Cysts or breast cancer

Jmankin

Hello all, I am a wife and mother of two young children. I have been having pain in my left breast since January. Late January I had a mammogram which showed one swollen lymph node. The pain continued to get worse and my ribs on my side and back started to hurt. There are time when I have a burning pain on the side of my breast. And anytime I use my left arm it hurts so bad all on my left side I have to ice it. I called my doctor and he referred me to a breast surgeon.

(I should mention my mom was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer at 47 and died four years later. My sister also had to have Atypical cells removed at 36)

The breast surgeon office ran an ultrasound and found multiple cysts in my left breast and 5 swollen lymph nodes in my armpit. And the first thing he said to me when he walked in the room was “how old are you? “ I understand that 33 is young but he didn't even bother to read my file. I had to go over my family history. He said that he's not 100% sure their cysts more like 90% he said he would like to do an mri but doesn't think that insurance would cover it. Ultimately he just said let's wait three months then retest with another mammogram and ultrasound. I called my insurance and they said that the doctors office would have to call to even find out if they would cover the mri in the first place. So I called the surgeons office back and asked them to please call my insurance. They did to find out that they didn't need approval for my insurance so now the ball is starting to roll to get me an mri. Since seeing him a few weeks ago pain has spread up into my left shoulder by my collar bone. Does anyone's else have these symptoms?Why would he say I am not sure if it's cysts, want to do an mrithen ask me to wait three months?

kmartin3243

Did the radiologist give you a report with a rating or have any explanation for the swollen lymphnodes? Did he suggest a biopsy? I'm sorry that you are going through all of this. I think it's great that you're getting an MRI given your family history. Please let us know how it goes. Keeping you in my thoughts!

Jmankin

No just my family doctor called and said I had a swollen lymph node and that was it after the mammogram. And the breast surgeon really didn't have a reason either but did say they don’t look abnormal or cancerous. He did not mention doing a biopsy.

kmartin3243

I think getting an MRI is very wise to be on the safe side if it is mostly covered by insurance. It seems like a great sign that he isn't leaning towards anything cancerous or abnormal.