Hi there , I never found a lump . I went to see my gp with a sore collar bone and she did a breast examination . Thankfully she is an excellent doctor as she found a lump and sent me straight to the breast surgeon . I had a tricky time after that I had a mammogramme followed by an ultrasound . The consultant found four lumps ( two in each breast ) he did needle and core biopsys on them and two were cancerous .
I had a mastectomy with immediate reconstruction and fortunately had no lymph node involvement. Due to one tumour being grade3 I had six rounds of FEC chemo followed by radiotherapy. I feel lucky as I really persisted to get the initial appointment with my gp and as always faced the old " she has no gaps" for some reason I fought to get one and thank god I did as I may have given up and would have been diagnosed much further down the road .
Hi,
I found my lump in the shower I wasnt checking myself just foaming the shower gel around my boobs as you do and bam I felt the lump. Quite uncanny really as the evening before I had watched Embrassing bodies who had run a section on the programme about self examination. I had only checked myself a few times prior to this but wasnt really sure what I should be looking for.
I had been suffering from a feeling of my nipple pulling inwards but had no other pains and as I had a 4 month old baby I just thought that feeling in my nipple was do to with my body going back to normal?
There certainly is not enough information/publicity out there for younger women. I certainly thought BC was an older ladies disease but since being diagnosed at 34 I have found this not to be the case.
Hi all
Hate to see so many young women getting this. Iām 54 and its bad enough. Mine was found on screening. I was speechless as I believed I was kind of immune, having loads of female relatives, old and young, and not a speck of any kind of cancer. I had been on HRT because of this unfortunately false belief, and now feel that was my one big mistake, as Iād have an āinteresting hormonal historyā with fertility drugs and other stuff in the past.
The second mammogram was inconclusive but the radiologist could see it on US and told me then it āprobably is cancerā. Then they looked more closely at the other side, and lo and behold, another spot. Then had MRI and another āhighly suspiciousā spot, which I fought to have biopsied - and had to travel to Aberdeen as thatās the only place in Scotland that has the equipment. It turned out not to be invasive, and since then Iāve read that MRIās are a bit of a double-edged sword, and can have lots of false positives, and cause a lot of over-treatment. It was 3 months between diagnosis and surgery for me because of all the tests and waiting for results. (Susan Loveās book has a good bit on this.) Was recommended bilateral mastectomy but decided that having clear nodes (from SNB) I would go with lumpectomies and hope the radiotherapy mops up any other spots and will hope for the best. Optimist or what!! Biggest was 2.2cm, so no chemo, though Iāve requested an Oncotype DX test as I feel I fall into a bit of a grey area.
But very interesting thread. Thanks for the stories, and the best of luck to us all.
S
Just an update, I posted last summer on how I had found my lump, pea sized, was 45 so too young for screening. I just had my first annual check up (Ned thankfully) and the consultant told me that he wanted to give me an ultrasound as well as mammogram, because my lump had not shown up on the mammogram the first time anyway! This was all news to me, I was quite shocked. I had an obvious, hard 1.7 cm lump - and the machine didnāt see it!
I thank my lucky stars once again for small breasts. Even screening wouldnāt have picked it up.
X
Rusty
I was in the shower and noticed something when I was washing my breast. It wasnāt obvious as my breasts are large and this was near the bottom of my breast, so it was hidden by the breast tissue above. Lay on the bed and felt around again and it was much more noticable. Saw the GP the next morning who gave me an urgent referral. Was seen at a one stop breast clinic 11 days later; mammo, ultrasound, and core biopsy. Then to outpatients to see the surgeon, who said both he and the radiologist were certain it was BC but wait for the results. Back one week later and results confirmed IDC, grade 3, 2.5cm. WLE & SNB 10 days later. Nodes negative, thankfully. Back two weeks later for followup appt.with surgeon in OPs. After seeing him I was hustled across the corridor to see the onc. who had put on some extra clinics as he was about to go on holiday for two weeks. Told I needed chemo as well as rads. Now 1/3 the way through chemo.
hello
iāve found both of mine in the bath, both v small, totally based on knowing my body - taught by a lovely nurse in 1976
soapy hands seem to find many lumps!
Hi
I am 63 years of age. As is usual, I have regular mammograms. My bc was found by a regular mammogram. Was called back and had usual biopsies, scans etc. Had lumpectomy and just finished rads. It goes to show that mammograms are important, but not everyone attends them. chris xx
I became VERY breast aware after being refered to the breast clinic in may 2009 due to pain & changes in my breasts more so my right one.
Thank God I was checking myself every 2 weeks due to the fact I had no monthly guide due to periods being so scatty.
Id had a bath early evening & was laying on my bed checking as usual nearly died when I found a tiny moveable lump, this was a saturday I was in the GPās that Monday
Bump
I was on my way back from visiting my mother-in-law in hospital. Driving back I had a pain in my breast. Just rubbed it. When I got home, I was lying down on the sofa watching TV when I had the stabbing pain again. Put my hand there and felt the lump.
