breast lump

Hi
I am 54 and just over 2 weeks ago found a lump in my breast. I am waiting for a hospital appointment in 2 weeks time (15th July) where I will have an aspiration? Can anyone tell me how long after these tests will I get the results? I haven’t been able to share my worries with my husband as his Father was gravely ill and has since died. We are currently arranging his funeral, all of which is very stressful of course so I don’t want to put anymore stress than necessary on him and I am sure it will turn out to be nothing at all. My real fear is the fact that I was put on hrt 9 months ago after suffering for 8 years with a terrible menopause, eventually my GP and family persuaded me to try it, it has given me a new lease of life but I was always very afraid of the breast cancer risk, mainly because a woman I met some years ago told me she got breast cancer through hrt and told me to avoid it, I am afraid that her words are coming back to haunt me now. I recently told me daughter, which I did not intend to do as I did not want to worry her either but the stress of keeping it to myself and the death of my Father in law had me at a low point and I blurted it out to her, which I now feel terrible about as she is worrying about me now which is just what I didn’t want to happen, I feel very selfish. Anyway I thought I would relieve some of the pressure by talking to you people out there who have experienced or are experiencing the same stress and worse of course. Bless you all. Much Love.
K
xx

Hi fultime and welcome to the BCC forums,

You may find our publication helpful to read, it’s called ‘Referral to a breast clinic’, this can be read via the following link:

breastcancercare.org.uk/docs/referral_07_0.pdf

Please feel free to call our helpline on 0808 800 6000 and speak to one of our specialist nurses in confidence for further support and information. The line is open Mon-Fri 9am-5pm and Sat 9am-2pm.

Best wishes
Lucy

Hi
I had been on hrt patches (oestrogen only) since feb 02 after having a hysterectomy , when i was dx with bc in sept 07 i was convinced it would be due to the oestrogen patches but it turned out to be her2 positive and hormone negative so in my case not caused by the hrt
Mizzy

Hi fultime

Try not to worry - easier said than done I know - they will check you out thoroughly so try to look on it as something positive - an MOT of sorts! If they do find something concerning, which they did in my case, you will have tests and these take about a week to come through. I was asked if I wanted to be phoned with the results but as I was at work in the day I preferred to wait and go back for my results.

Don’t feel that you are being selfish - it is a massively difficult time - perhaps your daughter could go along with you to your appointment for moral support (what age is she?). I tried to remain as positive as possible - a. it might be nothing and b. even if it is something then worrying is not actually going to help the situation. I tried to find out as much as I could so that I knew what was going on so that I could be prepared - but I know not everyone likes to do that - we all have different ways of coping.

Try not to dwell on the HRT issue - there are a lot of factors which can contribute to bc - I am sure we have all inadvertantly increased our chances slightly - even alcohol can do this - and I bet you don’t find most of the population beating themselves up over the fact that they have brought this disease on themselves.

I have had surgery last week so am only just at the beginning of this journey but hope you will keep us posted and we will all be thinking of you. It is doubly difficult for you having just had a bereavement so please do come on and talk to us whenever you want.
Take care, Looby

Hi Fultime,

Sorry you have to come to this page.

I too was on HRT since last August and was diagnosed in May. All of my health professionals said that hrt was not blame. If you read all the evidence ( which you don’t have time for at the moment) it says only women who have been on hrt for over 5 yrs are at risk. Don’t be hard on yourself, you have enough to worry about.

Don’t feel guilty about telling your daughter, sharing it with someone close is good. My daughter is 23 and we have shared much in past weeks and it has brought us very close. I hope that it will do the same for you.

As looby says take someone with for the appointment, that’s so important. It’s a very stressful time and you’re not selfish!

Keep us posted and good luck.

Toffee

Thanks to all of you for the encouragement and kind words they mean such a lot to me, so thank you from the bottom of my heart. My daughter is 29 and has a beautiful little boy of 21 months, she is a kind and loving person inside and out and she is coming with me for the appointment too. I am keeping positive, I feel sure in my bones that it is nothing to worry about and I will let you know what happens when I get my results. Much love to you all and thanks again for ‘being’ there.

