Breast lump. Anxious beyond belief

[Someone2014]

Hi. I went to the gp on Monday after finding a breast lump the week before.

lump is round and movable but is big. The gp was not very positive. But was not negative either. Just silent. She had a good old prod and then transferred me to the breast clinic. i thought I would have felt better after seeing the gp but my anxiety is worse.

anyway two days later I receive my appointment for a week today. Is this fast? Is this a bad sign?

sorry i know that there are lots of threads on this but is going out of my mind. I have only told my husband and he is worried too but trying to keep it together for our boys.

thanks in advance

Hi there, it's not especially fast, don't read anything into that. Everyone presenting with a breast lump should be seen within 2 weeks, so that just means your local service is working to the right standard. Hopefully your GP reassured you that some crazily high number (90% I think) of lumps are nothing sinister.
And if you are one of the unfortunate few (as I was), the protocols are well established to give great outcome statistics these days, even if the treatment is sometimes brutal.
The wait is awful though, I have enormous sympathy for you. Hopefully you'll have good news next week. And if not, just starting to make a treatment plan may help you get your anxiety under control. Try to remember that worrying about the future won't help. Focus on having lovely times with those you love, distract yourself as much as you can, be kind to yourself and allow yourself the odd cry sometimes if it helps get the tension out.
I am a success story - diagnosed in 2016, single mastectomy and reconstruction and never looked back. I wish you well.

Sounds exactly like my breasts cyst!

Mine was big as well!

I got my appointment around six days from my GP thing. It just depends on where you are in the country really.You go onto a two week pathway, there's no getting seen quicker on that, or getting seen less fast, if you go on the pathway, you're on the pathway if that makes sense.

Having it drained, it's really satisfying, I suspect that's where you will be with this.

Thank you @ManchesterBeatrice and @madrush

i am scared to hope for the same outcome as you @ManchesterBeatrice. I feel I need to prepare myself for the worst.

@madrush the gp gave me nothing. When I was having a melt down all she said was she had transferred me and we needed to wait on the results. I came out crying. She did confirm it was round and not attached. But firm after I asked if she agreed. Again Google has been my life the last few days.

Just want to second what @madrush said - there’s a high chance it’s nothing sinister, but if it does turn out to be cancer, it is not a death sentence. I’m now out the end of admittedly fairly brutal treatment - it wasn’t pleasant but I got through it and have very few long term negative effects. I do think the waiting is the worst bit though. If you do get a diagnosis, the treatment plan swings into action fairly quickly and your focus switches to getting well.

No advice but wishing you all the best for good news next week. Try and stay positive and keep busy with the kids x

Hey, I am in the same situation, I went to the GP yesterday and they have referred me to the breast clinic. My appointment is next Friday. GP mentioned Pagets Disease of the breast to me so have been googling and it does seem to match what I've got at the moment. I cried when I got out the GP. But I am trying to remain positive and not think about it. I'd be telling my friends if they were going through the same thing no point in worrying until go and have the results. Easier said than done and I already have anxiety.

Let's try and remain positive and we are in this together x

I dont really understand all the anxiety, and phrases like "holding it together" etc when referring to breast lumps on MN. Sure, breast cancer treatment isn't particularly pleasant, but it is not terrible either, and almost always successful

That’s a pretty unsympathetic post. I’m not going to respond to your points here because I don’t think it’s helpful to the OP, but maybe start your own thread if you want to have a discussion about why the idea of breast cancer (or any cancer) scares lots of people.

Wow

2 week pathway is correct op.
The waiting is long and scary, so I empathise with you I've done it twice.

Both mine ended up being cysts.

Wishing the next two weeks away for you and fingers crossed all is well.

Thank you all. Had my hospital appointment today. All is well.

@Sunshineclouds11 @ManchesterBeatrice it was a very large cyst after all. They drained just over 10mls of fluid. They did find something else on the mammogram but they checked it on the ultrasound and it was just normal breast tissue thankfully. I am so relieved. I feel like I can think about tomorrow again.

Everyone I saw today were so lovely and made the process easier.

Thank you for your kind words and support. I will do my best to return this to others in the future.

@allgroyellow I am sure you meant well with your comment. But please try not to judge others without knowing their circumstances. I asked a question and in the process I explained how I was feeling. I was looking for my question to be answered not for comments on my mental state.

thanks again.

What a relief for you! Best wishes

Pleased all is well.