Lump found under scar on prophylactic side

littleblueflowers

Hi everyone. I really need your input. Today I found what feels like a small lump under my prophylactic scar near my sternum. I'm 2 months out of chemo and doing radiation. Has anyone had similar experiences, good or bad? Could it be scar tissue? I just started doing chest presses and flys. I'm so scared I'm crying. I can't put my family thru this again. Please please help. I'll see my RO tomorrow, I just need to make it throug tonight without telling DH. He is on a fire in california and can't be distracted. Please help if you can...prayers for us all..

littleblueflowers

please help me...

farmerlucy

I have seen similar things on these boards before and the vast majority are fattydeposits from the previous surgery. Take things a step at a time. At this point there is no reason to think it is something sinister. I had four bumps two on each side of my Mx scar. I knew from reading these boards it was fatty deposits or undissolved stiches. Turns out they were undissolved stiches. Maybe have a hot bath and a glass of wine. Certainly call your doc tomorrow but for tonight try to get your mind on something else like a silly reality show. Hang in there. We're hanging with you. Let us know how it goesok?

littleblueflowers

Thank you for your advice! I'm so scared I'm not thinking straight. I see my RO tomorrow anyway so hopefully he can get me in with my MO quick. I hope and pray it's fatty deposits or scar tissue. Thank you.

Italychick

littleblue, it could also be swelling. I have had some weird swell spots post lumpectomy, and breast surgeon checks them and gives me a hand wave and says stop worrying. So many bizarre things come up after surgeries. I won't say don't worry, but keep your chin up until tomorrow. How big is the lump? Does it move? Feel squishy? Little things have come and gone in my surgical site.

Hoping for the best!

littleblueflowers

Ok this is lame but now it feels like a rib attachment. Stand by for ,ore prodding g...feels like I have somethin similar on the next rib down too...Ok ativan aND whiskey have made me somewhat rational...edit...still not sure. Still scary..different from the one below the scar...

Juliecc

I have had small lumps come and go. Each time they would ultrasound them, and couldn't even find them. Then they would disappear. I had 2 skin lumps biopsied during my exchange surgery and they were nothing. They might be internal stitches or scar tissue. I had a whole row of hard BB like lumps slightly below my external scar line that disappeared. It's very unnerving. It's always good to get these checked out, though.

panthrah

1. love the profile pic/movie!!!!! 2. take a deep breath.. body does wonky things while healing (takes longer than you think) 3. high fives for your hubby.. us CA people appreciate them

littleblueflowers

Thanks so much! I hope I can see my MO tomorrow....can ROS feel you up too? I see him tomorrow at 8 am..

Sunny_Girl

LittleBlue,

It is a crazy time and you will have things pop up and go away - it is a wonky time as your body recovers. I had a golfball size lump show up in my right arm pit that wasn't the side of my breast carcer - it was nothing. I have a pea size lump under my incision that is a thread.

See your doctor - this one of the crappy parts of this disease.

Hugs to you tonight - Patty

KBeee

your RO can feel it and give you an opinion and hopefully put a call in to MO as well. Hoping you get reassurance today. And 1 more zap down...1 closer to the blazing finish line

queenmomcat

A Johnny-come-lately here: if it's any comfort I've noticed lumps post-surgery/halfway through rads....and I've got straight DCIS, too small to feel at time of dx, plus a CT scan for my sim on the 26th of August. I can't possibly have developed a recurrence that quickly. But that sure isn't how our little panicky lizard hindbrains work, now, is it?

littleblueflowers

I have an ultrasound at 1330 tomorrow even thoug my MO is positive its scar tissue. I wish that was helping me not worry, but instead it's making it more real. I'm glad they got me in next day though! Not sure how I'm going to make it until then. When I was diagnosed, I new it was bad and I knew what to do- cut them off and fight like hell. Now I don't feel any certainty..

queenmomcat

In sympathy: sip another Jamieson's. Slowly. Can we help with a distraction? a goofy video? frightening one even, if it'd keep your mind off your appointment tomorrow. go out for a late supper?

littleblueflowers

please! Suggest anything! And I raise my glass to you!

queenmomcat

Do you have a subscription to Hulu, or Netflix? stories of our lives? I can provide some cat stories, but don't be shy about asking on the Insomniacs thread, or Crazytown.

littleblueflowers

I have hulu and netflix!

queenmomcat

Brilliant: streaming video is our friend when we're flipping out. I tend to the slightly outre British television shows and films, dunno what you like. Gilliam's The Adventures of Baron Munchausen? Who Framed Roger Rabbit? But those are slightly older. What do you like?

panthrah

Ill second roger rabbit....

littleblueflowers

Well, the radiologist threw around terms like" definitly a nodule", and 'could be a suture granuloma" and "could be a re-occurance". Very fracking helpful, dude. Now I have to wait for the MO to order a biopsy....or even an excision......pretty sure i'm going to die of fear between now and then.

queenmomcat

Don't know whether to laugh or cry! Both, probably. Do you know when the MO's going to order a biopsy? And, remind me--do you have anti-anxiety medication handy? If not, ask!

littleblueflowers

I have Ativan- do stronger things exist?

queenmomcat

Short-term answer: Ativan for now, then, and maybe getting out of the house and away from the computer and telephone for a little while? No. Make that definitely out and away for a little bit. Dinner or coffee with a friend? A walk in a park/feed the ducks/trip to the library? (I understand libraries often have DVD collections!)

