How long does it take for tumours to grow? I was feeling abit ropey for about 2 years before got the diagnosis so were the tumours incubating during that time and causing me to be in low health, ie tired and susceptible to infections?
dont think there is a simple answer to that. My son is a cancer researcher. His project is to look at a tumor and find a way of predicting how long ago it was that the normal cell mutated in a cancer cell. Dont think he would be being paid to do the research if the knew the answer now.
Also different cancers grow at different rates.
it would be different if someone else has a different answer
hi merechat… i was also feeling a bit off for months before i was diagnosed… nothing that i could actually put my finger on… just tired and out of sorts… so perhaps it was the breast cancer brewing… i think myself … that it was my body trying to tell me something was amiss… im not sure how they grow… just that some grow faster than others …angie
My GP said most cancers have been brewing for about 10 years, no way of knowing for sure,all I know is that I did not feel right for about 2 years before, not ill , could not explain it, just did not feel settled or satisfied with anything. Yet if anyone had said well what do you want I could not have answered. I went to Gp a couple of times, and she put it down to change of life , which it could have been, but some thing keeps telling me , take more notice of womens intuition.
take care x
I was wondering about this - I’d felt completely out of sorts for a couple of years too - really tired and just like everything was a big effort!! Of course, could easily be reading too much into it with hindsight!!
I packed in a really stressful job 18 months ago as I thought it was beginning to make me ill. I now wonder if it was the cancer brewing inside me and not the job.
Nah - it was the job! Hated every day of the last 12 months I was there. But don’t think it was just the job that was making me feel ill. I got very anxious - which is not like me at all. Anxious and depressed. Now I feel a lot calmer even though I have a lot more serious stuff to deal with.
my bc was picked up my mammo-no symptoms at all-but had serious fatigue for at least -a year-put it down to being 56-working full time-mum with dementia-arrrgggghhhhh-grandchildren duties etc-it’s gone now but surgeon said it could have been cancer related fatigue-does that mean the cancer has gone ??? fingers crossed x
Well I was the fittest and healthiest I’d ever been running every day when I was diagnosed. It wasn’t picked up on mammo three months previous. Was divorced over two years ago so maybe that stress caused it. Guess I was unlucky.
hi, mine was also picked up on a routine mammogram, i had no symptoms either, i had undergon a mammo 18 months previous because i had found a lump in the other breast… that was a cyst… and when they compaired the 2 mammograms… there was nothing on the first one… to this day i cant explaine how i felt, i had no pain just tired, but i have a busy stressfull job, and run a home etc… just felt so kind of unwell… but my skin was odd… i did not notice that at the time… i sent off for new passports the week my recall letter came , so had new photos done, looking at the photo now … god i look poorley, pasty and haggered… my colour is not rite… my eyes look slightly sunken… so yes i believe it must of been there lurking and giving me clues … angie
Hi,
I felt very cold and tired for around 6 months before diagnosis, mine was also picked up at routine mammogram screening. I put it down to generally busy daily life. I do remember saying to everyone “I’m freezing all the time” and “by mid afternoon I feel exhausted”. I also happened to look at pictures taken around Xmas time and I look awful, didn’t think so at the time! I do believe my body was giving out warning signals but because the symptoms relate to so many other things you don’t actually put two and two together. bc was the last thing on my mind! I still feel very cold all of the time so would be interested to know if anyone else feels the same. thanks x
Hello,
I feel my energy levels have been poor for two or three years in particular. I found my lump in Dec 2010. I, too put it down to my age (45) and being in a stressful job with a 4 year old.
I sometimes think women tend to shrug these things off as ‘hormonal/ age related’ whereas maybe men would be more confident in persuing such symptoms?
Wide local excision three days ago. Will be interested to see how/ if my energy levels improve!!
Hi
I was the fittest and I thought healthiest last summer than I had been for years, had some stress about marriage and being unemployed, but generally feeling good and very positive about making changes in my life, just before dx!
So very difficult to say, as with everything to do with this blasted disease, we are all different!
Most of a Tumours growing is in the stages when it’s too small to be identified. It has to start as one microscopic wee cell and it doubles and doubles and doubles until gets to be the size of a full stop and it’s probably been there for quite a long time at that stage but would t be picked up by any scan until its about 10 or 20 times he size if a full stop and at that stage it would only be picked up by a scan and unlikely to be felt as a lump utill it got to over at least 1-2cm.
Different grades grow at different rates and grade 1 cancers grow a lit slower than grade 3 but even they don’t double in size on a weekly basis.
Other features can also determine how long a cancer has been there, for instance tubular, medullary, mutinous and papillary cancers are much slower growing than dubctal and lobular cancers, inflammatory breast cancer is faster than all the others.
Some people only ever have DCIS which would never actually become invasive in their life time but we cannot predict which DCIS turns into invasive ductal carcinoma and which will just stay as DCIS for 50 years or at what point it invades the tissue.
