Awaiting doctor's appointment

Hi, I am a 19 year old from Slovenia,

I am, for the lack of a better term, freaking out. My breast has been enlarged for some months and is thicker than the other with occasional pain shooting through it. Because of the virus, I was hesitant to go see a doctor, but I finally saw my private physician and she appointed me to a specialist and gave me no diagnosis or opinion. I’ve been reading a lot about cancer, in particular, IBC, and wish to know if anybody could help me know it that could be the case. I have no redness or discoloration of the skin whatsoever, nor can I feel any change in my lymph nodes, any lumps, and have no nipple discharge. Please help, with two weeks till my next appointment, I would just like some clarity and paint a realistic picture of what I’m dealing with so I can at least somewhat continue my school work and not have this on my mind 24/7. Thank you to anybody willing to respond.

Hi

I’m sorry you’re in this situation. There’s always a lot of waiting, I’m afraid. First. I’d like to say that pain isn’t usually an indicator of breast cancer but I’m no physician. And nor is Google. The more you look up, the more you read, the scarier it gets and almost all of us here would say steer clear of Dr Google. It cannot know your precise symptoms, takes no account of emotional wellbeing - which is a huge factor right now as you’re finding - and generally scares the s*** out of us.

The best thing you can do, if it’s practical for you in Slovenia, is to ring one of the nurses here. They are very well-informed and understanding. They can’t diagnose but they can reassure. Meantime please resist the urge to look up anything else until you have a diagnosis from a specialist. I know two weeks seems interminable but you can choose two weeks of feeding your fears (possibly for nothing) or two weeks focusing on doing things that are good for your wellbeing - because if you do get a diagnosis of breast cancer, you are going to need every ounce of emotional resilience you have. So practise relaxation (YouTube is a great resource - got me through a year of misery), mindfulness, yoga, go for runs, anything to keep your mind in a good place.

I wish you all the best. It would be wrong to reassure you but I definitely advise you against research.

Jan x