Lump in breast confirmed...

[NGC2017]

And im terrified. I've been fast tracked to an appointment at the breast clinic this Sunday.
Everytime I stop, I want to cry. Most of the time I do.

Does anyone have their own story?

Hi @BadBadBeans

I was told again I should have been told by the surgery that that was just a holding appointment. Seems misleading to me and I've no idea why a holding appt has to be made to then be given an actual appointment - waste of time if you ask me.
It's been a good weekend really. My OCD tends to come out when I have worries so managed to declutter the last little bit in the house which always feels nice. Then I've just spent time with my boy practicing is reading and writing.
I guess I'm just going to have to get on with things and endure the wait. I'm in the same boat as many others. My breast is still really uncomfortable which I suppose just highlights my worries more.
I have to keep positive, for myself, my family and all others going through the same

I've never heard of that before - just seems crazy and confusing to me. Sorry that you have another week to wait. But I'm really glad you have had a good weekend! I've also got slight pain (and awful itchiness) at the base of the boob that I went to the clinic about two weeks ago, although it wasn't painful at all at the time so I am not happy that symptoms have got worse since! As they didn't see anything on the ultrasound though I guess I need to try to put it out of my mind. I am pregnant so it may just be to do with that. It is so hard when you have physical symptoms that don't let you forget about them! Well done you for staying positive and busy. I'm mostly doing the same about the genetic testing but did have a tiny sob to myself in the toilet earlier! It is a lot to have in the back of your mind all the time. I hope that you can keep busy and that the clinic appointment comes round fast x

Holding appointment does sound really unnecessarily confusing, don't see why things need to be confusing for worried people. Sounds like a lovely day, your DS will have loved that one to one time with you. Had a busy day here with kids sports activities, happy to get them into bed and have a sit down with a glass of wine and some I'm a Celeb!

@BadBadBeans @Custardee you are right physical symptoms make the anxiety of waiting worst. Funny you say about itching. My breast and surrounding skin have been terribly itchy today and my nipple feels like it's burning. I suspect mastitis but I've no idea how I could of got that. When I was seen in the breast clinic earlier in the year and they sent me away with a breath pain book I couldn't understand how you can have pain but nothing be wrong. I suppose the way my mind works is if there is pain something isn't right.

@BadBadBeans how far gone are you? Congratulations but must be awful having that underlying worry?

@Custardee I'm glad you and the kids have had a nice weekend. Did you see the Grinch? I've got to the bottom of why my son misbehaved at school. He was standing up for himself, and though I do not condone him hitting out the teachers should have prevented it and not allowed another child to threaten him.

I'm an xfactor watcher too as well we I'm a Celeb xx

Get yourself onto the cancer support thread - for people awaiting test results and going through treatment. It's under Health, then General Health. It's full of lovely supportive people, many of whom have been where you are now, and who will be able to answer any questions you have and tell you questions you should ask your health team!

Good luck with the tests...

@Onceuponatime21 thank you, will do that, hope others do too...

@NGC2017 saw the grinch, it was great! Your DS has had a hard time, hope his teachers keep a closer eye on what's going on with him and the kids he's around, he shouldn't be made so upset by something they could easily diffuse.

@BadBadBeans congratulations on your pregnancy, how awful you have all this to think about at what should just be a happy time. Hugs xx

@Onceuponatime21 I've had a look and cried. Such bravery on there x

@NGC2017 and @Custardee Thank you, I'm 23 weeks. It's my second. Yes the hormones probably aren't helpful at this point but also it's nice to have something lovely to be attending medical appointments for! Apparently I may need to persuade the consultant to let me have the genetic test done while pregnant, as if it's a bad result then I won't be able to do anything about it (screening scans or more radical treatment) until after I've had the baby and have finished breastfeeding - and I was intending to breastfeed for at least 12 months! I think the consultants don't like to dump you in it and then leave you hanging. But obviously I really want to know.

