My consultant said I have breast cancer without waiting for biopsy’s.
They say i have 4 lumps in one breast that they can see. So does this mean its invasive?
I’m trying to work it all out so I’m armed for next appointment. Consultant said she was confident this was breast cancer and that if the biopsies came back negative or inconclusive she would make me repeat the biopsy procedure again.
I had 3 biopsies taken from the one breast.
Any advice on questions to ask when I go back on the 9th?
Hi Wozeywifey, sorry you find yourself here. I can only speak from my experience as a former breast cancer patient and it may be worth you dropping a note in the Ask Nurses thread for further advice. It seems unusual to receive a breast cancer diagnosis without a biopsy to give confirmation even if breast cancer is suspected. Scans can pick up abnormalities (dense breast tissue can show up “cancer-like” on scans). My biopsies were ultrasound assisted so the biopsy takes samples straight from the abnormal area. Was yours an ultrasound assisted biopsy? This avoids trauma to normal tissue. Did they also take biopsy samples from the lymph nodes under your armpit? My breast cancer was picked up from my lymph nodes and I had to wait for further biopsies to confirm a breast primary diagnosis. The thing is, there are never two people the same and the investigations have to run through multiple tests before confirmation should be given.
Here is some information to help you better understand breast cancer diagnosis: breastcancernow.org/information-support/facing-breast-cancer/diagnosed-breast-cancer/cancer-grade-size
Come back on here if you have any more questions as there are lots of us who have been right where you are now. Best wishes
Hello and welcome, not the place any of us would choose to be but a great place for support and help from the ladies who have or are going through the same as you.
Obviously until they have the biopsies back they can not be 100% certain that it is bc. I would try, and it is not easy, to distract yourself from thinking about it until the 9th, unfortunately Xmas getting in the way has probably added to the waiting time for your results.
Sounds like your consultant is being thorough in suggesting that should they come back negative or inconclusive that they repeat it as they will not want to send you back without being certain that it is not bc.
I’m sorry you’re in this situation but I can understand the consultant making an immediate diagnosis (even tho my own consultant was immediately confident I had nothing to worry about and boy did I have a lot to worry about!). They can often tell simply by the feel and if you had a mammogram for them to see 4 lumps, they could diagnose some from there by the density. But they need loads more precise information to determine the best treatment plan so there will be many periods of waiting now.
What’s important is that you don’t embark on a load of self-education via Dr Google, one of the most unkind sources you can find. Google can be outdated, irrelevant to your case, beyond comprehension unless you’re trained in oncology, and downright terrifying. It cannot take your emotional wellbeing into account. Don’t google, please. Trust your consultant. I adopted the approach that I could do nothing about it so let them get on with whatever was necessary - so I asked no questions, didn’t read the copies of letters and remained ignorant of my diagnosis till this month, more than a year after diagnosis. It worked for me but you may be one of those who needs to know. In which case, you will find the BCN and Macmillan leaflets very helpful as they include suggested questions you may want to ask. You could either pop to your hospital and grab and load of leaflets from their information centre or order them from here - but do check if you’ll get them in time. In fact, speaking to one of the nurses here could help you frame your questions
Be wary of the language of cancer. Maybe that’s why I switched off. Words like aggressive, invasive, lobular, ductal… in the end what difference does it make? You have breast cancer and require treatments you’d rather not have but, though you do have a choice, it’s a bit of a challenging choice - we want the best chances of surviving don’t we? I was asked by a health professional why, if I was so scared of chemotherapy, was I having it? The fact that there was a choice hadn’t occurred to me till then. I just replied that I trusted my team to have my best interests in mind and so I would do what they advised, terror or no terror.
I hope you feel you are well-prepared for your appointment. I’d suggest taking a trusted friend who is less emotionally involved than, say, a partner. You need someone to sit and take notes, check off your questions (if you have them) and report back reliably another day because you won’t take much in as emotions vie with intellect. Best of luck.
Sorry you are on here, especially at this time of the year.
I think that consultants have a really good idea what they are looking at from the scans but the biopsies will give them and yourself confirmation. I had a mamogram, followed straight away by an ultrasound to see if it was bruising where the sonographer decided she was going to do the biopsey there and then as she said it was definitelt not bruising. As I had gone to the appointment on my own my consultant spoke candidly saying there was something suspicious and that I should bring someone with me for the results, this made me more sure they knew what they were looking at. Waiting for the results is the worst time but try to keep yourself busy to keep your mind from wandering.