How many of you felt a mass prior to getting tested?

Hopefloatsagainandagain

I'm just curious how many of you felt a mass before your testing? I had no clue. I really didn't believe them until I saw the pictures. What were the results from your tests? I'm a professor, so I love research and statistics. I need to multitask during the Super Bowl. Figured I'd follow the discussion on here and hope the Patriots go down.

MelissaDallas

Hope, it would help us help you if you would pick one of your threads (the biopsy one perhaps?)and stick to it, instead of starting a new thread with every question. Most of us like to answer questions in the context of the entire picture of what is going on with you and that is difficult if we have to go find all your other threads.

I had no mass. Calcifications were seen on a regular screening mammogram.

Hopefloatsagainandagain

Well, I guess there are unwritten rules I don't know about. My apology. You know, I'm just trying to wrap my head around this. Sorry I don't fit in a tidy box. I'm typically not snarky, but I'm just too emotional to deal. My way of dealing is constantly learning and researching. I'm sorry if I was out of line.

ElaineTherese

Hi Hope!

I did feel a lump before testing. It was 5 cm., so pretty hard to miss! I should note that it was close to the surface, nowhere near the chest wall. Maybe it depends on the size and location of the lump. Best wishes!

123JustMe

Hi Hope,

I did not feel a lump. It was close to the chest wall

Lisey

I felt a lump only after I noticed my nipple was pulling to one side. Then i pushed in and felt that marble feeling behind my nipple.

Smurfette26

I had absolutely no clue but I now know that isn't unusual with Lobular.

My cancer was found in a routine screening mammo. Even after a diagnostic mammo and ultra sound the Dr's were not able to palpate any lump or anomalies though they could see them on imaging.

What type of BC do you have?

Hopefloatsagainandagain

Thanks for the reply. I'm have a biopsy on Thursday. I tend to be OCD about researching when I'm stressed. They found a .6x.5x.3cm hypoechoic mass with slightly irregular/slightly indistinct margins. I'm stressing. (I tend to talk a lot when I am stressed. This is fulfilling that need.)

Marikan

I had no clue. My mass was found during a screening mammogram. I'm also having core biopsy on Thursday. Mass is solid hypoechoic .9cm x .3cm on chest walI. I hope we both get B9 reports!

MinusTwo

Hope - maybe Melissa's message didn't make sense, but there are any number of us who really do try to make thoughtful answers to questions. Just pick one thread & keep going on that one. We need the "back story". As soon as you can, do go to My Profile and enter your diagnosis & stats so we have a better chance of understanding what's happening in your life. Do I understand you have already had a biopsy? Or it is to come?

MinusTwo

BTW - I felt no mass with the first diagnosis. With the recurrence, it was a mass under my collar bone that alerted me & the docs to the situation.

marie5890

I never felt mine. It was found on mammo. Biopsy showed it to be B9

Kayla250

I felt a mass and didn't think much about it, looking back I really can't believe how ignorant I was about the whole thing. Anyway, good luck with your biopsy

ChiSandy

Hope, I never had a lump—it was found as a “focal asymmetry” on my annual routine screening mammogram, and diagnostic spot compression mammo and ultrasound showed features “suspicious for malignancy” (BIRADS 4B). Biopsy was ultrasound-guided core-needle (the radiologist didn’t feel it either). No lump was ever palpable until after it was removed and confirmed to be IDC.

obsolete

2.8 CM - not visible on routine mamm

visible on DX zoom screening mamm.

Palpable mass was lobulated papillary carcinoma. BI-Rads-2 mistakenly.

MRI and ultrasounds never saw 4mm - 8mm mucinous carcinoma. BMX found.

YAY! Pats won!

cliff

I rolled over in bed and felt a stinging, checked in mirror and saw no mark, felt and found lump that hurt. already had appointment at dr's in two days, pointed it out to him after his usual thorough exam, started a couple of weeks of tests and scans. turned out to be stage 4. no fun at stage 4.

lisabekind

I felt mine, I could pick it up and roll it between my fingers. Had it removed Asap. It was close to the surface, around my aerola. I had breast implants which may have pushed it closer to the surface. Also, no needle biopsy for me. The dr did not want to puncture my implant. So, the way my story rolls out is different than others. Also, I had a MRI after and saw nothing, looked good. Well, after my BMX, 3/13 node positive, idc found in breast not where original tumor was, along with DCIS present away from original tumor site.

I had a mammogram April 2016, was all good . Dx- Dec 2016.

lisabekind

btw- you asking the question is fine. If I want to answer that is my choice. I'm guessing you don't know what your DX is, and who cares that you dont.

