Is this normal? Its really freaking me out.

bglow21

I found a pea like lump about 2 weeks ago. I went to the Dr, she referred me to get a mammogram. My appt is on the 27th. Whats strange is I get a call to set up an appt for a surgery consult but the dr said nothing about a referral for surgery? Why see a surgeon before the mammogram? To make matters worse the guy specializes in surgical oncology, so I feel like the drs know something I dont. Its military, so picking up the phone for answers just isn't that simple. Does everyone get a surgical referral with mammograms?

moth

Well, fwiw, my dr was calling surgeons on my behalf pretty early. She figured right away that no matter what it was, it would need to come out.

Try to not worry too much about it until you know what you're looking at but actually I'd suggest knowing that you're already assembling a team to knock this sucker down, no matter what it is, is a good thing.

best wishes

star2017

it’s hard to get an appointment. I saw my breast surgeon before receiving my biopsy results.

SpecialK

bglow - the imaging that led to my diagnosis was done in a military treatment facility, but all subsequent appointments were in civilian offices because my MTF does not have capability beyond imaging. Generally, their radiologists don't often do biopsies unless it is one of the larger MTFs. It may be that they have set up an appointment with an oncological beast surgeon (meaning a general surgeon who specializes in breast related surgery - for both cancer and benign breast growths and masses), so that if you need a biopsy you are not waiting until after the mammogram to get that ball rolling - it may be a "just in case" situation. If you want to know the background for the referral you can call the referral management office at your MTF or base and they should be able to explain what the rationale was in making an appt with the surgeon already - whoever ordered that appt had to have justified it to referral management. If you don't get any traction that way I would contact your patient advocate to help you out. Good luck!

aseal321

I have a breast surgeon following me...but never diagnosed with breast cancer. I have fibrocystic breasts, had lymph node biopsies, lots of testing and just being “watched closely”. I’m 39, but have been having mammos and ultrasounds for over ten years now.

I was sent to a breast surgeon because he was the “specialist”, and my dr (OB) felt more comfy with me seeing him, she simply said, this is not my expertise and we don’t want any mistakes here.

I appreciated that so much...I’m hoping it’s the same for you