What if breast clinic is not the correct referral?

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Hi there!

 

I am waiting for my appointment at the breast clinic (28th September), as I have some firm, like glued-on and irregular shaped mass in the upper left quarter of my left breast, near or on my breastbone. I’m 35.

 

I tried to stay calm and rational, in 80 or 90% it’s benign and so on.

But as if that wasn’t hard enough, I got into panic mode when I realised that my breast might not be the spot where it started, but rather the lymphnodes in my abdomen/groin/however you call it. I have been walking around with swollen lymphnodes (that are not hurting when you squeeze them) for 1,5 years, and 4 doctors have shrugged it off and said lymphnodes can be swollen for a couple of weeks and that’s normal, one even said it’s because of the irritations after shaving the bikini zone. But it’s been months, many months, not weeks! They always just looked at me blankly and couldn’t explain it, but said it’s nothing and told me to not think about it too much. I also got lower back pain, fatigue, night sweating, itching…‘perfect’ symptoms, and I had been on immunosuppressants for 13 years, which is a risk factor.

 

So now, to come to my question- if the lump in my breast should be related to the lymphnodes (i.e. lymphoma), would the appointment at the breast clinic still be helpful? Has anybody here had a lump in their breasts that was not genuinely bc, but another one that spread?

I am so afraid that I’d go to the breast clinic and they’d send me away to oncology, and then all the waiting will start again. I will have waited for 4 weeks at the time of the appointment, not to mention the 1,5 years of being sent away. Would they look at the lymphnodes in my groin as well to find out whether the lump orignates from there?

I’m so afraid to be sent away or back and forth until it’s maybe too late in case it is what I fear! :frowning:

 

I know that I should keep to thinking it’s likely benign, and I would maybe manage to do that (more or less) if it was ‘just’ for the lump in my breast. But the other worries pulled the rug from under my feet.

Nicole

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Hi again! Im also 35 with the same symptoms tired achy itchy chest pain…as you know id been brushed off with “its a lymph node” until i persisted that other doctors checked my scans…my “swollen gland” has got bigger and harder and now im worried if it is a gland then why is it so big? Is it something else underlying? I also have persistent random bruising all over my legs :frowning: x

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Hi Delly!
Do you mean it would make more sense to go a different route already? (Sorry in case I misunderstood your commet, I’m not a native speaker).
See, I just don’t know whether I should go to the gp and talk about the lymph nodes again, or wait until I see someone at the breast clinic and hope that they will take them into consideration when they look at my boob lumps. My great concern at the moment is that I don’t want to start the waiting game all over again with gp and 2 weeks waiting etc in case I need to see an endocrinologist or oncologist in a different department or clinic. I don’t know how the system and procedures work here, whether they can send you further directly or you need to start a whole new referral.
But if I should be sent away from the breast clinic being told it’s just a swollen lymphnode, I’d go to pester the gp for a referral to another specialist who deals with the lymphatic system. I still hope that at my clinic they will take everything into account, though. I’ll be accompanied by an assertive friend who is also a native speaker (in case I misunderstand or can’t express myself clear enough to the doctor that is very useful).

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Ugh, sent before I could write ‘thanks and regards, Nicole xx’

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Got a letter yesterday to go to the “breast surgery” department not breast clininc like 2 weeks ago…appt 12th october.
Rang and asked some questions…answer was “its to meet surgeon and discuss what happens next” oh bloody hell :frowning: x

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Hi Vanessa!
Oh my, they could have put it a little less open for worrysome interpretation, but to me it sounds like the next steps of testing? They can’t take the usual biopsies, like needle biopsy, at the breast clinic with a lymph node. With lymph nodes the whole node has to be taken out for biopsy, so they had to refer you to breast surgery to have it removed I suppose.
But on the good side, they take it seriously and it seems like they will take a biopsy, so you will not be fobbed off without knowing what is going on in your breast. I hope you are not expecting the worst already after their unclear expression, I would say it’s for further testing. Nicole x

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Hi delly!
Ah, I see, thanks! :slight_smile: Indeed I will insist if need be, and my friend who will accompany me will support me. I hope that now it will be taken seriously. I can’t believe that I haven’t raised hell at some point last year to stop being fobbed off. I’m in a very bitter state of regret already, so no more of that!
Nicole x

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Ugh, and I just got a reminder text message saying ‘Don’t forget your appointment on 28/09/15 etc etc’. How could I!?

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Thanks! Yes, let’s hope. :slight_smile:

I will go and see the super moon tonight. Which is probably not a wise decision, as I caught a cold (hope I’ll be able to keep my boobs still tomorrow despite the coughing :wink: ) and bettet get some sleep. Then again I thought I will probably not sleep well anyway, so I could just as well go and see something amazing!

I will update, whatever they do and whatever I might or might not be told tomorrow already!
Nicole x

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Hi delly!

Well, I had been to the gp a couple of times last year for the lymph nodes, they always fobbed me off. I have bee mentioning it whenever I met a practicioner or I hadn’t met before (there’s quite a lot of them in my medical center) and to two nurses, but they often didn’t even want to look at them because they’re ‘just lymph nodes’. And then, when I went to a gp after noticing breast lumps, I was first so focused on my boobs that I completely forgot to mention the groins. Well, I’ll go to the GPs again for the swollen nodes in the groin, this time telling them also that in the clinic they said they have to be examined.
Just right now I’m in bed with a nasty cold and cough, so I haven’t been there yet. Must be the aftermatch of being highly stressed for some weeks.

Well, I will leave this forum, as my boobs are clear and the other stuff is different business. This forum and BCC is awesome and does so much! I wish you, and all of the amazing and kind people here all the best!
Nicole xx