Hi,
Thanks for being here, as I am really worried!!
I am 36, found a lump just before Christmas and am due at the breast clinic on 10th Jan for a mammogram, ultrasound and consultation. I am concerned, but not panicking…just yet.
My main worry (maybe shallow) is that next month I am due to go on a holiday of a lifetime for a month to Australia with my partner and 3 kids, its all paid for, and has been planned for over a year.
In the worst possible scenario, if something comes back sinister how quickly do things move, would I be able to do all the medical stuff when I came back? I know I sound awful, but I tried to approach the topic with my partner, and she wasn’t having a bar of it!
The only advice I can give is to listen to your medical team. They will be able to tell you if they don’t think you should delay treatment.
I had a long-awaited family holiday booked last summer which I hoped would fit into my treatment plan. My oncologist did not think it was a good idea for me to delay radiotherapy for the holiday and so I stayed home. My wonderful family took my son away to Greece with them for 2 weeks in August, and then, once I was fit to travel, we all went away for a week together in October.
Although I was so disappointed to have to cancel the holiday at the time, now I am glad that I gave myself the best chance to enjoy many many more holidays in the future.
Listen to your medical team - depending on your personal situation, they may well be ok with you going abroad for a month. It took five weeks between my initial dx to get surgery date - so it wasn’t like things happened overnight, and they did ask me if I had any holiday/major event coming up that I would want them to work around - so it’s def. worth exploring this avenue.
Be aware that your medical insurance might need checking - if you are dx before you go away.
I’ll keep it all crossed that there is nothing sinister to worry about in any case, and hope you have a fab, fab time. Not planning on going to Queensland/Rockhampton, are you? xx
9 out of 10 lumps discovered aren’t cancer. (Many if not most of them are harmless cysts that can be drained on the day and that’s the end of it.)
If you need to have further investigative procedures, that may cause a slight delay before your plan can be finalised.
Even if there is something there, it may be “well-behaved”, and depending on your medical team, they may say a delay will not have a major impact on your treatment.
9 out of 10 lumps discovered aren’t cancer.
Good luck with your visit on 10th Jan, fingers crossed.
As stated earlier Until you get a dx things will be in limbo. The medical team are really the only people who can advise you when they get the dx. Hopefully things will go your way and it is nothing sinister.
One thing I would advise you to do is contact your travel insurance company and tell them the situation and ask their advice Just to be on the safe side for if anything else medical happened and you had to make a claim and you had not informed them of your recent problem they might void your insurance and you could be left with a hefty bill to pay.
Thanks for your comments. I know that it is probably nothing, its just the timescale…My travel insurance is due for its yearly renewal the day after my appointment! I think I am just trying to be pratical, so not to worry too much! (its not working)
When I was dx (coming up to 3 yrs ago) I had a really big family holiday booked. I had my surgery almost immediately and the onc then said that I could have my holiday before I started chemo - it was put back.
You haven’t had the dx yet, and fingers crossed that it’s nothing. Try not to worry yet. Easier said than done, I know.
I went on holiday and it was really the best medicine! Came back ready to fight the beast!
Is it likely that I will have a definitive answer on monday, either way?
Sophie, we are starting in Queensland, but not the bit under water, thankfully!
Thanks all for your replies, and wish you all luck for the future x
My experience was that after attending BCC for a mammo they called me back for an ultrasound as apparently things are more difficult to read in younger woman on mammo.
Whilst having the ultrasound, i was informed that they would like to do an immediate biopsy & hopefully they could get the results through for 2 days later, it was at this point that I asked the consultant doing scan to be honest & tell me if it looked bad to which he replied yes, i am 99.9 % sure from my experience of what I am seeing that you do have BC, unfortunately he was right
I have read that many hospitals are different in how much they will say etc but I would suggest that if it gets to biopsy stage that you ask for as much info as you can.
Having said all the above as you are aware many lumps are harmless, even at biopsy stage & also ref planned trip, when i was eventually Dx they did inform me that if i had a trip planned that they would be happy for me to take it & a 4 to 6 week delay would not have any negative effect.
I hope Monday goes well for you & i have only suggested asking as much as you can because usually biopsy results can take anything from 5 to 7 days to come through although some hospitals do operate the one stop type clinic where all is done on 1st visit.
I am trying not to freak out, but whilst I was poking and prodding today (as u do) I did get a funny colour leakage from the nipple, it hasn’t happened before. I suspect it’s ok, as it happened on the non lump breast as well, and I did breast feed until Sept last year. Any reassurance?