Regarding the itchiness / pain, I don't know about yours but it has just occurred to me that mine might be something like a yeast infection (grim!) as my boobs have grown quite a lot this pregnancy so there is the potential that I'm getting sweaty patches where I wasn't before (grim grim!). I might pop along to the GP this week and see if they have any advice for anything to try to get rid of the itching, because it is driving me mad. There are a couple of little reddish bumps on my skin now, but it's not actually on the boob, it's on my rib cage just below my boob. Hm!

Glad you got to the bottom of things with your son. Bless him.

I think that's a good idea, and if don't get far with the GP then ask the Health Visitor? When I was BF my 2 it was the health visitors who were best for advice on anything boob related! So many changes in your breasts when you're pregnant as it is, worth getting an opinion just now in case there's something like a yeast infection that could be sorted

Thanks so much @Custardee, that's a good idea. I've just put a little bit of Dermol on it to see if that relieves the itching/bumpiness, but I will ring a medical professional later! I think I'm just starting to feel the weight of my mum's results and it is making me wobble somewhat! Hope this consultant appointment will come through quickly.

@NGC2017. Aw, don't cry. I was trying to give you strength!

I was on there 5 years ago, and I'm fine. If anything, it taught me some life lessons. And as others have said, most tests come back clear. Even if you get to the biopsy stage.

It upsets me in the nicest possible way, @Onceuponatime21 so please dont apologies. Makes you realise you aren't alone and there is support out there from people going through tough times.
Im an emotional person, and just reading the comments I have so far its so inspiring to hear their bravery. I love how they say what their battling but continue on about who they are in real life. Cancer isnt defining them

that thread is terrifying and inspiring in equal measure, I don;t feel I could go on there though. Even though they are all obviously very happy to welcome pre-test/diagnosis people and are very supportive I feel I'd be an impostor on there. Feeling really weird today about it all, I feel like I'm okayish through the day just assuming it's a cyst and haven't taken it that there's a small chance it might not be. Whereas at bedtime I'm lying having palpitations and can feel my heart skipping beats (which I'm certain is just a panic thing, have googled it 😂) even when I'm trying to read and not think about it. Overall, I think I'm best trying to stay positive and a bit in denial so not wasting worry and energy on something that probably won't happen. Does that make any sense?

@Onceuponatime21 when you said you were there 5 yrs ago, did you have a good test result? x

@Custardee i feel exactly the same. And I hate when I feel so anxious I can be reading the news and will come across a story of someone young finding out they have cancer of some form and only being given months to live.
I'm not going to lie, as positive as I try to keep, I really am terrified about next week. I had similar symptoms in March but no lump. Now i am more uncomfortable and have a lump :-( I am also becoming obsessed with my breasts due to the underlying panic. I appreciate I am stupidly thinking the worst and there are so many positive stories to he heard, but the worst outcome will cripple me.
My son is a little poorly today, and school have called. 'He wants his Mommy'. Its things like that that upset me as I know how important I am to him. Again I am thinking the worst, when all I really want to do is just face it next week.
It's silly me thinking about really as I do get upset easily I admit, but I am so scared of them saying anything other that 'everything looks ok' xx

I feel for you NGC2017, with you in fact! Is your DS coming home from school or are they keeping him just now? What's happening with him just now is bound to be harder for you to handle than it would normally be. I feel like anything that I'd usually brush off is really getting t me emotionally. Not helped by my closest friends, who I've told, not being particularly supportive- they've not even asked how I'm doing! I've told them over the weekend that i'm trying to keep busy - no reply at all! Now wishing i hadn't told them so i wouldn't have expected anything from them so wouldn't be missing it.
I hope one he's home from school your DS is happier xx

In a roundabout sort of way. They found DCIS, which is when the cells have started to behave like cancer BUT haven't become invasive yet. Which means for me they caught it super early. In older ladies DCIS might never actually become invasive. But with younger people, and I wasn't mid 30s, they likelihood is it will. So, I had the mastectomy, but didn't need chemo or radio, as not yet invasive.

