Swollen area on upper breast, but nothing found on US.

LailaMarie

This is kind of a long story so please bear with me! In 2007 I did a self exam and somehow expelled discharge from my breast. It was black and very sticky. I, of course, was concerned so I scheduled an appt. with my dr. Dr. sent me for a mammogram and I was told all was well. I didn't worry about it. It continued to happen until I got pregnant with my son in 2011 then stopped. Everything seemed well for a long time until about 2 1/2 months(ish) ago. I was getting dressed one morning and just happened to look up into the full length mirror next to my bed and noticed a swollen area next to my arm pit on the upper portion of my right breast. I blurted out "what in the world" and my husband asked what the issue was. I told him to stand behind me and look into the mirror. He noticed instantly. Neither of us are sure when it popped up. I called and made an appt. with my dr. In between my call to schedule the appt. and my appt. day I was feeling for lumps (I seem to be obsessed at poking and prodding at myself right now!) and expelled some discharge. This time it was milky and very sticky. I saw my dr. and she lifted my arm felt around for a split second, said she'd send me for a mammogram and walked out. I thought ok...no big deal. In between the day I saw my dr. and the day of my mammogram and US I found a mass in my armpit. Small, but definitely there. Go to have the mammogram and ultrasound and mammogram is fine. Nothing was said about dense tissue, etc. Went for the ultrasound and the US tech couldn't find anything at all in the swollen area. Nothing. That just seems very odd to me. There has been no trauma. No pulled muscle as there isn't any pain. Anyhow, they saw the mass under my arm and described it as a "hypoechoic, irregular mass with associated adjacent doppler blood flow" and rated me as a birads 4. I go for a biopsy tomorrow morning. I should have results on Thursday. I would just like to know if any of you ladies might know what the mumbo jumbo means? I'm pretty scared to be honest. My doctor has been testing me for autoimmune disorders because of some of the symptoms I've been having and now all of this. I heard somewhere (I have no idea if this is true!) that cancer can make an ANA test come back positive and mine just did. I'm confused and worried.

inks

So sorry that you are going through all this. Your ultrasound was suspicious enough to warrant a biopsy. Your ultrasound has some worrisome features but you need the results of the biopsy to see what it is. It is unusual to have cancer n the armpit only and not in the breast. But my grandmother had hers in the armpit too, and she is still doing great. It is great that they will get you your results pretty quickly, less waiting and anxiety for you. I hope your biopsy goes great and you get benign results!

LailaMarie

Thank you so much for replying! I'm so nervous about the biopsy I can't fall asleep. 2 days really isn't long, but it will probably be the longest 2 days of my life. My husband just noticed another swollen area under my arm. I'll point it out to the doc in the morning. I could sure use something to help with my anxiety right now! Lol I'm glad to hear that your grandmother is doing well. I'll remember that in case I get bad news. That will help a lot!

Blessings!

inks

You can call your your primary care doctor and you should be able to get anti anxiety meds or sleep meds pretty quickly given what is going on in your life right now. Fingers crossed for good results!

LailaMarie

Thank you very much for your reply! I don't have insurance I only have tribal health. I need to contact them it's just a bit difficult because in order for me to get anxiety meds I'd have to drive an hour and a half (one way) for the appointment every month. The clinic by me can't handle the volume of people here so those of us that haven't been established with the mental health department already have to go to the hospital for treatment. Always some sort of red tape.....

Blessings!

inks

My surgeon prescribed me sleeping pills. If you see or even talk on the phone to anybody who has MD behind their name try to ask if they can prescribe you anything if you still need something. This whole process is emotionally so draining it would be very difficult to do it without some meds. But all this is just temporary.

doxie

inks is correct. Any doctor or CNP can prescribe anti-anxiety meds. It's clear where your anxiety is coming from and it is medically related, not a complex mental illness. You should be able to get a prescription from the doctors you are working with now.

LailaMarie

Thank you ladies for replying! I'm going to talk to my doctor when I go see her on Tuesday. I should have biopsy results by then, but still have another issue to work through that's unrelated. I truly appreciate all the responses. I don't want to talk to my family about how scared I am so this really helps a whole lot! Thank you so very much!

Blessings!