Love yas!!

K

I’m sorry that you have had the need to consult the site - it’s a place that no-one really wants to come to … but when we are here there is great support from all.

I hope your appointment goes well and you are soon back to tell us that you have been given the all clear.

Sorry also to hear that you have recently lost your father-in-law.

hi K

sorry your in the boat too sweetheart, i pray you will get an all clear result babe, if the lump is a cyst it will hopefully show up and they will aspirate it there and then and the cyst will be gone

i go tomorow for my mamo

try to hold on babe
love
cee

Hi fultime,

It sounds that you have done a good job in bringing up your daughter and I hope that you will contiue to share with her.
Thinking of you. Keep your chin up.

Ceegra: good luck tomorrow.

Toffee

If you don’t get the result you want, you will get a lot of support here. I found it helped a lot. It’s better to know what is the problem than the uncertainty you are now experiencing. I felt very calm and very relieved to find out even though I did have cancer.

Once you know what it is, you can have treatment for whatever it is. Any lump if you are over 45 I believe should be removed, or aspirated (liquid dispersed) if it turns out to be a cyst.

Good luck

Mole

Good luck Ceegra will be thinking of you. Thanks again for all the support it has made a huge difference to my frame of mind as keeping this all to myself for three weeks has been really hard, I so want to tell my Husband but I can’t do that at the moment as he is so low with the loss of his beloved Dad, I have decided I will tell him once I’ve been to the Hospital, then at least he won’t have so long to worry about it before the results. Good luck to all of you who have been diagnosed, I wish you all well. God bless.

K

Hi - I have never written on a site before for anything, but fel the need to share this with you to help to keep you positive.

I found a lump in my breast last week, I went to the GP yesterday morning. He was awful and he completely terrified me - he made me think the worst. I was lucky I have been paying for Health Insurance for 5 years and thankfully have never had to use it - so I went to see a consultant last night. He examined me and said he was sure it was just a cyst but would do a scan to be sure. It was. I had it drained last night and wached it disappear on the screen in front of my eyes.

He was so reassuring he said most lumps are harmless. So I am sure you will be fine.

I don’t know how you have waited for three weeks. One day of waiting after seeing my awful GP was bad enough. You are being really brave and I wish you well.

One thing I would say to everyone is if you can try to afford it get Private Healh care. I know it can be expensive (mine is about £50.00 a month) but it was so worth it. If you have to cut back a little on other things to pay for it I would. I could not have coped with waiting for the appointment from my hospital to go see someone. It is money well spent.

Good luck to everyone and remember most lumps and bumps are not the worst.

Hi Carol
Thanks for the info. My lump is a weird shape. I don’t know why but I always think of a breast lump as being round but mines a v shape, rock hard and is thin and narrow rather than round. I’m sure it will turn out to be nothing, the month wait has been pretty rough and I know I will have to wait upto 2 weeks for the results but can’t afford private so thats what I have to do. Its a terrible state of affairs really when women are made to ‘sweat’ that long on such an important and worrying issue.My Father in laws funeral is on Monday and my tests are on the Tuesday, so two horrible days to get through. I only lost my Mum at the end of Feb so its all pretty emotional at the moment.

Thanks again

K

K

You really have a lot on your plate at the moment don’t you. I was also lucky to have private medical through my work so was spared the long wait for appointments and results.

I hope all goes well on Tuesday and that you get the results you are hoping for.

Hi K,

What a time you are having. So sorry that you have to wait so long. I too was very lucky to have my husbands work insurance so things moved rapidly for me. The waitnig and everything else you are carrying ot the moment msut be such a burden.

