How many of you actually had a palpable lump?

dianaon

  I felt lump, similar but "different" than my usual cystic comings & goings in late July.This one also swelled pre-menses, and got smaller, but not gone. I'd had a neg. mamo 6 mos. before, but I knew that meant nothing. Went for mamo AND SONO. The radiologist only did the mamo w/ spot compressions of the area (close up films); he told me to come back in 6 mos. for mamo & sono. I said no- I had a lump and an order for a sono, but he had no time that day to do sono. Waited a month. 2.5 x 1.9 mass seen. Had bx a week after sono- was not ready to hear it was pos. Was really just going thru the rule out motions. That was 7 days ago. To add insult to injury, he told me it was IDC (it is PLIC), and his office did not give me copies of all the films, and had to go back, get them, and again physically deliver them to surgeon, (MSK) who I see for 1st time on 10/23/08.

I'm 52 w/ microcalcifications since late 30's when started mamo's, and dense breasts...getting a little less so now.

I have no idea how big it is right now, or will be when it comes out- I know they can grow quite rapidly- there was nothing there early July ..and then there was. After the bx, it was down to hardly anything; got PMS and it swelled up, now it again just feels like something... that needs to be checked out to make sure it's nothing.........

Some BC's (like mine) do not show EVER on mamo- be assertive and insistant. (I never should have left the office that night)...shoulda-coulda-woulda. It's all gonna be ok. LOVE & PEACE

2Hands4me

The upper outer area of my left breast has an oval area the size of my little fingernail that is smooth and somewhat moveable. So far, mammo, ultrasound and MRI are negative for this area although the MRI showed 2 areas in the left lower breast that "appear benign" but they want to check with ultrasound. These areas are not able to be felt! Anyone else with a negative MRI but a palpable lump?

LoriL

2 Hands- yes, I had a negative MRI with my palpable lump. It didn't show up on mammogram or MRI, but did show on ultrasound. I had found the lump myself a year ago, and a mammogram at that time was negative. So, I didn't think much of it until last Spring when I noticed that it had grown a bit.

victoriasecret

Because I always had DENSE lumpy breasts no i did not feel the palpable lump..I was always on the lookout for a hard pea..as that is what my sister had so if i did feel anything I am sure i talked myself into thinking it was my fiber cystic breasts that is the sneaky thing with lobular...but it was there all 7.5 cm after path...nobody had more us mammos than me and yet here I sit..they were always finding lumps at the 3 O'Clock position ..hmm guess where my lobular decided to take up residence and GROW...

mollyboo

I have always had lumpy breasts but when I found this lump on a self breast exam (SBE) I knew it was different!  I am (was) very small breasted so I could palpate this lump and also see it when I pulled my skin tight.  My lump was at the bottom of my breast.  I had my mammogram and US within 2 days and the radiologist and I talked about my suspicions after seeing the irregularities of the mass on the US.  ILC was confirmed within a few days by core needle bx.  I just had my bilat. mastectomy August 4 so am still recovering but relieved much is behind me.  I am a forever fan of monthly BSEs and annual mammograms for all.  I have been amazed at the number of women I know who never do BSEs!  If even one lump is found....

jrobi

Hi! What a great discussion forum - thanks to all for being here! 

About two months ago I found a thickening in my armpit and had my husband check 'just to be sure'.  He confirmed it and I let it go thinking that it might go away.  It didn't and so a month ago I had him check again.  When he felt that it had grown, he insisted I get it checked (I hate doctors!).

I went to a GP and she sent me for an axillary sonogram.  I saw her this past Saturday and the results she received from the doctor didn't show anything in the breasts (they sonogrammed those as well) - but they didn't send the results of the axillary!  So she chased and today called and told me the radiologist (?) told her that he 'didn't see anything' on the axillary results.  I got upset and told her, that's impossible - you can feel something there so there HAS to be something there - what is it?? 

She now wants to send me for a CAT scan - and my mammo is on the 30th.

She herself ruled out the idea it might be a lymph node, I don't use deodorant and the thickening/lump only hurts slightly if you push on it hard. 

This whole process is so frustrating but I'm just not sure what to do next to deal with this??  Any thoughts??

Thank you again!

