Anyone knowledgeable around to talk to me after having a breast biopsy?

[ANiceCupOfCoffee]

Went looking for one thing and felt soooo stupid when it turned out to be totally and utterly normal (referred by dr - she was concerned, not me). Don’t know why I feel so stupid about them finding nothing....

In the course of finding nothing, they checked my other breast and found something The didn’t see anything on the mammogram, but found it with the ultrasound.

They did a biopsy there and then (one stop clinic) and now I’m left with some questions (they said I could phone them and ask, but I just want to ask on here). Might be silly questions, but I’m feeling a bit vulnerable.

From Google, it seems she did a 'core' biopsy. Is it normal to feel a lot of pain after? I’m assuming so as the local anaesthetic wears off...

What’s a big lump?

She says she’s confident that it's going to be benign, but she said only the results can say for certain.

How do they know it’s likely to be benign?

I’ve been looking on Google, but may sites are full of reassurance, but I want to ask real people to try to get some facts.

Does anyone know about ultrasounds? When she zoomed in, what were the blue/ red dots? I know I could have asked, but I was distracted and didn’t want to ask her then and distract her!

1. it might be a bit sore, but shouldn’t be really painful. I felt slightly bruised for a bit.

2. benign lumps and cancers often feel different and the usually look different on imaging. On its own that’s not enough to say definitely not cancer (hence the biopsy), but experienced doctors usually get a pretty good impression of what it’s likely to be from the feel/imaging.

3. the blue & red dots on ultrasound will have been where blood vessels are.

Hope it all turns out well.

I can't answer your questions in detail but I have had experience of breast cancer more than once and I've never known any hcp to give false reassurance, so if you've been told its probably benign then I would say that there is a very good chance that it is.
Of course they are checking and it would be negligent not to. You'll know for sure only when you get the results. I would say try not to worry but of course you will do. Try to be reassured that most lumps are benign and where they are not, treatments are excellent.
Fingers crossed for you

And I would try to avoid Dr Google. Its unlikely to be helpful for where you're at right now and may well just send you into a bit of a spin.

Thank you. It’s only a little sore now. I think I was worst while the anaesthetic was wearing off.

Do you think it matters if I take my bra off? The literature says to leave it on and sleep in it, but I don’t feel very comfortable with it on over the dressing (I bled quite a bit, so have plenty of absorbent dressing)

For what it's worth, I had a breast lump and they did an ultrasound and biopsy. They told me they thought probably benign, received a letter confirming that around ten days later. Hopefully, the same will be true for you.

Having sat in a room with a family member who was having tests for cancer, I think they don't offer false assurance. In this instance the staff were very direct in the way they spoke 'we are looking for a cancer, and believe we will find a cancer'. Again, they were right.

I was uncomfortable after biopsy, but not in pain. I don't remember sleeping in bra. Wishing you well.

I had core biopsy with, what I described as, a spring-loaded screwdriver. This was 8 years ago so things may have moved on significantly!

I had a number of cores taken . They'd go off and analyse to see if they'd got what they were looking for (small calcifications). They kept missing so kept taking more...

I had very little pain afterwards. It was an ache for a day or two and I was really careful with the wound for a week or so. I have a tiny scar that you can only see because I know it's there.

I was lucky as there was nothing there but it was a worrying time. Good luck

A core biopsy is likely to leave a large amount of bruising and can be really quite uncomfortable for a few days. Certainly take paracetamol.
It should have a pressure dressing in place and you need to keep that on for about 72 hours, if memory serves me right. They should have told you when it can come off.
It’s a bit like a coil-spring wife bore dart. They take several biopsies usually and each takes a ‘core’ of tissue. It can be a bit swollen and discoloured for a week or so.

Keep a bra of top on to hold dressing in place. It will be more uncomfortable if you get further bruising.

I had a core biopsy on Tuesday. It was felt like it tugged, a bit painful and v undignified but it was ok.

I usually wear a v soft unstructured bra/crop to sleep in anyway and was recommended to do so for a few days. I think it helped here.

I had to use a handheld shower attachment for 48 hours and not get the dressing/site wet. That was hard and i felt a bit “under-washed”, but not the end of the world. Had a v big and long shower today.

Took dressing off today and all looked good. Left the steri strips but they came off in the shower anyway. Some scabbing, v small bit of bruising, but basically fine.

The nurse phoned this afternoon and said all was good and no further checking required (I had micro-calcification and they were looking at DCIS). I hope you also have a good outcome.

@ANiceCupOfCoffee I think I can answer your question.

I have a tumour-inducing genetic syndrome and have Breast MRI / mammogram/Ultra sound every 6 months.
Several lumps have been found over the years, some will be very dark, like a black hole and it is clear they cysts and benign. In Australia, they don't biopsy cyst. Black on the screen is liquid. Liquid is not cancerous .
Other lumps have no increased vascularisation around them and this is another sign they are benign.
I had a lump which was not black on the screen of the Ultrasound and it had increased blood vessels, so I had it biopsied by the head of radiology of that hospital because in high risk women you need to be careful about seeding cancer cells , , and the second she went in with the needle, she turned her head to me and said , it is benign, because cancer feels different when you pierce it. She still took a sample and it was indeed a fibroadenoma. Totally benign. It did however increase in size in the following years and given my high risk it was removed.

So yes, there are many ways in which one can tell if a limp is benign or not. Depending on the health policies of each country, some clearly benign lumps , such as cysts, will still be biopsied.
A course, only a pathology report will be 100% accurate, but I think you can be reassured.

Sorry missed part of your questions .
So pain will depend on how deep the lump is and how much force is applied. It isn't worrying. It is a very sensitive area. You can and should take a painkiller if in pain.

Blue and red indicated direction of blood flow. Red is an artery, blue is a vein. Blood flow is normal in breast, without it, your tissue would die, it is where you have abnormal or increased blood flow that there is concern. But you need to be trained to understand and identify what is normal and what is not. I had soooooooo many ultrasound and still can't tell.