Hello everyone
It’s quite a while since I was last on here, and to be honest I didn’t think I would be posting again this year! I found a lump in my armpit just before xmas 2012 and 2013 was full of operations, chemo, rads and herceptin which finished this summer. You all know the drill!
A couple of days ago I found a firm flattish lump against my chest wall, just on the inside edge of my breast (the ‘bad’ breast but not near the site of the original cancer). Its not really a lump, but I don’t know how else to describe it - it’s like an oblong swollen area stuck to my chest wall. It’s not painful, but it is tender when I press it.
The breast care nurse was quite dismissive when I phoned up, but she reluctantly agreed to speak to the consultant and I’ve got an appointment for Tuesday.
In the meantime I just wanted to know if anyone had any similar experience. The few people I’ve told have tried to be supportive but I don’t think they understand what its like to be in this position again, and all I want to do is scream with the utter dread of recurrence.
Panacea
Hi
I would definitely get it checked out - I was diagnosed Dec 2012 with bc & bone mets, Jan 2014 I noticed a similar ‘lump’ right on my sternum which was initially dismissed as a skin cyst. I kept asking for a scan as I could feel it getting bigger - turns out I was right, it was a recurrence & I had it removed in May. Don’t let them fob you off!
Here’s keeping my fingers crossed that it isn’t anything nasty Panacea.
Love Helen x
Hi Panacea - I agree with Helen and Tinkerbelle that you shouldn’t allow anyone to fob you off. You need to get it properly checked. Last new year’s eve I had one of my regular checkups and the doctor spent a lot of time feeling something on my chest wall, at the lower end of my axilla, where I’d had extranodal extension of a lymph node. It was painful when she was pressing on it but eventually she said she thought it was just a rib. With hindsight, I wish I’d asked for an ultrasound rather than “thinking” it was only a rib, although at that time it did just feel like a rib but there was clearly something different about it which caused her to spend a lot of time checking it and because of that I continued to check it regularly. I then felt a lump in my subpectoral region in March and had that checked with ultrasound but was told that was just a rib. I wish I’d asked her to check the axillary area at that time. In April I was back to the fast track clinic because the ‘rib’ from last December suddenly changed and it had the distinct characteristics of a tumour. It turned out to be a recurrence on my chest wall and in September I found out, after a PET scan, that the subpectoral lump I felt in March was also a tumour. I now have skin mets and it’s no longer curable so I wish I’d asked for more diagnosic tests last December.
I don’t want to cause you any worry but things need to be thoroughly checked so that, if it is something, it can be treated as soon as possible, before it gets out of hand.
I wish you the best of luck and hope that it turns out to be something benign.
Flo
X
hi Panacea…just want to reiterate everything the other ladies have said. I noticed a lump between my reconstructed breasts in jan and for 5 months i was told by gp, onc, breast surgeon it was a sebaceous cyst. By the time anyone took any notice 5 months had gone by…turned out it was skin mets…so treatment was delayed for 6 months! although my onc classes it as local recurrence it seems its still incurable. PLEASE follow your gut instinct and keep pushing…dont mean to add to your worries…sincerely hope its a good outcome for you. x