Waiting, Worried, Hopeful, Blunt Trauma Fat Necrosis?, ADHD

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Hi to all, This is my first post. I’m sorry that it’s here that I have found you, but I am so grateful for all the posts and the supportive community.

I’m 62 and my 2ww appointment is next Tuesday 26th. I saw my GP last Wednesday, after finding a lump the previous night, so a quick turnaround.

My GP describes it as pea size, discrete and gristly! I can tell it’s attached and it’s not ‘surface level’, but deeper. Right breast, Mid/Upper Inside Quadrant, 2cm (ish) outside of the areola.

The wait is so difficult and the uncertainty is driving me crazy. I’m ok, but then not ok and I was just getting to the point of accessing counselling for a long term trauma, that I haven’t been processing fully and I have a recent ADHD (combined) diagnosis and have just begun medication, so lots of big stuff to deal with there! My ADHD prescriber is aware of the lump and I have a virtual call with her tomorrow.

My hope/anticipation that the lump is benign is because I tripped up the stairs 20 months ago and my right breast landed in a plastic crate on the landing! It was badly bruised and so a Fat Necrosis lump seems to be a possible diagnosis. Also aware that Fat Necrosis on mammogram and US can also look like cancer.

All this said, I feel that if I’m not offered a biopsy, I will continue to worry that it’s cancer and this will make it more difficult to deal with the other stuff. Have you requested a biopsy, so that you know for sure? What was the response?

Also, I’m not wanting to share it with anyone, unless absolutely necessary and until I am sure that I know what I am dealing with here. My husband is supportive, I’m worried about him too, but I know that he will be fidgety at the 2ww appointment over a 2-3 hour period and will probably want to go for a walk and so may not be there when I need him (he is most likely on the ASD spectrum) and I am our driver and so I think its best for me to go by myself. My trusted and valued friends don’t live close by and I’m not ready to ask for help from a neighbour friend.

Did you go to the 2ww appointment alone? How was that?

I have spoken with a wonderful BCN nurse who has said that I should explain my fears and ask for a biopsy, but that I can’t insist. I get that. I have spoken with the breast cancer nurse at the hospital and she has said that attending the 2ww appointment alone will be ok, she said that I could phone afterwards and ask more questions, ahead of any biopsy results if I need to and that being accompanied at a follow-up biopsy results appointment will be very beneficial to me, of course.

I’ll be so grateful for your reply.

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Welcome to the forum @splashalli . The anxious waiting is truly horrible and very hard not to get yourself worked up thinking about the what ifs . Personally I was very grateful I had someone with me for moral support at my appointment but everyone is different and if you don’t feel your OH would cope well then maybe him being nearby for support rather than in the clinic itself may be better for you ?
Whatever the outcome there’s lots of support here for you . Best wishes Jill

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Thank you so much for your kind response. I will give this some thought and chat with hubby. Perhaps your suggestion will help us both? I appreciate it very much X

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I think most people take someone with them understandably but am offering this up as an alternative experience.

I went to the call back from a routine mammogram alone aged 66. I am a widow with no children and am quite an independent person and so didn’t think it was appropriate to involve a friend at this very early stage. I had the repeat mammo, US and biopsy within an hour and a long chat with the BC nurse. I was told, whilst I was having the biopsy, that it was cancer but the biopsy would tell us what sort. I process things by thinking about them hard and was glad that I had no-one with me as I would have felt like I would have to engage in chatter when I wanted to think. Your companion can’t go into the tests with you so there will be some waiting around for them. It is not for everybody to fly solo at these appointments but it is doable.

I did take someone with me for the results appointment two and a half weeks later, hoping that my oldest friend would catch the bits I didn’t hear but, when the time came, she was more upset than me at the positive diagnosis so I ended up explaining what was happening to her ! So choose wisely. Just to say that whilst it was cancer, the treatment plan went smoothly and I have recently had my third year check and there is no evidence of disease - their way of saying cancer free.

I am so sorry that you’re having to deal with this uncertainty at the same time as other significant issues, I do hope that the lump turns out to be benign. Do let us know and in the meantime, keep posting if it helps as we’ve all been where you are now and understand.

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Thank you so much for sharing your experience. I did speak with hubby last night and we agreed that as he can’t come into the testing rooms, that I will deal with the first appointment by myself. I am fairly resilient, so I will be fine and I agree, like you I don’t want to take on someone else’s view through their lens and then have to tell them why I might not agree with them and that their emotions aren’t helping me. And if I do have cancer, I will tell her, but will say to her that if anyone asks about it or me, then all I want her to say is that I’ve asked her not to say anything and that if she needs support, I can direct her to BCN and Macmillan. I will need to tell her as we have a weekly fitness session together and she lives across the road from me and it will be obvious that things have changed.

