I know I am probably worrying about nothing but here I am hoping for some reassurance about my next steps. I’ve put my info here in case it is useful.
Over the last year I have lost and gained about 8lbs which has affected my boobs (ill with pelvic congestion and endometriosis which was solved with surgery). They lost (the regained) their fullness and at times have had a bit of a dip towards the top. I check regularly and all seemed fine. Over the last week I’ve had reasonably significant boob pain, mostly in the right one and at times I have had blinding pain. I checked at the weekend and everything seemed OK so I put it down to a change in my mini pill and hormones etc. Last night I took my bra off and there it was! My dip looked more prominent and clear as day there was an oval shaped lump on the upper part of my breast towards the top. I hopped in the bath hoping it would go away but it didn’t so I called my husband in. He said he agreed that there was a more noticeable dip and he could see a swelling, he had a feel and could feel the lump.
I saw my GP today (had to do a turn up and sit and wait but that was fine and I was grateful the receptionist was sympathetic and offered me that). He said it was clearly a lump and clearly painful. He has prescribed antibiotics in case it is an infection whilst I wait for an urgent clinic appointment. Although he didn’t think it was infected, no heat locally, no temperature generally and no redness he said it was always worth a try as it can rule things out. He seemed to think that pain means it is less likely to be sinister and he was kind enought to say 9/10 referrals are not cancer.
So the receptionist did me a referral and I am at the Breast Clinic next Wednesday. Is it something it is OK to do alone? I know there is likely to be lots of waiting as I will see Drs and have scans (hopefully that’s it) and maybe further tests. For many boring reasons I don’t have anyone who could easily go to the clinic with me. I’m 39 and when I was going through my previous illness I was OK at most appointments on my own apart from one Consultant who, after the first time, I refused to see alone (I ended up making a complaint and transferring to another hospital).
Thanks in advance for any advice.
Hi Bella,welcome to the forum.Like your GP says most referrals to the clinic are subsequently found not to be breast cancer and there are a number of other explanations for lumps and breast changes do there is a good chance this will have a good outcome .Nevertheless I would say that if at all possible you should take someone with you to the clinic for moral support .You can be there for a couple of hours and it is quite anxiety provoking .They often give you an indication what they think they are looking at on the day and if it were to be bad news it’s not something I would want to deal with alone .Fingers crossed for you .Jill
On the day they will either give you the all clear or if they cannot explain what they are looking at or it looks suspicious they will do a biopsy .The results take about a week.I would def take someone to that appointment .You may be able to get some time with breast care nurse and your husband after the appointment with Doc to discuss treatment /tests etc.
Bella I would strongly recommend you take your hubby with you , mine too is self employed and was working all hours but insisted I wasn’t going without him, I had a biopsy and was diagnosed a week later so work had to take a back seat while we came to terms with it all, he now won’t work as much as before , it’s certainly made us re think the important things and life! Hopefully all will be well hun but you will really need someone with you if things don’t go to plan Xxx
Good news!
The appointment went really well. The Dr examined me, confirmed a lump and did a basic scan and said he wasn’t worried and sent me off for an ultrasound with drawing on my boob to show the area he wanted looking at. The ultrasound lady was really nice and said she was happy it wasn’t anything sinister and would write up her results. I then went back to the Dr. He said I have an aysmmetric dense nodularity. Although he feels it is nothing to worry about he did take a sample of this for analysis given that it is a lump and is asymmetric. He used a needle, inserted into my boob and scraped some cells off the lump and stuck them to a slide (I know this as there was a trainee Dr there and he was explaining it to him). This was not super painful but was sore and it has left me with a small bruise and swelling where the needle went in. These cells will then be looked at to check they are normal breast tissue. He will call in the next week or so to confirm that this is the case (he was telling the trainee this used to be done same day but cutbacks mean this doesn’t happen any more).
The whole thing ran really smoothly and all of the staff were nice and friendly and supportive, just the kind of people you need to deal with these situations and I was very impressed.
Edited to add - I was so happy that the Dr was not concerned I forgot to ask what to do about my boob pain so once I get the results of the tests I’ll book back to my GP to see what is going on there.