Hi everyone, so my story so far is I noticed a small lump in my breast about 7 months ago. Unfortunately I did not actively go get it checked out when I first felt it. At the time I was moving house, experiencing financial difficulty and a lot going on. A few weeks ago I realised it was now more prominent and I booked a GP appointment. It wasnt the best experience as the doctor wasnt friendly, barely spoke but she did a breast exam felt the lump and an urgent two week referral to a breast clinic. All she said was ‘nothing you can do now wait for your appointment’ in a very blunt way. Two weeks later I received a letter for my appointment which would be another two weeks wait. Anyway, time has rolled by and im at the breast clinic on Tuesday. Ive been calm the whole time and realistic but now its nearly here its all hit me and I feel overwhelmed. I am 31, have a weak immune system and ill frequently. I also have a 6 year old and my partner has lost his job so I am the main financial provider. Its all just a lot I carry a lot of responsibility and struggle with anxiety recently. I feel scared that it may be cancer and i dont know how il deal with it. I pray it is nothing sinister but I cant help feel terrified. Sorry big rambling post I just dont have anyone to talk to really as I always have to be strong and keep everything ticking but in this situation i cant predict or plan what the result is going to be.
Hi fayln, sorry that you find yourself in this awful position. Your Dr sounds like they lack some bedside manner and haven’t helped your anxiety. All i can say is take one day at a time, it sucks and the waiting is horrendous. Do not beat yourself up about not getting it checked sooner, so many of us delay for various reasons. Fingers crossed for you that its nothing sinister but if it is, there is lots of support on sites like this for you. Xxx
faylen, sorry you find yourself here but glad you’ve reached out to bcn don’t be hard on yourself you’ve had a lot on and not everyone goes and gets things checked out immediately hang onto the fact that till a professional tells you, you have breast cancer, you do not have breast cancer at your appointment you will be examined, have mri scan and probably a mammogram. They may also do a punch biopsy if they do the punch biopsy they are just checking anything they might think needs a bit further investigation and not all punch biopsies come back as breast cancer so ring the number on here and speak to a nurse too if you can do let us know how you get on everyone’s here and bcn is here for you as much or as little as you need ask away, everyone will listen and offer help care and understanding Shi xx
Oh @faylen I’m so sorry to hear of your situation. The waiting period that you are in now drives all of us around bend because everything is out of our control and as you say you can’t plan. When you are used to being in charge of your life it’s very hard to have wait ( and wait) for someone else to tell you what you have and what to do next.
The places we go to in our imagination are almost always worse than the reality of the situation but if it did turn out to be BC it’s a very common cancer , very treatable with good outcomes and it is highly unlikely that a few months delay in finding it would make any difference ( so don’t stress about that ) . There would be a range of services open to you for financial advice and you would be entitled to reasonable adjustments at work.
However to say any more would be a conversation for another day , stay off Google and don’t delve into this site too deeply . Come back and let us know how it went and we are here if you need to vent again .
Sending love xx
Forgot to say do something nice with your little one today - taking a day at a time finding little moments of joy does help with the stress of waiting xx
Thanks for all the lovely replies it is appreciated. So i went today, I was examined by a breast surgeon he felt the lump and said he wasnt too concerned and he thought it felt more like a gland issue or a cyst but wanted to get a scan and marked the area with pen. I then went for an ultrasound which was something I was dreading as my breasts just flop to the side lying down and I was worried about if theyd locate the area. The woman didnt look at the markers at all and just seemed to press around the top of breast. She asked me then if i was happy that she scanned the lump and i said no not really as lying down the area moved completely to the side. She put it back on and moved it around a little nearer but not really where I asked. She then said she didnt think she could see anything of concern at the moment and it could be a mass of tissue and to basically montior it regularly, any changes come back. I feel frustrated as I dont feel like I have a clear answer. I guess il have to just make myself not overthink and try not to worry about where the lady scanned me but I do not feel 100% confident in what they’ve said as it was very much see how you get on we dont really know type of response and based off the ultrasound i dont know.
Faylen go back and tell them you want a second opinion and also go to the pals office and tell them you are not satisfied and want a second opinion. Don’t be fobbed off make them do a proper thorough check of you. Your trust has a duty of care to you and your not happy or feel comfortable with what’s been done today so don’t accept it. Get them to do their job properly Shi xx
I agree with @Shi and another time tell the Sonographer that she needs to work with you so that you can be in a position where she is close to where you feel the problem area is. If you have to sit up or lie on your side then do it. Having said that years ago I had a lymph gland scanned in my neck - instead of a biopsy ( which i didn’t want ) and although it’s still very prominent I’ve had no real problems with it . Glands and cysts do feel different to other masses but if you are not hapoy it might be worth trying to get the scan repeated. If you think the mark on your breast is in the right place then take a picture of it before it rubs off completely so that you or any other Health Care Professionals can use it for reference. Xx
I would go back and insist on a mammogram. I’m surprised they only did ultrasound as normally they would mammogram and then ultrasound if they see something. It may be different if you’ve got dense breasts though as I’m small chested.
I’m so sorry you’ve not been better supported in this and are left feeling like this! X