So whilst finding something benign might have been better, DCIS was not a bad diagnosis. And my saggy post-breastfeeding boobs have been replaced by implants. So, every cloud has a silver lining (said only half in jest!).

And the care I received was fab. My advice would be to thoroughly examine your boobs. I found a tiny spot that felt like a grain of sand, and my boob was painful when pressed. Nothing showed on ultrasound, but the Mammogram lit up with white dots all over it. I think I might not have had the mammogram if it hadn't been for those symptoms. So, do a thorough examine and see if you can find anything. Do it lying down, standing up, and if doing the right hand side, relax the right arm completely and check thourouhky around armpit.

You sound super-positive about your experience @NGC2017 and I guess it could've been a lot worse if you hadn't found it so early. I have a young friend who had breast cancer a couple of years ago and is amazingly positive and loves her new remodelled shape, all you Ladies amaze me how you get through it all xxxx

@Onceuponatime21 when I went in March I only had an ultrasound. When I spoke to the consultant he hesitated and then said I was too your for a mammogram. This felt unfair as well all know age means nothing

My ultrasound lady realised that the registrar downstairs hadn't correctly located the grain of sand that I could feel, as ultrasound lady found it and registrar had incorrectly marked it. She then asked how old I was, 35, and then said, right it's a mammogram then. And she then did it immediately.

That's why I think do a really careful check and see if you can find anything. Even as small as a tiny grain of sand, doesn't have to be a lump.

And talk to the consultant. It might be that he lets you have a mammogram just to put your mind at rest. You have to fight your own corner, whilst recognising that they really are the experts and are doing what they think is best for you.

I think the main reason they don;t do mammograms on you if you're young is that breast tissue at that age can be too dense to see properly. How old are you @NGC2017? I am 45 and breastfed both mine for a year so am extremely saggy and floppy now, though my health visitor insisted it's pregnancy and not BF that makes you floppy!

I am 32. Have a long long long history of issues with my left breast. The last time I was checked they said I had very little breast tissue which would mean I feel pain more and am a higher risk for problems? To be honest back then all I heard was the ultrasound was clear.
But I feel as I am returning so soon with a lump, I will push for a mammogram even if just for peace of mind. I am medicated for my depression/anxiety. This year has been with worst of it by a mile. All surrounding death and leaving my son. I am on medication and went through counselling. Last december I was suffering severe pain in my legs. I cannot describe the pain. Every time I went to the doctors I was made to feel even more stupid. Blood tests came back normal, but the pain was honestly unbearable. Every wall I hit with the doctors I felt they were wasting time. He only listened to me when I broke down how it was affecting my mind and sleep and the thoughts are consuming me. I cried all the time. It was only at that point I felt abit of sympathy. I was sent for another test, the one blood test I hadnt been sent for because 'it costs alot and they tend to refuse to do it!!!' and it turns out I was virtually deficiant in Vitamin D. So tablets for life but I got to the bottom of it.
I am not a hypochondriac I promise but in my mind, if you feel pain something isnt quite right. But I feel getting anywhere with Doctors wastes alot of time. And it is that time where my thoughts and fears overtake me.
I definitely want a mammogram this time, just because I have suffered with an uncomfortable left breast now since my teens.

This year has been hard to be honest. Our dogs been really poor, my sons been in and out of hospital, anxiety and depression has caused me to binge eat and though I've put on just under a stone and I wouldn't consider myself big, it's made me miserable that I've felt so out of control with things and now look a little out of shape. Tho I'm totally going off thread. It's just nice to release lol x

At 32 a mammogram probably won’t be as good as ultrasound. Your breast tissue will be too dense to see anything much. More tests don’t mean a better type of diagnosis. It wasn’t unfair or ageist it’s because the test doesn’t work on someone so young.

@CherryPavlova as I have already mentioned though I have been told before my breast tissue is not dense. In fact ive been told ive not very much breast tissue