JR

Gitane

JR, My thought is you are VERY smart to insist that this be checked out.  Let us know what happens. G.

shemei

I did not feel a lump. I didn't have one. My cancer was detected when they saw calcifications after a routine mammogram. If they hadn't sent me for a biopsy, I wouldn't have known I had cancer. Not every woman will feel a lump.

Keep asking questions until someone checks it out and gives you an explanation.

AlmightyIsis

Palpable lump? Yup...Had a thickening under my breast for years and asked two gynos if I could get it checked...they balked...then in 2006 I saw dimpling and felt in that spot...ouch!! it was firm and sore. I had had 3 mammos ( in four years) and none showed anything until I pointed it out to the mammo tech. Sure enough ILC..very sneaky cancer. Even before surgery, under the MRI I got, my BS thought it was about 2cm, it turned out to be 7cmx5cmx4cm area (not one mass, but several lacing through that area) so it hides on film. Self breast exams should be stressed and ultra-sounds used. 

AussieSheila

In April '94, while doing s/e in shower felt a hard pea in R breast.  Went to GP to get 2nd opinion, he couldn't find anything.  I had been on HRT for 6mths and got monthly tender lumps in both breasts, but left was worse than right.  Habit was, I showered and dressed in bathroom, where I couldn't see below my chin in mirror (installed by tall male?) Forgot undies one day so did a mad dash back to bedroom where I saw my boobs in dressing table mirror for first time in long time.  I was surprised to see an orange skin effect about 2 ins square, on rhs of right breast.

Later same day, mail includes a sample pack of some sort of health/medical cards (like recipe cards) and one of them has a large coloured pic of the same thing on my breast!  Shoot off to GP, he orders mammo, asap, he tells his receptionist, "This woman has a three inch lump!"  After I picked myself up off the floor, I went home to wait 3 days for mammo.

Had it on the Monday, Tuesday was a holiday, Wednesday GP called, come in straight away.  Sent off to local (small town) hospital for biopsy. First one inconclusive, go back next week, that one says BC.  Had mx three weeks after original mammo, details below, done by a general surgeion, spent 8 days in hospital due to drains not drying up.

Took 3 months for wound to heal, during which I started Tamoxifen, then had Chemo.  Surgeon told me I had "Adenocarcinoma" which, knowing no better, I believed was the bottom line. I didn't have rads as I had 4 teenagers at home who couldn't be left alone, and hubby worked away from home 2 weeks of every 4 and I would have to go to a big city hopital for the rx.

Apart from a small lump on the scar tissue being removed 1 yr after mx, I had no other major problems for 13 yrs.  Had issues with arthritis, would get sore spots, go to GP, get x-ray, 'you've got arthritis,' I was told each time.

Until '08, I was in so much pain, I couldn't function.  Rang GP, he's retired and the practice doesn't want any more patients.  HUH?  DH rings up for himself and gets in straight away.  After asking around, I get app't with new GP, and she sends me to Orthopeadic surgeon after x-ray shows abnormality in my spine.  He orders bone scan and guess what.................I don't have arthritis!  

Pointing to the scan, he says, "See these black spots? they shouldn't be there, that is not arthritis."  I had them in my skull, upper arms, ribs, big one in spine, hips and right knee.

He won't say the other word, but does arrange for me to see Oncologist! Doh! I wonder why?  Go back to see GP for paperwork and she won't say the word either!

Eventually, get to see Onc 2 wks later, and the first words out of her mouth are, "You have cancer in your bones, it is incurable but managable. You will not have rads or chemo but we have meds that will allow you to live a long time."  I was quite happy with that statement because after waiting for 2 wks to see her, I'd talked myself into being dead in 6 mths.

So, I have unknowingly been stage IV for about 5yrs and knowingly for the last year of that.

I got copies of my files from the hospital in '96 after finishing chemo, read them and then put them in a drawer and forgot about them.  Got them out a few months back and was surprised to see that I had ILC!  So I have spent a lot of time here since then finding out as much as I can, which can be a little frightening.  There was no 'net back in '95 to research ones dx and what was here eventually, was a bit technical for the average person.

Almost one year into 'managing' my mets with AI's, my tumour markers are down to 12, from 48, I am functioning on about 3 cylinders due to the se's from Arimidex, most of my mets spots are shrinking, although still painful, but at least I am still here to tell about it.

