I have had a CT scan as after my recent hospital admission for neutropenia i became breathless and had chest tighness/slight pain. The X ray was fine and the echo was fine. I then waited for 2 weeks for a CT as they wanted to rule out a PE.
The CT shows no signs of a blood clot but there is a 4mm nodule on the left- my cancer side. The dr was quite jolly and said it could be anything and i will be rescanned in 4mths.
Thing is i am 32 and was told my grade 3 tumour was 99% benign so i am a bit wary of these dr’s sweeping statments…
I too am very wary of sweeping statements after being dismissed by 3 professionals about my breast lump.
I feel that we are the best judges of our bodies and if the nodule is worrying you and they can’t tell you for definite now that it is benign, that you should insist on being re-assessed.
Statistics mean nothing if you are that 1 in a 100! Good luck lovely!
Al
xx
I too think 4 months is too long to wait!!! Best to get that second opinion and it be nothing than leave it and regret it. I too do not have faith in sweeping statements. It’s hard to be firm with consultants!!
Hope all goes well as I know you’ve had it tough with the chemo.
Wellll ive read a lot and spoken to my sister ( nurse ) and it seems blood clots can cause nodules so i am suspicious i had one and it has cleared itself. The Dr has refused me starting tamoxifen at the mo saying i needed a break…
Will see him half way thought radio and quiz him!
Hello Evie
I hope things work out well for you and that you get the right answers sooner, rather than later.
I don’t think I’ve ‘spoken’ to you before but I read your threads re chemo when I was first told that I’d need it, and they helped me a lot.
I hate what this bl**dy illness does to us, but never more when I see young women like yourself having to go through it all. Hope things for you and your family start to turn for the better, very soon
best wishes, Monica xx
This site is a godsend and it seems there are so many “youngsters” out there especially ones being diagnosed when pregnant or breast feeding like me. Scary stuff. The only bonus ive found is that my kids are so young they wont remember which i am eternally thankful for. They are also merciless so i never get time to wallow!
Hi again Evie…I didn’t mention it in my last posting but I did have a blood clot to the lung which showed up on CT scans days after my initial diagnosis…I’ve done everything backwards so to speak and was diagnosed with bc after my hip spontaneously fractured due to bone involvement. I think the clot must have developed while I was immobile for a few days waiting for a hip replacement. But just to let you know I started Tamoxifen alongside Warfarin…I took Warfarin for 6 months…it was ok, no problems and I was on Tamoxifen for a while after this. Mentioning this in case your Doctor is delaying Tamoxifen because he is concerned about any blood clot/Tamoxifen risks.
Belinda…x
I think scans quite often show up tiny abnormalities which are inconclusive and they just watch but 4mm doesnt seem that tiny to me though it may well be innocent.I think I’d be asking some more questions.
Just to let you know that I had a scan last year which showed ‘possible liver mets’, was scanned 3 months later and it confirmed cysts. So not necessarily bad news. The 3 months wait was horrendous however.
Sorry I’ve only just seen this post but I guess your rescan is due around now anyway.
Just to let you know that after diagnosis of primary BC in March 2007 I had routine lung/liver scans (4/6 lymph nodes affected too) and was found to have two nodules on my lung. They were about 5mm each. It was very scary at the time and I was rescanned after chemo - they remained exactly the same so the onc thought they weren’t mets. However, they continued rescanning me until last year when they discharged me due to the nodules remaining the same. At the time they were found I posted on here and I remember a number of women having the same thing - apparently they can be scars from TB or chest infections or just little benign lumps!
Hope your are not worrying too much and your scans go okay.
Hi Pauline, your post was very interesting for me because it could (I hope) be similar to my wife’s current experience.
She was diagnosed with “multiple” lung secondaries in early October during her primary staging, also at the age 32. However, the first scan on 28 December, after three cycles of doxetaxel, herceptin and (probably) pertuzumab, showed partial remission of the breast tumour but no change at all in the lungs (all lesions are only a few millimetres in size). She is otherwise asymptomatic i.e. no breathing problems etc.
The hospital where she is being treated here in Germany, where we live, would like to carry out a lung biopsy if there is still no change in the lungs after the last three cycles, which will end on 16 February. She’s less than keen on a lung biopsy so it would be interesting if you could remember anytthing about the others who had a similar experience to yourself!
I’m sorry but I can’t remember names, however, if you search the forums and put in lung nodules the posts might come up! As I remember it these were all women who were found to have nodules after primary diagnosis.
As far as mine are concerned it was highly significant to the oncs that they had not changed - their argument being that if they were mets they would either grow through chemo(if they weren’t responsive) or they would shrink if the chemo was working. I had scans after chemo, 3 months after that (I also had Herceptin) and was discharged from scans as there was no change. However, I then had to have a lung/liver scan due to the fact I was thinking of having reconstruction. This also showed up 2 nodules and they decided to rescan me again after 6 months (just when I thought I had got out of the system) - again this showed the nodules exactly the same!
So, I suppose you never know - fortunately lung biopsy was never considered due to where the nodules were and I dont think any of the others had this either - I hope it’s not necessary for your wife too and they can sort this out without an operation.
hi,
i had a ct scan in december which showed my liver mets and a 4mm nodule on my lung the onc said this looked insignificant and was possible scarring froa previous chest infecion and they didnt seem too worried about it ,
good luck with the results
galen x
Thanks very much for the replies. From the information you have given us and from what we have found out elsewhere we’re going to refuse the lung biopsy if the next scan comes up with the same result. We will know by the end of this month so please keep your fingers crossed for us!