Dimpling or Stretch Marks?

Anonymous

Dimpling or Stretch Marks?

I_Spy

Hi Neon,

I totally understand your feelings. After weeks of worrying and putting your attention on your breast, it is hard to move on with life as if nothing happened. Here's one way to look at it: you just had doctors all over your boobs, taking pictures, poking, and prodding. If they had seen anything that looked like IBC, they would've said something. They were very thorough and didn't dismiss your concerns -- they even did a biopsy. By the same token, weeks of poking and prodding have probably made your breast and surrounding tissue sore and bruised. If you feel like prodding you should probably put some ice on it. IBC is not subtle, and would be raising it's ugly head by now. The doctors aren't worried, so you shouldn't be either.

It may not be reassuring to hear from me, since I had DCIS, but I didn't get it until age 50, and before that I had very lumpy dense breasts my whole life -- with no cancer. And my cancer was NOT a lump -- it was found as calcifications on a mammogram. So poking yourself to feel every bump is not going to be helpful right now when it is has been checked out, you don't have cancer right now, and you have lumpy boobs. Also, depending where you are in your cycle, you could have cysts filling with fluid that are going to get bigger and hurt, on top of your poor boob trying to recover from the biopsy. And boobs get stretch marks. It is easy to now worry about every little thing. It's like when you see a spider in your house and then you think there are bugs crawling on you every time a strand of hair gets on your arm.

Your question is not silly! You had a scare. It's going to take some time to get over it. In the meanwhile, try to distract yourself with a project or even a walk outside when you start to get worried (and leave your poor boob alone or it is going to hurt forever). God forbid you ever get cancer, there will be plenty to worry about. So don't take up valuable life minutes by worrying now.

I hope that helps.

I_Spy

good for you! You got this