Sheila.

 

udpt82

I had been diligent about having mammograms, which started when I was 35.  For a few years, I was even there every 6 months.  Over the years I had a few ultrasounds and two biopsies, but nothing was found.  A few months before my mammo was due in 2008, I thought I felt periodic changes in my breast, but wasn't sure and I was always told I was "lumpy and bumpy".  I thought it might have been hormonal changes (I was 48 at the time).  I saw my gyn in March (who found nothing) and then moved my mammo up a few weeks to early June because things felt different at times.  I told the technician my concerns and, after the wet read, she said "everything is fine, see you next year."  Within about 8 weeks, I started to notice the breast was changing shape.  I scheduled an appt. with a breast specialist and she immediately found a mass (which she believed had a 70% chance of being malignant).  A mammo and us was done immediately.  The mammo showed nothing and the us was only suspicious (probably because you couldn't miss it just looking at me).  The MRI showed a mass that was 9 cm big!  Luckily, it shrunk to 3.5 cm from chemo.  I had bilat mast in Feb. followed by radiation.  I am happy to say that I just had my first PET scan and everything was fine.

One thing I keep wondering is about self exams.  Everything I have always been told and read was to make circular motions during the self exam.  What about squeezing the breast??  I think if I paid more attention while squeezing from top to bottom, I would have noticed the change earlier.

From what I have been told, ILC is the hardest to detect.  Great!! 

hlya

I felt the lump by myself, which was not shown up on mamogram.

sueinfl

I found a definite lump in my left breast two months ago after having a "clear" mammogram last Nov '09. It is already Stage 3 ILC at a little over 5cm as seen in the MRI I had this morning (right breast is clear). My oncologist has offered neoadjuvant chemo before surgery and I am going to start CAT on the 26th. Anyone else start with chemo?

anniebford

I felt an area of 'denseness', 'a mass', 'thickening'; I don't know exactly what to call it really. It was not like I what have heard others describe a lump as. I found it while laying down doing my bse before going to sleep. It was very difficult to feel when I was upright. With each dr I went to about this, II would tell them that it wasn't really palpable unless I was lying on my right side with my left arm above my head.  They would do the exam, not feel it and then I would ask to have them do the exam with me on my side. I think because it wasn't the usual way, they dismissed it. They weren't convinced there was anything there even though I had been feeling it for months. It was big and the contours of it were visible to me and I showed my mother, husband and the drs but none of them saw or felt it there. When I was finally to the biopsy results talk with my surgeon, he even said it was 'very subtle' in appearance. Very subtle, and yet a large mass and in 9 nodes.

Annie  

Gitane

sueinfl,

I had neoadjuvant chemo.  AC x 6.  Have you discussed with your oncologist the idea of having your SNB before you start chemo? 

gobuster

Through a random self check (something I rarely did) I found two lumps on Sept 20th 09.  Both were in the left breast one was lower and one closer to the nipple.  After getting mamograms (which didn't detect the lumps) and had an ultrasound to confirm these lumps.  MRI found a third lump also in the left breast.  

I will have a mastectomy of the left breast possibly by the end of this month.  

hrf

I had no palpable lump ... no one could feel anything....mammogram was totally clear, u/s did not show lump either....lymph node showed up and that's what started things....mri showed "area of enhancement". Scary that ILC does not show up as we expect.

hrf

sueinfl, the mri showed a large area of enhancement - about 5 cm. However, I had surgery first and the tumour was 2.2 cm in reality.

Cal-Gal

I did NOT have a palpable lump--nor did the ILC show on the mammogram--thank God for DCIS and the MRI that followed DCIS dx---

I ended up w/ 4 tumors all ILC--

Sizes 1.7,1.5 and (2) .8 cm's---all in the same area---with 11cm of DCIS 

lrsreyes

I had 3 dark spots/mass on areola close to my left nipple. My GP just ordered a diagnostic mammo & U/S  at a local hospital. Both were normal for 2 years so I thought I was ok. It is obvious to me that my GP, the radiologist should have warned me about ILC since I was post menopausal. An oncology nurse made a comment that any abnormalities close to the nipple is something to be worried about. This infuriates me because being an analyst I know there are automated diagnostics software that if a patient complains of abnormalities around the nipple, post menopausal, used HRT is a likely to have ILC which 80% of the time do not show in mammo.At the time of surgery my tumor has grown to 7.5 grade 1.

