Hi everyone,
Just after a little advice please. Is puckered skin definitely a sign of bc? I have yearly mammograms as my mother died age 41 of breast cancer, my last one was in July 2011 and was completely clear. For the last week the skin on the upper outside of my right breast is pulling in and there is a very small pea sized lump beneath it.
I do have an appointment with the breast nurse this Tuesday anyway (my yearly appt) but when i went to the GP early last week, he seems to think it is nothing to worry about and just to wait for my Tuesday appt.
I would appreciate anyone elses ideas please
xxx
Hi Hopscotch,
So sorry to read about your miother and your own worries.
Puckered skin CAN be a sign if breast cancer but I don’t know that it definitely IS. Try to hang on to the knowledge that 90% of breast lumps are benign and easily explained. Even if you are in the unlucky 10% the treatment is really good and most people go on to live happy, healthy lives afterwards. Two more days won’t make any difference I promise you, no cancer grows quite that fast… as a friend of mine said to me, nothing changes at that point execpt what you know. Although it annoyed me at the time, as it felt everything had changed, I now know what she meant.
Hopefully your BCN can put your mind at rest. Try not to fret too much - easy to say, but those of us have all been there - choose some fun things to do today and make sure a few treats cos you’ll deserve them.
Hope all goes well on Tuesday and you can say ‘phew’
Best wishes to you …hope you are one of the high percentage who dont have bc. And if you are unlucky then hopefully you will be in very early stages with a good prognosis…i have a dimple on my breast and can feel no lump at all but it is bc…surgery next week.Please let us know how you get on…
Mary
Thanks for your replies, I know I just have to try and put it out of mind until tomorrow and am actually feeling a little more positive. The puckering doesn’t seem to look so obvious today (or maybe I’m just imagining it!). The puckering isn’t so noticeable when I am standing straight, but with my hands on my hips and leaning slightly forward it pulls right in - does anyone think it could be anything else?? Sorry to hear your news Mary, loads of luck for your surgery next week x
Hi Hopscotch, alas I don’t know, sorry. But am thinking of you as you get closer to the appointment when hopefully your questions will be answered and anxiety assuaged.
thank you - im trying to keep positive - will update tomorrow - appointment at 3.40 - fingers crossed!
I’m wishing today would hurry up! Do you think it is worth telling the nurse that I have had a cold and cough now for 2 months - is this significant or am I just worrying too much??
katy
Hi Hopsotch - sorry today is so long and stomach churning for you. There’s no harm mentioning this to the nurse. As my lovely surgeon said to me after my treatment about such things ‘it’s most probably not cancer but let us know anyway’.
I don’t know about where you are, but here there have been zillions of bugs around this winter, and I’ve had three colds at the last count. Hopefully that’s all it is.
Hi Katy - good luck for today, hope it’s good news for you. Please come back and let us know.
Debbie
Thank you revcat and Debbie - I will let you know how i get on
katy x
Hi
Just to let you know - I had my appointment today with the nurse - she can feel what I feel and she can see the indentation but is not sure that is anything to be worried about. She also could feel swollen glands in my armpit. Because my last mammo was in May of last year she is sending me for an ultrasound with the consultant on Thursday, who apparently will be able to tell me if there is anything suspicious and do any biopsies at the same time.
On the form for the u/s she wrote p1, which I am assuming is a good sign as i’ve heard that they rate lumps from 1-5? (1 being nothing??)
Not looking forward to Thursday but will be glad when it is all over and done with.
Thanks for your support
Katy x
Hi Hopscotch… so far so good… let’s hope the ultrasound confirms it’s nothing to worry about too. You know where we are in the meantime.
thank you RevCat - appointment at 2 today - feel sick and don’t want to go! Will post later
Katy x
<<hug>> & a quick ‘arrow’ prayer coming your way
Hi Katy,
You have done the right thing,I hope you are taking someone with you to support you?
It can be very worrying time,I found out within 2 hours @ my hospital appointment.
I just want to say that seen as you have yearly mammagrams then it’s likey to be nothing because I was told if I got it in my other breast that they would know well before I could even feel something,so that go’s in your favour.
Also you have swelling in your armpit well you said yourself you have had a cold/cough for ages,so they will be swollen won’t they doing their normal job.
I wish you the best of luck Katy xxxxxxx
hello all,
now I am totally confused and still a little worried. I had the ultrasound yesterday and was in there for a good half hour. He spent ages marking and measuring certain things in my right breast, then he disappeared saying that he wanted to check my previous mammo - came back did some more ultrasound and then said he couldn’t see anything apart from enlarged lymph nodes in my breast and armpit. Just as I was leaving he said to the nurse to make sure I had a follow up appointment booked with a consultant. Puzzled by this (if all was clear) I asked why and he said that he wasn’t happy with the lymph nodes and the indentation in my breast. Feeling slightly happier as no lump was found I came home and within half an hour had a call from the hospital telling me to come and see the consultant Monday morning at 08:30! I am now very worried as to why he has to see me so quickly. Of course I have since been googling looking up cancer with no lump and have set myself into a real panic.
Roll on Monday!
Thanks for all your kind messages
Katy x
Golly gosh Katy, they aren’t exactly making it easy for you are they?
Try not to think about it too much, and at least with an early appointment on Monday you won’t have another gut-wrenching wait all day long.
Hope you have some pleasant distractions planned for the weekend, and that all goes well on Monday. If all is well, and you feel strong enough, maybe you could mention the distress this disjointed approach has caused?
Thinking of you and hoping they are merely being over zealous.
Its the waiting about thats so awful isnt it?
I have never found a lump in my breast just can see the dimple!However it did show up on the mammo/ultrasound but the surgeon’s intern could not feel it when i went in for my pre-op appointment.
So there all sorts of variations …there is a thread on here somewhere about disappearing lumps!
Keep your chin up… Monday isnt too far away and I think they are doing all the right things …you dont want to be fobbed off…better to be absolutely sure.
Mary
Hello again,
What Mary say’s it right,there are lumps that disappear as even in my case this happened to me,I felt a lump one night but I wanted to wait untill after my period,which I did,but after period I could no longer feel anything,so I left it.
Four month’s later I felt a much larger harder lump,which I got checked out,which in my case did turn out to be cancer.
The disappearing lumps were explained to me by breast cancer nurse that the lumps often show themselves then go deeper in the tissues to get bigger then they show themselves again.
This may or may not be true? I don’t know I’m not a doctor.
But if you did have a lump it can not disappear from scan’s & stuff.
You can have breast cancer and not have a lump as in Inflammitory breast cancer cases it does not form a lump but grow’s in sheet’s instead and is harder to diagnose.
But you can’t keep speculating and torturing yourself,I knew within 2 hours of hospital appointment,so I would enjoy your weekend try to put Monday in the back of your mind untill Monday.
All seem’s good news so far so it’s good news . xxx
Hi all, thanks for your replies. I am feeling so sick, can’t sleep and eat, just worrying all the time.
When I was told I would be having an u/s last thursday, the nurse said that if there was anything suspicious they would do a biopsy at the same time as the u/s. I am now confused as to why they didn’t biopsy any of the lymph nodes?? The radiographer said he was referring me to the consultant breast doctor because he wasn’t happy about the enlarged lymph nodes and the indent - so why not do a biopsy??
Sorry if i’m rambling, but I’m getting myself into such a state!
Only another 24 hours to go…
Thanks for all your support
Katy x