Do hope that erveythings goes ok on Monday and that you get seen and sorted on Tuesday. Good luck. Thinking of you.

hi carol, good luck for tues babe hope you get the answer you need sweetie, i will hold you and hubby in my prayers tonight for a peaceful funeral tomorow

i know the feeling of the loss of both parents, they were too young to go
mum 58 dad 62

lost 4 brothers too all below 60

all my love
cee

K

Keeping m fingers crossed for you - do not worry about private insurance-investigations for cancer are the same whether it is private or NHS.

Yes maybe it can be a bit speedier but It sounds like you are getting seen to pretty quickly, if you get stuck in the system just shout… I dont think you will have to wait 2 weeks for results once you get there…and not that it matters given what I have said, but you can’t actually get cover for something you are worried about or know about when you apply for it,

take care
cathy

Hi Fultime
I had a core biopsy and got the results 4 days later but my friend had a needle biopsy and waited nearly two weeks both NHS and the same hospital. Hers was negative mine positive. I do hope all goes well for you.

so sorry to hear yours was positive, how are you coping?
After Dads funeral I decided to take the bull by the horns and tell my husband about my lump and hospital trip this morning. Mainly because he was down anyway and I thought if I wait until he starts to feel a bit better after Dad then I will wallop him with my news so might as well get it done, I was really nervous about telling him though. He was very upset of course and he said he was hurt that I hadn’t told him and shared the burden with him, he said no wonder you look ill and can’t sleep keeping this to yourself for so long. He said he understood my reasons for not telling him, but to never do that again, I still think they were right although I have suffered because of that decision, he has taken his Dad’s health and subsequent death very badly and there was no way he could have coped with my news on top of it. I told him I told our daughter just after Dad died, due mainly to feeling down at that moment, and also that she was coming with me to the hospital. He has been very loving and caring and concerned of course and I’m sure in time he will understand that what I did was for his benefit and done out of love for him.
Anyway hospital trip went ok, was in there just over three hours so not all day thank goodness. I had to see the doc (english) and he checked my boob and said that I needed to have the scan, mammo and the biopsy done so I then had to wait again in the waiting room, it was all very organised though I have to say and everything went smoothly. The mammo was really painfull and I had to have it done twice as she didn’t get a good picture, I asked her if you had to be qualified in inflicting pain to do that job, she thought that hilarious, but I do think they must have a bit of a sadistic side to do it. After that I had the scan, I couldn’t see any of it though as the screen was turned away from me, they scanned and mammo’d both boobs not just the lumpy one. Then I had to wait again and see a different man doctor he told me that what he was about to do would be quite painful he sprayed with pain killer then found the lump and squeezed up the boob either side of it to raise it up (ouch) then plunged the needle into it, it did hurt a bit I have to say and I was glad when it was done. He said he got ‘a good amount of fluid I would hear within 10 days the results’ he stuck a plaster on my wound and I was allowed to dress and come home, yipee!. I have to say I felt absoloutely awful today as I woke with a streaming cold and terrible chesty cough my throat is like razor blades so I was truly glad when today was over quicker than expected. I am about to have a lie down now, got some meds to take for the cold and chest. I suppose all the stress is coming out now and thats why I feel so unwell, at least all I have to do is sit tight now and wait, I’m sure as sure can be that I am fine and all this worry has been for nothing, but at least I have had a good MOT eh and had both boobs thoroughly checked out, so that can only be good eh.
Once again thanks to everyone for there encouragement and good wishes. Will let you know when I get the results. Best of luck to you Bubbles I do hope you are not suffering too much.

God Bless

K

K

xxxxxx


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Hi bubbles, so sorry to hear your positive result. Have they said what they will do yet? I was told and then it was all arranged in the one consultation - bit of a shock but I was pleased to get on with it. Had my surgery ten days ago.

Hi fultime, sorry to hear you’re feeling so bad - it must be all the stress. I will keep my fingers crossed for your results. The waiting is the worst bit - for me it felt like my whole life was in limbo and I didn’t have all the extra stress of a bereavement to cope with. Look after yourself and keep strong Looby x