GML

I had a palpable lump...rather large (turns out it was 6.5 cm x 5.5 cm x 4 cm).  It felt more like a "thickening" than a lump and my oncologist later said it was a "classic" presentation of invasive lobular carcinoma.  It did not show on the mammogram (or "shmammogram" as I've seen here) and they could not find it on the ultrasound at diagnostic mammo.  Breast surgeon found it on ultrasound though and did the biopsy.  Scary because I hadn't had a mammo since 2005 and if I had, and it was negative as my recent one was, I would have been much more likely to "blow this off" as fibrous tissue. 

G

darsura

I did find a lump, totally by accident, and then had a mammo and ultrasound which also detected an area (thought to be pre-cancerous) below the lump.  The pathology after surgery showed that the area below the lump (which was a .6cm IDC) was not pre-cancerous, but actually an ILC, 1.5 cm.  I had never missed my annual mammogram, nor seen any breast changes.  If I had never found the IDC, I do not know how or when I would have ever found the ILC.

tandnmom

Hi,

I found mine in the shower as well.  Felt like a tootsie roll.  Didn't show up the mamogram I had Nov 09, and didn't show up on mamogram late May 09.  But it did show up on ultrasound. it was estimated to be 1cm in size.   

I'm at stage IIIa, dianosed June 1, 2009 w/ Invasive Lobular Carcinoma in Right breast.  Had lumpectomy in July.  Tumor was 2cm x 2cm x 2.5cm.  6 out of 17 lymph node involvement.  Had bilateral mastectomy in July 25, 2009.  Had small ILC tumor in other breast, w/ no lymph node involvement.  Had scant trace of cancer cells left in my right chest wall (no clean margins).  Started T/C chemo late Aug.  will finish 6 rounds on 12/3/09 then will start radiation treatment (5 weeks x 5 days a week) mid-January. 

How are you doing now?  I've been affraid to ask about my prognosis.  I had a PET scan after my mastectomy.  No hot spots!  Have had 2 chest xrays which where also clean. 

tandnmom

GML,  What kind of treatment are you having?  Chemo?  Radiation?

Thanks.

tandnmom

tandnmom

GML,  What kind of treatment are you having?  Chemo?  Radiation?

Thanks.

tandnmom

ImpatientPatient

I found mine because my nipple started retracting. Mind you, I was 27 and had always had dense and lumpy breasts. At first, I didn't feel a lump so I waited because I was too young to have cancer and no one else in the family had history of it. I waited about 2 months before calling my GYN. She sent me for a mammogram and ultrasound on the same day. 4 days later, I was in the BS office. Mammography and MRI didn't show anything. Only the ultrasound.

Anonymous

Mine was felt more like a thickening.  I had a lumpectomy in another area a month earlier for LCIS, and the surgeon felt that the thickening was due to post trauma to the area.  Thank goodness the oncologist disagreed and sent me for a MRI.  It showed up on MRI, but not mammogram or ultrasound. I was diagnosed at 46 years old.

LizziesNuNu

I found mine in 06, I had just had my annual mammo, so didn't think anything about it. Then when it still didn't show up in 07, I said " wait a minute" They did a sonogram, and decided to "watch it" . Then in June 09, the radiologist decided it needed to be checked. Wonder what would have been the results if they'd done the bio in 07. I had an MRI before surgery, it picked up two more spots. Right one was clear, but I opted for bilateral. Like I said, I wonder what would have been the out come, if they'd done something sooner?

ImpatientPatient

It is so strange how the same type of cancer can show on one scan for some and not for others. I guess thats why they end up having to do so many tests.

Frapp

I noticed my right breast was fuller than my left.  I didn't think any thing of it, because I have lumpy breasts and they always tended to swell at one time or another during the month.  I had a hysterectomy the year before and was put on the hormone patch so I thought it was the hormone.  Then the nipple inverted and I figured I should go see someone.  This was the first week of December 09.  My doc got me in immediately to have a mamo and ultrasound, nothing showing so had mri because you could see visually that my right was different from my left.  Mri definately showed something so had biopsy to confim ILC.  Pet scan confirms mets.