They said it's not cancer but what is it? And what now?

Goingforgold

I went to both my GP and OBGYN for a lump in my breast. I am a 28 yo female with small but very dense breast. The sensation that led me to find it reminded me of a clogged duct from nursing, but I haven't nursed in a year. It is palpable, movable and elongated spanning more than half of my breast. My OB and GP both said it felt more like an entire swollen duct/lobule. A few days later I noticed a hard and tiny bump nearby but closer to the nipple. My ob ran a prolactin test to make sure I wasn't lactating...negative. Next an ultrasound and then a mammogram done separately at different centers. My results came back a few weeks ago as "no evidence of malignancy." OB said to just continue with annual exams. The lumps have since grown. The round one went fron a small bead size to a pea size and the elongated one has gotten thicker. So now what?! Is this worrisome

MelissaDallas

I'd ask for a referral to a breast surgeon. They are the specialist. Might want to do their own imaging or maybe an MRI, or biopsy, or might agree that it is just benign changes.

Goingforgold

is that something you typically need a referral for? Any advice on finding a good one?

Goingforgold

I called my OB and informed her of the growth and tenderness. She referred me to a surgeon but he had terrible reviews so I found my own that specializes in breasts. Appt is next week so now just to wait.

What concerns me is that I asked what my mammo noted/what was found and they said it found nothing, no cysts etc. how can I have a palpable lump and enlarged duct but mammo show nothing? Shouldn't that should have at least show up? Does that mean the mammo is useless? I'm so confuse

MTwoman

goingforgold, mammo isn't "useless", but each imaging technology has types of tissue/findings that it is good at "seeing" and those it isn't. That's why it is common for diagnostic protocols to include 2 different imaging technologies together. I would get the written copies of your reports (in case you don't already have them), and the images on cd (you are legally entitled to that) to take with you to your bs. He/she may want to have the same imaging techniques repeated, or may want to do 3D mammo or mri (which are both better at seeing through dense breast tissue). The mri isn't routinely used as a front line imaging tech as it is very sensitive (sees lots of things other imaging doesn't) but isn't specific (sees lots of things other than bc). The numerous findings then leads to biopsies, the vast majority of which are b9. (so $$ and lots of anxiety).

Meet with the bs, take a list of your questions and maybe another person to be able to listen and remember for you (hard to retain info properly when we're really anxious) or recording device. Good luck!

Goingforgold

Thank you so much for you reply, it is very informative and helpful. I guess what I meant by useless is that the radiologist gave a "benign" result but didn't actually see my lumps of it he did he didn't note any other possibility for what he saw. So assuming he didn't see anything at all, how could he say they were benign.

Part of me is worried because I don't have an answer but the problem persists. And the other part feels stupid for continuing to pursue it, if it's nothing then I've wasted others time and my money and worry, maybe I'm just over reacting and should settle for the benign/no findings result

MTwoman

Pursuing a reasonable answer about your health concerns is never stupid. continue to discuss this until you have a reasonable explanation that you understand and are comfortable with. Sometimes, breast tissue can feel lumpy, but it is just b9 tissue changes that aren't really visible on imaging, but you need to know what is happening in your breast. Keep pursuing until you're satisfied. Good luck!

Goingforgold

thanks, I appreciate your supportive comment. I tend to blow off my health issues for fear of it all "being in myhead" or looking silly for nothing. I guess that's why I'm going on 2 years of ear pain and ringing. Lol!

Mconcerned

I've had a similar situation and described the pain as the same as you do. I've seen 2 breast surgeons, had 2 mammos, 2 ultrasounds and 1 MRI (over the course of 2 years). They all say no need to biopsy, and the lump I feel doesn't show up on imaging. My pain does come and go (sometimes it seems that it may be with my cycle, but not always. I'm curious to hear what your surgeon suggests...

Momine

It IS highly unlikely that it is cancer, but given that you have dense breasts and they can't find the lumps on imaging, I would push for an MRI and possibly a biopsy for peace of mind. Also agree with others here that you should find a breast specialist. Experience counts for a lot with this kind of situation. You want a doc who does nothing but feel up boobs

MexicoHeather

Hi Goingforgold. Remember that benign is good. I always had small dense breasts, to the point they felt like you described. It makes for a complex self diagnosis. Go get your CD of the mammogram and keep it for comparison next year.

MinusTwo

Goingforgold has not posted in almost a month. Hopefully she got good news. Sorry she didn't report back.