Help me stay calm - breast lump

[nonevernotever]

57, post menopause and I just noticed one breast has changed shape and now looks quite angular on the inner lower quadrant. Felt around and there's a fucking lump there. It feels hard and quite large to me - DH can feel it too and he's not the most observant of chaps. Will phone gp tomorrow but freaking out now, particularly since I've had two blood clots this year and with the second (diagnosed in July) they did a manual breast examination because of the link between blood clots and cancer. Please help me not catastrophise.

I’m a breast cancer survivor. Insist if needed on a 2-week referral pathway as per NICE guidelines. You are fairly sure it wasn’t there in July, so it’s recent. 9/10 breast lumps are not cancer. Call the Breast Cancer Now helpline when they’re open. Fingers crossed it’s nothing serious 💐

Fuckity fuck. GP has described it as large firm and only partially moveable. She's referred me urgently, although that is still likely to be 3 weeks.

As PP said: 9/10 lumps are not cancer. And even if it is: 9/10 breast cancers are curable. I had BC 10 years ago. It's not pleasant but if it is, you'll get through it and it is highly highly likely that you'll be ok.

They always make these appointments urgent. I had a new lump when breastfeeding, GP said it was almost certainly breastfeeding related and it was - yet my referral was still made urgent. Try not to draw conclusions. As a worrier myself, easier said than done but as the others have mentioned, the stats are in your favour.

Thank you all so much - I'm feeling really turned up side down by this. I saw my favourite gp this morning which helps in that I trust her implicitly, but the sheer size of the lump (golf ball size) is scaring me, particularly when I hear that most are diagnosed at around 1-2cm, and this is about 5cm. Gps gut instinct is also saying that it probably is (I pressed her, because I prefer straight talking/bluntness) although she did say that while she's suspicious and wants it seen quickly, she's been wrong before and noone can be sure without the scans etc.

Just updating. I got a cancellation for Monday and have had all the scans done. While it is cancer, it is much better than it seemed previously. The tumour is only 15mm instead of the 50mm plus they had thought previously, so much more treatable. Thanks again for helping me not to catastrophise too much. Thanks also for the reference to Breast Cancer Now which I've found really really helpful.

Sorry you got this news.
With mine it showed as 5cm on scan, but on removal they said it was half that.
My care has been good on the NHS.