Rainbow. Re leakage, I could do the same for a good long while (many months) after I’d finished breastfeeding (my youngest is 12 now) and that was most definitely not related to cancer and lumps. So just because you have leakage doesn’t mean that you’ve definitely got cancer! I know that the waiting is like having a blender in your head, but that might help to calm your worries on that one front.
You say you are hoping for conclusive results from your ultrasound and mammogram but you may not get conclusive results, unless of course they have a good look, discover some cysts that need to be drained, get on and drain them, and find nothing else. You may find that they want to do a biopsy if there’s something they can’t identify properly so that would mean more waiting for results, but even then having a biopsy isn’t a certainty that there’s cancer in there. (Just this week I got the results of a biopsy on a lump and it came back completely clear, totally benign and absolutely nothing to worry about.) So hopefully that might help to calm the worries too, but the waiting is a total nightmare.
I’m not medically trained in the slightest so I wouldn’t dare to suggest what your lump could be, but the people at the breast clinic will have seen all sorts of lumps and bumps and discharges so they will.
I’m in having surgery on Monday too, so I’ll be thinking of you at the clinic and will cross my anaesthetised toes and fingers for you having a good result at the clinic.
Do keep us posted, and feel free to share your concerns and questions as much as you like. I think we are the only people who can understand just what you’re going through right now.
I was diagnosed aged 36 in April last year, after finding a lump. I had a mammogram, ultra-sound and biopsies on the same day. I asked the radiologist who was doing my ultra-sound honestly what he thought, and he said it was difficult to say - it could be either way. I then waited a couple of hours to be seen by the breast surgeon, and she told me that day that they were 99% sure it was cancer from the scans. I returned the next week for the actual biopsy results, which unfortunately confirmed the diagnosis. Biopsy results can take 1-2 weeks, and from what I have heard (and read on here) other people have not been given any indication of diagnosis until returning to clinic for biopsy results. One thing I think you could do is maybe ring your breast clinic to ask if they are a ‘one-stop’ clinic, and would you be likely to get results on the day as at least you may have an idea what to expect.
However, although I have told you my experience it’s not because I think you will receive the same news. As has been said above, remember that only 1 in 10 lumps actually turns out to be cancer, and it is less common in women our age. If you have been reading these forums it probably seems much more prevalent than that, as we are the majority of people who post…those who receive good news either don’t come on here, or only briefly at the beginning of their experience. You are at the most difficult time, in my opinion…the waiting and worrying.
As the others have said though, be guided by your medical team. In terms of your holiday if the results aren’t as hoped, they will advise you on the best plan of action and as others have said, sometimes treatment can be managed around plans.
Thinking of you and good luck for Mon, let us know how you get on.
Hi Rainbow
Poor you what a dilemma. As all the others have said be guided by your medical team. I was called back to have a repeat mammogram on the 20th of September. They also took a biopsy at that time and even without the results were able to say that it most probably was cancer.(it was confirmed as such) I saw the surgeon a couple of weeks later and told her that I had a trip to Australia booked in November. I envisaged having surgery ASAP then going on holiday and coming back for chemo and rads. She did not want me to do a long haul flight post op and instead put me on Tamoxifen and told me to go and enjoy myself. I eventually had the surgery on the 10th of December- approx 11 weeks after diagnosis. Maybe it will not be cancer or maybe you can have your holiday first. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you. Let us know how you go after your appointment on Monday - where are you in the country- someone in the same place may have an idea of how the treatments go.
Diana
PS my son lives in Rockhampton- halfway up a hill so his house is OK but the town is surrounded. He is a doctor in the hospital there and still able to get to work- the folk there are very resilient.
You are all so lovely, thanks.
Its been a real relief to come on here, even reading all the archive posts. We decided not to tell anyone about the lump as I hate people fluffing around me, so we are pretty isolated. It’s been so helpful to access this site.
Thanks again to you all wonderful, kind women. x
The day of my biopsy I was about to push the button on booking flights for a two stop holiday. They told me that if cancer was confirmed it would be 2 weeks to see the consultant and a further 3 - 4 weeks before any surgery so to go ahead. This just allowed me enought time - or so I thought. I was confirmed with cancer but x-rays had gone missing on first appointment - delay, then I needed an MRI - another delay. I had to cancel the first week of the holiday due to hospital appointments but just managed the last two weeks. It caused me huge grief and stress trying to fit this ‘holiday of a lifetime’ into the schedule while coping with the stress of my diagnosis that on reflection I wish I’d never booked it. I did, however, have a fab two weeks on Safari, very busy and a great distraction so if the timings work for you go ahead, but I do so sympathise with the additional stress this will cause you. In the end my surgery was delayed another 6 weeks anyway. Best of luck.