I don't know about stronger things, exactly, but other things certainly. (I'm on trazodone, though that's a slower acting drug--technically an antidepressant.) Unfortunately, I have the suspicion that the stronger things lay you flat. At least the anxiolytics let you get up. But if you're still flipping out tomorrow, ask your doctor(s) what you can do.

I'd probably be flipping out too in your position! It's only the fact that I ended up with straight DCIS and a comparatively slow-growing variant at that which has kept me from sprinting to the poor oncologists every time I felt a lump. And I've found several. I swear anxiety is part of the cancer treatment process! and I'm betting you're now thrown back into that ghastly phase between the "You need a biopsy" and "Here's your treatment plan." that I recall so well.

littleblueflowers

Queenmom, that's exactly where I am. Right down to back in the same room where they performed my initial biopsy. Of course, at that time, no one was muttering anything, they were saying loudly "This looks very concerning, hypoechoic mass, yadda yadda, the language that spins our mortality into reality. I do need to get away from the house and computer- actually I'm at work and supposed to be writing a report. Not getting very far with that. I mean, seriously. I give the man points for honesty- It could be anything from a suture granuloma to a re-occurrence/metastasizes. Big damn difference between those terms, though!!!! Honestly, if they can give me something that makes me just functional enough to feed the cats, that's all that I care about right now. I'd really rather not drink myself there- have been doing the best for my body through this. But, the urge is still there and if thats what it takes to stave off a painc attack..well...once I get home the option exists. I have literally no one else I can take this to. Thanks for listening, it makes me feel less alone!

downdog

That radiologist is an insensitive moron with no empathy. People should not be able to get an MD without demonstrating that they are emotionally attuned to the patient experience and possess some empathy. No point speculating when he doesn't know definitively. FWIW, I think it's most likely scar tissue, a suture granuloma like he postulated, or even a neuroma exacerbated by rads. You are probably thin and bony there and I doubt it's fat necrosis. A branch of the intercostal nerve runs by your sternum. A neuroma can form in scar tissue and is a tangled mass of axions that are palpable (but never malignant) as a result of the nerve unsuccessfully attempting to regenerate to its target. Some suggestions you may want to try: 1. deep breathing to stop the adrenalin. Inhale for 5 secs, hold and exhale for 6 or 7 secs and repeat; 2. Yoga if you are familiar with it; 3. Maybe go outside in the fresh air and go for a walk or hike, even better if you have a companion; 4. Do as challenging a workout as you are capable of at this point in your tx. The exercise will help distract you and the endorphins will make you feel good. 5. Visualization or guided imagery, especially if you have had any success with this in the past. I think you'll feel worse when the effects of the whiskey wear off, but use what you need to help yourself. If you feel you need it, take 2mg of Ativan. You are not alone in this. Lots of support from your bco sisters, so come back whenever you need to. It will be tough at times waiting for the biopsy/excision, but you are going to be ok. Lots of hugs

littleblueflowers

Thanks down dog. Had a straight up panic attack at work and had to come home. Trying g to put myself together. Will the surgeon order a biopsy if he thinks it's warrented? How come the MO couldn't order one? They are all acting like I'm crazy but The rad Dr did say it could be cancer or it could be scar tissue. Good god. They are Going to name a street in cthe other thing was razy town after me...the other thing was, the nuse asked me what i wanted. I said i wanted to not hAve cancer, obviously. I asked her what she wold tell her daught er to do. She said hAve the surgeon visit. So yep...right back where i was 7 mon the aGo gEttinger reasy to fighT or die. .

queenmomcat

(having paced around my computer for a time to consider my answer) I too am betting on one of the many lumps resulting from cancer treatment itself rather than from a recurrence or reemergence of your cancer. You've been under active treatment for most of the past six months--what checks and tests do the MOs do while patients are undergoing chemo? (IDK: I skipped straight into radiation.) Did they say anything? Did they do a check at the end of chemo to see if your original sites had shrunk? (Family member going through immunotherapy for another cancer--they do a PET scan on him every three months or so.)

But the ROs do at the very least the CT scan during our sims, and I know they do imaging on a regular basis during the treatments themselves. Have either your MO or RO said anything about your lumps? (Mine haven't. My surgeon said something about massage for scar tissue, but that's all.)

And I second Downdog's suggestion of "get out of the house." If it were I, a trip to the library and then off to the nearest coffee shop with a thoroughly distracting mystery. But there are a lot of variations. Are you going to work tomorrow? When's your next day off?

A lot of us will have streets named after us in Crazytown. You're not alone in that.

littleblueflowers

the muttering radiologist said it showed up on my pre rads ct scan but not on my post surgery ct scan. So it grew during chemo. Could be scar tissue since a month after surgery I was still pretty scarred up and dynamic. Who knows. He said metastasis is a possibility along with a lot of benign thibgs. I don't understand why they don't just biopsy then??????????

queenmomcat

It could be a LOT of things. And that bleep muttering radiologist isn't helping you right now. Just say "It could be a lot of things. Let me take a look at it this afternoon, and we'll get back to you as soon as possible about the results."

Did the doctor overseeing chemo say anything? run any tests? (Not to look for the Lump of Uncertain Origins. Just to see if chemo was working.) Or did you get chemo as part of being triple negative rather than to shrink pre-existing tumors? (a couple of ladies I've met have done that)

downdog

Deep (buried) dermal sutures can take months to be absorbed by your body. What was the time interval between your surgery and post-sx CT scan?

littleblueflowers

about a month. I think...