And from what point do you really want know how long it’s been there? Eg how long has there been a cell hat could turn into cancer? Or how long has it been cancerous? Or how long has it been invasive? Or how long has it been detectable?
Lulu x
I had both ovaries and a 24cm cyst removed last October which grew sooo fast but was clear, I had recently felt I was getting back to my old self to find on a routine mammogram I had a small invasive tubular-slow growing, can’t help but wonder if there was any connection, also both had happened after I had started taking HRT. Who knows though? 4 years ago I had a lump in the same breast which was biopsied twice and clear so the tubular must have been too small to be picked up 4 years ago and its 7mm now, well was before I had it removed last week… interesting thread…
I had a terrible time last summer and was off sick for 4 months. I had a brain scan due to the seizures and it was clear. To this day I wonder if they had scanned all of me, would they have seen the 5.5cm tumour that was confirmed as cancer a few months later?
No one can answer that one for me…
Thank you Lulu, it’s so good to have someone here who really does know the science - how you manage to be a BCN and face the reality at the same time fills me with awe and respect.
Just to add that I felt totally fit and healthy at the time of my diagnosis and had never had any serious sickness in my life. The lump I found was, so I thought fairly small, but by the time I started neoadjuvant chemo it was very big. Because I have a scientific background I understand about doubling times and know that mine was fast growing (affirmed by my surgeon who told me ‘your instincts are good’ when I said I thought it had grown between diagnosis and starting chemo). Mine was aggressive but seemed to respond well to treatment and my guilt at not spotting the lump earlier was dispelled by two professionals assuring me that it isn’t easy even for them to find some tumours (by the end of chemo my onc said he could no longer accurately palpate my tumour, even though at surgery it was still 2cm)
Most cancers, so I’m told, take around ten years to become detectable as the doubling time is such that it takes years for one cell to multiply enough times to make a discernible lump. It is pretty unlikely that something last week or last year would be directly involved, but I guess the trouble is that once the ‘what if’ fairy lands on our shoulder, along with the Daily Mail Goblin (everything causes cancer) we can end up beating ourselves up over nothing or looking for explanations we’ll never find.
Right at the start my oncologist said ‘most of the time we don’t know why some people get cancer, it’s just random’. These seemed wise words to me.
Sorry very long waffly post. Just think we are wise to avoid worrying ourselves over the past we cannot now alter.
Hugs to all.
Absolutely agree RevCat and thanks again Lulu, you are so knowledgeable and take time to help everyone else despite having your issues. Our thanks and love to you.
My bc was tubular, 8mm, thankfully detected because of a cyst on the same side. It couldn’t be felt as a lump and would not have done they reckon for a couple of years because I luckily had something fairly slow growing. They said it had probably “been there” for a few years, maybe up to ten years, to reach that size. I guess this supports the how far back do you count it as being there.
When I look back now I didn’t feel right. Lethargic though not ill but I had been through a divorce so didn’t connect this with bc. After the first surgery though (needed re-ex), once the anaesthetic wore off, I felt absolutely amazing. I can only describe the feeling as being as though someone had taken my concrete wellies off. I didn’t know how bad I felt until I could compare it with how I felt after the bc was removed. It wasn’t just adrenaline as I have continued to feel much better even through further surgery, rads and tamoxifen.
When I commented on this, the surgeon and BCNs said that maybe my body had been fighting against the bc without me knowing it and now that it didn’t need to, I had much more energy.
xx
Ithink every situation and person is different- I have felt the same for the last 8 years ( the last time i had a day off full time work)and dont feel any different now (waiting for surgery)One can sometimes read too much into things e.g horoscopes to “fit” the forcast!Lets hope we all feel even better after sugery/treatment etc and live fulfilling and happy lives
I asked a relative of mines who is a retired cancer specialist (he was a Professor). He told me about 10 years. I was very tired in the run up to my do, but I didn’t connect it with illness as my dad had died in the final stages of dementia the previous year. I just assumed it was the strain of watching his illness take hold and at the time I was also handling the paperwork for the small estate he left. We had also been laying down the groundwork for starting our business and had just renovated a flat. Added to all this I was perimenopausal with very heavy periods every couple of weeks so I just figured the tiredness was a combination of everything.
Hi all
My bc was exactly like Mary Grace, tubular 8mm. Doc reconned it had taken 3 yrs 2get 2 that size. No indication 4me, other than called 4 1st mammo. I am so glad I went. I will say tho, I had been feeling incredibley tired for months on end I got a real bad dose of the flu during winter & it knocked me for six. IVe never had the flu so bad. I could not understand why I felt so tired & no energy this winter. I also had some *funny* moments where I felt sort of dizzy, my head kept feeling fuzzy. Everything was an effort with my full time job etc. I feel physically better, but mentally I cant let go & think about it all 24/7. I guess I am feeling extra edgey as I have my 1st mamm checkup end of this month. Sorry 4 babbling on everyone. xxx