Maybe Cysts, Maybe Not--Post Mastectomy

LuLu

Maybe Cysts, Maybe Not--Post Mastectomy

LuLu

Two weeks ago I discovered a lump between my implant and my sternum, on the cancer side. By the time I got to the onco nurse practitioner this week it was two. I had an ultrasound immediately and they aren't sure if they are cysts or not. Looks like I'm back in that are they or aren't they mode. This breast was full of cysts starting about three years before my diagnosis and I can't shake the feeling that it's a bad sign that the cysts came back--if they are cysts. They do FEEL like cysts. They don't feel like my tumor. I had "extensive DCIS" in addition to my tumor and all the cysts ... I can't help but worry that if the cysts came back, anything else, i.e. cancer, is fair game too.

Has anyone else had cysts come back in the breast area after mastectomy? I can't help but wonder if my Tamoxifen is working (are the cysts and estrogen thing?) and I want the cysts out, out, out. I'd almost rather have the surgically removed than aspirated (silly, I know).

I have to wait two weeks to see my onco because he's out of town. Unless, of course, the radiologist thinks they are more serious than the technician who did the U/S.

Help. I'm freaking out.

Hattie

sorry for your worries.

i had a cyst on my one year dx anniversary--while i was far from home.  i freaked.  it ended up just fine, a cyst.   try to stay in the moment until you can get it answers.  it probably is just cysts.

take care,

--hattie 

LuLu

Thanks, Hattie. It is good advice to stay in the moment. Did you have your cyst aspirated or anything? Did you have it removed? I'm so disappointed because of my history. For three years before cancer I was getting regular biopsies and ultrasounds because the first time I had cysts removed they found atypical cells. Thankfully, this saved my life, because when the cells became cancerous, we knew at stage 1. I had already been seeing my oncologist for years. However, one reason I got a mastectomy was to end that awful cycle of checking lumps every six months and having biopsies, etc. I hated that rollercoaster and I thought "Ok, now it's over." I guess I just didn't bargain on this. Maybe I was naive and it was just the beginning. For the rest of my life I will probably have to deal with "scares."