It was Friday of a bank holiday week-end. Couldnāt see the GP until Tuesday and was out of my mind. Just couldnāt believe that Iād missed such a large lump(3cms)
Iād had my screening and had always checked myself in the shower but this lump could only be felt when laying on your side.
The GP and hospital were wonderful.
Three years on and Iām great.
Mal
I found my breast change 8 months after my first mammogram while standing in front of the bathroom mirror applying my deodorant ā¦ some dimpling under my left boob.
This was a couple of days before my birthday, I ignored it till after my birthday then went straight to GPā¦ it was 4.9 cm!!
My cancer was the sneaky Lobular typeā¦ doesnāt show on mammo
x
in china when they did not have routine screening they did a trial. The took half the women and taught them how to self examine their breasts.(aparantly it takes half an hour to do it properly!) and did not talk the the other half at all about breasts and bumps or tell them what sort of trial they were on. the women who did not self examine found their bumps at the same stage as the women who checked for them every month. Something alerted them that things were just not right and they had a poke or a look in the mirror. Or a partner found it.
Same with me, mine could only be felt lying down and i found it by accident in bed one morning
Mine is the sneaky lobular type, and only 18mm but was still picked up by the fantastic team at Oxford on my regular mammmogram. I then had an MRI scan of both breasts. Been incredibly lucky and had lumpectomy and now about to have RT and then five years Letrazole. But nodes were clear. Thank goodness for mammograms.
I kept getting tingling in my breasts which was unusual .Doctors said it was just hormones .
I check my breasts but not as regular as i should have done.The tingling made me check them and i found a thickening.I went to the docs and i was the last app of the day. She just told me to quickly lift the bottom of my bra up put her hand on my breast and said there was nothing there and put me down as having mastitus.No pain no burning no proper breast check.
I went away thinking great .We were moving house ,had lived in the last one 26 years since i was 16 and was so excited just thought a brand new start as things had been badly stressful for us all.
Only when we moved this thickening was in the back of my mind so two weeks later i made an app to see a diff doc and she checked me properly and referred me. Funny thing was i just knew it was cancer something just told me.It was no surprise at all .Just the last thing in a long line of really bad events that we had endured over the past two years.
I always wondered if stress can bring it on cos if it can that is def my reason
Sharon xx
Like many other posters I found the lump whilst showering. I just thought āhmm thatās a bit weirdā but was not too concerned, being just 32 and having no family history. But I thought Iād better get it checked out anyway to put my mind at ease. My GP was not unduly concerned either, but said it was standard to refer all breast issues to the one-stop clinic, even if they thought the chance of it being BC was minimal. And thank goodness for that as obviously you can guess what the results were 
I am horrified to read about women being dismissed. Surely all lumps should be checked out no matter how unlikely BC seems. As we sadly know all too well, there are enough of us for whom it should have been very unlikely, and yet here we are.
Interesting how many people spotted their lump whilst in the shower or bath. The slippery soap seems to help us feel any untoward lumps or bumps - it certainly did with me.
Routine mammogram found mine. None of the medical people could feel it at all and some tried very hard before giving up. I had no symptoms at all.
Routine mammogram showed something upā¦ went for another a month later, and that was all clear. 3 months later I found the lump. So ladies, please donāt rely on the mammogram. I was told that some tumours donāt always show up on mammograms but do show up on ultrasound.
thank god for routine mammogramsā¦ i had no lump ā¦ no puckeringā¦ nothingā¦ mammo picked up calcifications, after tests i was upgraded to invasive with dcisā¦at the moment last mammo clear , and im on aromasin for 5 yrs. without the routine mammograms where would we be
I checked my breasts very irregularly, Iād be in the shower and think āhavnāt checked for a whileā¦ soā
Iād been in the bath.
Went for clean pjs in a low drawer, and when my breasts swung free I felt a slight pain in the right one.
I found, what seemed like a massive lump on top but behind the nipple. It was smooth. I was 10 days from my 2nd regular mammogram.
Visit to GP within 3 daysā¦ āIt feels mallable, like fluid sac. Itās probably a cyst, but lets get you in for a proper checkā
Internet research turned up a cocktail of vitamins that could shrink cysts, so I took themā¦ The lump changed from a smooth lump to a chewed up piece of toffee (lumpy)
The rest is history. The ultra sound found 2 lumps, one was definately a cyst, the other suspect. Back to surgeon for biopsies, 2 hours later, I was Stage 2 with a 14mm tumour, prob early days so likely no nodal involvement.
I immediately requested a mastectomy and he said heād take Sentinel Nodes for good measure.
Operation 1 month later and the tumour removed was 21mm and I was upgraded to Stage 3 as 1 Lymph Node was affected.
Back for Axillary Node harvesting, and thankfully, no further involvement.
I started FEC last week.
HUGS
June