As the title suggests…how can you tell after radiotherapy what you are feeling? By that I mean - I’ve been left with an enlarged breast, much fuller firmer and seemingly full of hard areas. I can’t tell anymore what is ‘right’ and what ‘isn’t right’. The surgery area itself, very high on the chest, is full of scar tissue. There seems to be lines of hardened tissue inside the breast itself, and it quite scares me that I no longer know what I’m checking for ? I would no longer feel a small lump, as I did before, and the treated side is so different to the other. How has anyone else coped with this? I am now 5 1/2 months post rt.
I haven’t posted on here for a long while but your post made me want to reply. I’m 6 1/2 months post rads and I’m suffering from exactly the same as you and also finding it really difficult to have a feel for anything. My boob is also firmer and in places there are hard bits of scar tissue. The skin has thickened on my boob too and I worry all the time that I definitely wouldn’t be able to feel a lump like I did at the beginning of all this horror. I had chemo first, Sept 2015 to Jan 2016, lumpectomy x2, full lymph clearance and 4 weeks rads. I guess we have to rely on the regular mammograms only now? Xx
Hi both my onc said most probs are picked up by self examination, so please keep on trying, even if it’s all lumps & bumps. Hopefully if we do it every few weeks we’ll notice the difference if anything comes up, although I agree it’s difficult. Big hug Charys. xx
hi charys,
Sorry to hear its a downer day today. My rads were around the same time as yours.
I have lumpiness under the scar as well, which seems to fluctuate, sometimes its hardly there, then feels bigger again. On discharging me, the onc said it all felt normal.
From what I remember, Charys, did you have boosters as well?, as this could well explain how your breast feels.
I had the standard 15 sessions & aside from the scar lumpiness, the boob now looks & feels normal, although it always warmer that the other one.
hugs
ann x
yes, I too found my lump myself as I’m only 41. I have my surgeon appointment in January so will talk about it with him then. I too had a week of boost to the breast and I’m sure it’s made mine more lumpy. I never had lumpy boobs before and so now it feels completely alien to me if I try to examine myself. Like you, I can lose whole days (or parts of) to fear of what’s potentially going on inside me. I know all ladies do. I have two daughters who I fight to stay strong and positive for but even then, sometimes, it gets to me. I’ve also started getting a bit swollen in my hand in the last few week and now need to sort that too. Deary me! Love Bonnie.
Ann thanks for posting that one side is hotter…mine definitely is too! Charys I was thinking after I posted the other day. If onc said 99% of recurrence are picked up through the month end self examination then people must be able to feel something different to our lumps & bumps otherwise they would all be picked up on mammo. So many people have asked me what my lump felt like because they could feel all sorts…I just said you just ‘knew’ it was a lump. Maybe it’s like that again (God forbid). xx
I just read this thread and am well relieved to read that your treated breast feels hotter, mine does three months after rads and feels so different, still sore. I keep waiting for it to right itself even a little bit. What is my ‘new normal’!???