NotVeryBrave

I felt the lump - about 4 months after a normal, routine mammogram. I'd noticed some discomfort in that breast and was trying to figure out what the problem was. Had been told my breasts were "dense" but never advised by anyone to pursue further testing.

nem126

I felt a lump and went to my gyno right away. She said it was nothing, and that I'm 32 with no family history so don't worry about it. A year later, still had the lump. Had to practically beg to get a biopsy. Bam. Breast cancer. I really wish they'd take it more seriously. They think young people are immune.

I'm just glad it was somewhere that I could feel it. Thank God. At my age I wasn't going for mammos yet.

bravepoint

I felt the lump. It was so high up on my chest at 12 o'clock between my collar bone and nipple that I doubt a mammogram would even involve that area. It was 1.6 cm. I was also assured by my family doctor that it was nothing. Wrong! She did send me right away for a mammogram and US.

Grande

I found dimpling on the Right breast when i lean just above the nipple forward. I tried to palpate several days if there's underlying lump that's pulling the skin but i can't feel anything. Even the doctor can't feel it. It was found in mammo/US. What's more, i asked the doctor to do mammo/US of the other breast when i was referred to the Breast Diagnostic Clinic and there they found 2 more on the left.

Up to the day of my surgery, i still can't feel the lumps on the my Left breast. The right breast lump became prominent after the biopsy.

MTwoman

I found the lump myself and within days presented to my ob/gyn for exam. They also felt it, it was hard to miss, had popped up pretty quickly. They wanted to watch and wait 6 months (I was only 38), but I pushed for a diagnostic mammo (that was the standard of care for a new lump) as I had never had any previous lumps. It lit up like a supernova on the mammo, but the radiologist told me it was "probably nothing" from the US. I (again) pushed for the surgical consult. The surgeon "didn't like it at all" with the first touch and he immediately attempted to remove fluid. He sent that fluid to cytology, which indicated adenocarcinoma.

Hopefloatsagainandagain

Thank you all for the replies. As a person waiting for a biopsy, I feel your stories calm me. There are so may different experiences, but an overwhelming feeling of togetherness. It makes me feel better about facing the results when I get them. Also, after I find my new normal, I would love to share some of these stories with friends and acquaintances as I preach the benefits of getting our mammograms regularly.

Now, I just have to get over seeing a picture of my mass. It looks ominous. It is not all clean and encapsulated. It looks ugly. I know this doesn't bode well for negative results.

Angela

Falconer

I'm amazed by how many women had to push for testing. I didn't have to push for it, but like many of you, it didn't show up on my mammo 2 months earlier. I'd been told I had dense breasts, but for that exam, the mammo must've "sufficed".. lucky for me I had bleeding out of my left nipple, and on self examination found a lump. My gyn ordered a mammo and US; the lump, 1.1 cm of IDC, only showed on the US. Makes me wonder what routine mammos are good for, as the 5cm of DCIS didn't show there either.

Hope, like you I was in complete and utter disbelief. I bet we all were. Good luck with your waiting and let us know how it goes.

Jezikah

I agree with Falconer that I'm surprised so many had to push for testing or had their Drs say they wanted to 'wait and see'. I'm 33 yo and my Dr. said it would be unusual if it was cancer based on my age, but she said she doesn't take chances with things like that and wanted it looked at right away.

I found the lump myself when undressing. I had been wearing a sports bra that sort of smooshed my boobs, so I just massaged them a little after taking the bra off and felt the lump. I went to my PCP the following week after finding it, she sent me to have an ultrasound the next week. The radiologist said it looked 'concerning' and wanted to biopsy it right away, so he did it at the same appointment. He called the next day to tell me it was cancer.

kbt

I felt my lump, it is 5cm. I was calling to schedule annual preventative mammogram and told them about the lump, they told me to call my doctor for the diagnostic mammogram and ultrasound.

Felloco1

hi there I had both situations... I had a clear lump easy visible before testing ( 3cm) and a second lump not visible at all in the same breast ( 2cm) ... also no mass but calcifications on the other breast so it seems no fixed rule here. I did have a rash and stabbing pain so that alerted me first. I hope everything turns out well for you good wishes ahead.

kathy1925

I had bilateral breast cancer, and didn't feel any lumps. Routine mammogram showed calcifications in the right breast, which led to a diagnosis of DCIS. Only the pre-surgical bilateral MRI picked up a small lump in my left breast. This one was IDC, which led me to have a double mastectomy after already having a lumpectomy(right) and wide excisional biopsy (left). Six years out and doing great.

Unbreakable01

hi hope! I've felt a lump 3 times. The first was in my mid 20s and they removed it out of my left breast, turned out to not be malignant. The second time I was monitoring a lump for 3 years. At year 3 it looked suspicious on mammo and ultrasound and turned out to be malignant. It was 2.5cm, near the chest wall. The 3rd time it was small like a bb pellet and just a year after my mastectomy. Doctors thought it was probably scar tissue but it turned out to be similar cells from my original cancer. That time it was in the skin.

Logang

I found a large lump and promptly went o my GYN. The rest is history!