Waiting for Next Step after Ultrasound...

cait1993

Hello everyone,

After lurking on these boards for several weeks now, I feel it was time to finally make a post. I am 24 years old, originally from the USA but am currently living in Japan.

A bit of background-- I have a very strong family history of cancer. 3/4 grandparents have passed away from cancer (breast, and lung) and my mother was diagnosed with Stage 0 "pre-breast cancer" a few years ago, and has finished her treatment and was given the all clear.

At the end of May I noticed a pea sized bump in my left outer breast, I quickly emailed my doctor back in the States through her online portal (since I didn't have a doctor here in Japan yet), and she told me to wait until the end of my cycle, and if it doesn't go away to speak to someone here if it would ease my nerves.

I waited on and off for the rest of the summer, noticing that it did get larger and more noticeable during my cycle I assumed it was a fibroadenoma. In August my nerves got the better of me and I reached out to the first English-speaking doctor I could find with high Google reviews here in Tokyo. I went in for a consultation in which he told me "Yep, that's a lump. Probably nothing to worry about but lets get an ultrasound." I got referred to a large English-speaking hospital in Tokyo, and had my ultrasound about two weeks ago. I just got my results a few days ago and I keep flip flopping between not being worried at all, and becoming a devastated, anxious mess.

My results were as follows "Although a benign lesion is most likely, there were some features noted on the ultrasound that suggest that further evaluation should be considered" And he recommended me seeing a breast specialist at the same hospital I went to for my ultrasound.

The more detailed report stated "A hypo echoic mass in the upper-outer region of the left breast, suggesting fibroadenoma. Findings of moderately high D/W ratio and ductal continuation need histological evaluation to rule out malignancy."

So at first I was relieved that the words "most likely benign" were there. But now I'm becoming increasingly worried the more I look into and research this. The ultrasounds do not look like a fibroadenoma. It is lobulated/angular and 14.1mm wide and 12.1 mm deep, with a hypo echoic band structure toward the direction of the nipple. All of those are MAJOR red flags the more I look into it. My report does not have a BIRADS score, I'm unsure if it's used in Japan.

I know I need to step away from Google and the only one who can know for sure is my doctor, but I can't even sleep at night now I'm so worried. Especially being so far from home, I don't have a large support network out here yet, and I am so nervous to reach out to more friends and family back home, as I don't want to worry them.

Another concern of mine is that the doctor is sending me to the breast specialist for another consultation, then they will decide to do a biopsy or an MRI or any other test, instead of going straight for the biopsy which I know I will need to get at some point. For one thing, it's a pain in the ass to go to Tokyo every week for these appointments, and I'm not sure if my nerves can take several more weeks of this. I'm not sure why I'm not just getting scheduled for a biopsy, which I understand is what the next step would be at my doctor in the USA. Maybe to be covered by my National Insurance here? Unsure...

Thanks a lot for your time.