I am stressing about yet another unknown thing since being diagnosed 21 months ago. After the ops, Chemo, Rads and now on Anastrozole since Sept, I have a lump or swelling come up at the back of my neck where your spine reaches the bit that is attached to your head! It is just to the left of the top vertabrae where your neck bends and on monday i had an ultrasound scan as requested by the a member of the Breast Unit where i was first diagnosed.
The ultrasound doctor said he thought it looked fine but due to my history of B/C he would refer me back to the Breast Surgeon who will probably arrange a further Bone scan or another type of scan. He also said that it would help to show up anything within the bones that he could not see.
So now I am basically cr%*ing myself! Has anyone else had to have further tests or scans or MRI’s done for anything that has worried them since diagnosis and treatment? It is uncomfortable at times and aches and sometimes i get a brief spinning feeling that lasts seconds but then leaves you with a dull headache and a sense of being in a bit of a fog!!
I know that our sense of pain and awareness is heightened after all that we go through, but i don’t want to spend the rest of my life stressing out about every little ache and pain.
Cheers, Michele x
Hi Michele
I am sorry you have this worry, our helpliners are on hand until 5pm today , weekdays 9-5 and Sat 10-2 on 0808 800 6000 so please call if you feel it would help to talk things over with one of our team
Take care
Lucy BCC
Hi Michele,
I felt a lump towards the back of my neck just after I finished chemo. It doesn’t sound like it was in exactly the same place as yours; mine was further up the neck and slightly round to one side. However, the reason I’m mentioning it is that my horrible onc (I’ve since changed him!) actually tutted when I asked him about it (in a “why does she have to bother me with this?” sort of way) and said that in his 20+ years of oncology he had never come across anyone with a cancerous lump on the back of their neck when there were no lumps further towards the front/side of the neck or around the clavicle area. Unreassured, I asked for a scan anyway. I was terrified and had convinced myself that if this had popped up right after chemo then my cancer was spreading and resistant to treatment etc. It turned out to be a lymph node but not cancerous - phew! They reckoned it had always felt slightly bumpy but I had not noticed it before in my pre-BC innocence.
I’m waffling a bit but I was trying to say that I was told that it would be unusual for a lump at the back of the neck to be BC related.
I hope you don’t have to wait too long for your scan and results xx