It’s usual for me to share, share, share, I wear my heart on my sleeve…but with this I have processed so much already, I know I will only share the very basic details with her and most people other than my sons and daughter-in-laws and closest friend.

The last thing I want is to think that neighbours are trying not to look at my chest and are wondering what surgery I have had.

It feels right to imagine now, even though I may not have cancer, who I will tell and how much and what help I will ask from them.

Earlier today, I had another good exploration (I’ve not done this other than checking to see if the lump I know is a lump and have been referred for, is still there - honestly! And now I can’t tell if there are other lumps and one in the other breast too. It made me feel physically sick.

Roll on next Tuesday. Now I need to prepare for my call with my ADHD prescriber. One of my goals post ADHD diagnosis was for me not to overshare - and now I do find myself not wanting to share this, so I can now tick this off I suppose.

Thank you again for sharing. I am so pleased to hear that you are cancer free. I think that if it is cancer, and I know what I am dealing with, it will be easier than it is now, whilst I am completely in the dark and my mind won’t stop racing. I can imagine someone telling me not to do that, but right now, it is the last thing I want to hear.

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I got a two week appointment after I had a mastectomy and reconstruction and found a lump in it. It was fat necrosis. The two staff were expecting a real breast not a reconstructed one and started laughing. I could see why and didn’t take offence!

Seagulls

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At the beginning of last week, I never imagined that I would be having chats like this or had heard of fat necrosis, it’s a whole new world.

Was it left in?

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I had fat necrosis which turned into an oil cyst five months after surgery / three months after radiotherapy. It was painful for a while - I was told that I might always have a lump there although I have heard of people having oil cysts drained - however it did eventually absorb into my body , there’s no lump there now and no pain.

One of my work colleagues told me that she had been investigated for a lump of which turned out to be a lipoma call sed they thought by trauma. You have my sympathy as waiting is the very worst . Xx

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Thank you for letting me know this. Xxx

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I had a lumpy area in my mastectomy & LD reconstruction about 5 years ago. On US it was diagnosed as fat necrosis, no biopsy. Since i was 16 years on from initial diagnosis of DCIS, i was confident that it had been diagnosed correctly.

Recently i had an US on it again and this time a biopsy was done. It came back with an idc recurrence within the necrosis. I dont know if it could have been spotted with a biopsy the first time but in hindsight i wish they had done a biopsy then.
So i would say have one done if you can for peace of mind. X

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Thank you so much. I have a script ready to explain to them why me having a biopsy is so important to me, if they do say fat necrosis and no further treatment.

How are you now? xx

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Forgot to say that the oil cyst was diagnosed by ultrasound only. Obviously I was worried but it was a Consultant who did the scan and she was very confident about what it was x

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Good idea. Im ok thanks im just 5 weeks on from this latest surgery and now awaiting oncology appointment in September. Ive got a bit of infection so im hoping it doesnt effect when i can start radiotherapy. Hope all goes well with your appointment and you get a clear answer. X

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Thank you and hope your infection clears and doesn’t interrupt radiotherapy start xx

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They took it out after composing themselves and it was nothing to worry about

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Hello all,

I am relieved to say that my lump is an oil cyst that is caused by injury to my boob after tripping and bashing it and it developing a substantial bruise, this was back in November 2023. I’m 62.

The service at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Kings Lynn, Norfolk was brilliant. All completed within an hour. I am so grateful.

I saw the Consultant for health history, she did a physical examination, said she thought it was just 1 cm deep and said she thought it was benign!

Then I had a mammogram, then she (mammographer/radiographer) and a male radiologist (US person) viewed the mammogram images together in another room and then she called me to the US room and when I was ready for the US, he (radiologist) came to the room. He said the mammogram showed no cancer and he did the US and he showed me the US image and he explained that it clearly showed a cyst, caused by the injury to my breast in November 2023. He said it needed to be left alone and it would dissolve into the surrounding tissue, where it came from. I think he said that it had gone beyond being a fat necrosis and that it is definitely an oil cyst.

I was kept up to date throughout each step.

I saw the Consultant again for follow up and an explanation of their findings and she showed me all the images (mammograph and US), she showed me that they were my images with today’s date and she answered my questions and she said she would send me a copy of the letter she would send to my GP.

At the start I said that I wanted to know what they were thinking at every step and that I was prepared for it being cancer and that I was so grateful for them and the service and I was so glad that the wait was over as the wait had been so difficult for me as it is for so many of us.

I am so relieved and grateful for all your comments and support and wish you all the best of luck.

Allison xxx