at your appointment they will advise the biopsy results. If cancer is diagnosed they will know from the biopsy what type, what grade (how aggressive) and what type of treatment it responds to. If they know the size of the tumour they will stage it, but you may need MRI or CT if the size is not clear.
l’ll use myself as an example of what you might expect - obviously may differ according to the type of cancer diagnosed, but gives you a general idea. I was diagnosed with lobular cancer which doesn’t form lumps, but follows straight paths through the tissues. It was difficult to stage as lobular doesn’t show up well on mammogram but MRI gave an impression of a 8-10cm tumour - lobular tumours tend to be bigger on diagnosis but it was still an early one. Because it was over 8cm l had a CT to make sure there were no other tumours anywhere else in the body - that came back clear and l was diagnosed with early stage invasive lobular cancer, grade 2 (fairly slow growing so not hugely aggressive) and at stage 3, which in my case was because the tumor was larger on diagnosis but hadn’t spread beyond the breast.
I was told that the tumour was responsive to hormone therapy but not to chemo, so l underwent six months of treatment with Letrozole which succeeded in shrinking the tumour to under 4cm and a week ago l had a wide margin resection and removal of the tumour (lumpectomy) and removal of three lymph nodes, including the one nearest the tumour (sentinel node). All of the tissue removed will be biopsied to make sure there are no cancer cells left behind or spread to the lymph nodes. If anything is found they will do another surgery to clear them. That will be followed by a course of radiotherapy as a ‘belt and braces’ treatment.
The surgery itself was fine. I was only in hospital for a day - home late afternoon. Quite a lot of tissue was removed but although quite sore for a couple of days it was nowhere near as painful or debilitating as l had anticipated. I was up and around the following day with a dressing on the wound and instructions not to use soap or deodorant when l shower. Bruising was extensive but the visit to the dressing clinic yesterday showed good healing and no infection - dissolving stitches thankfully. Now dressing free and told to wear a well fitting soft bra and take it easy and carefully until the wound is fully healed. Back at the hospital for results next week, which will determine what comes next.
It’s a very scary thing to have someone tell you you have cancer. You think it’s something that happens to other people and it’s a shock to realise you have it because it introduces an element of uncertainty that wasn’t there before. But you do eventually get your head round it and it becomes easier to accept. My own cancer journey has been relatively straightforward and I do hope the same is true for you. There have been lots of advances in treatments and cures are now possible where they weren’t before. The worst part is waiting for test results, so I know how you must be feeling now. Try to be encouraged by the fact that they’ve said the lump is small - early cancers have an excellent cure rate. I wish you well - come back and let us know how you’re doing, and if you want to talk privately please feel free to PM me.