Looking for anyone that has had these findings...

Emcj

Hello, just turned 40 in June. At my physical in April I informed my doctor that I had continuous breast pain from ovulation to my period for approx 5 to 6 months. Pretty much only on the right side and last for about 14 days then calms down for a week or so. Feels exactly like engorgment when breast feeding. So we scheduled a mammo for after my 40th to make sure insurance would cover it. So I went Wednesday for 3D mammo. I told her about the breast pain and she started. Friday morning I recieved a call from my doctor stating they want to schedule me for a diagnostic mammo and ultrasound. I got the report on my patient portal and it reads:

Focal asymmetry with associated calcifications on upper outer aspect of right breast, middle depth.

Technique: bilateral CC and MLO views were obtained using digital technique and applying CAD. A right XCCL view was also acquired.

Breast composition: scattered areas of fibroglandular density.

So now I am scheduled for this on Wednesday and I am thinking back, I have had spontaneous discharge from that breast during the times I have been in pain, but only random dots here and there from one spot.

Any info would help!

Emcj

I should also add it stated that no skin thickening or grouped microcalcifications were seen.

I_Spy

Emcj I understand how scary it all sounds. The good news is that your doctors are all over this! Our screening techniques are so good that they can see the tiniest change in breast tissue, which makes them want to zero in on it for a better look. So far, that is all that is happening -- they see some calcifications in one part of your breast, and that can mean nothing or it can mean something. So they are going to look more closely to see if it means something.

I had numerous recalls for diagnostic mammograms and ultrasounds and six biopsies over the course of 20 years, before they found a tiny spot of DCIS that was caught really early when I was 50. The point is I had 20 years of it all being nothing. If you get anxious every time you get called back you'll give yourself a heart attack. The way I always got through it was this: if the doctors knew what it was, they wouldn't need to do more tests. So they don't know what it is. And if the doctors don't know what it is, then I really don't know what it is. So there is no point in trying to figure it out.

Surrender to the process. Take a walk, lie in a quiet room and set your worries aside, watch comedies (Friends works best for me, or if it's really bad, Friends bloopers on youtube!).

Come back and let us know how it goes on Wednesday!

Emcj

Thanks for the calming words! I'll definitely come back and update on Wednesday.... And fyi I love friends! My #1 go to show 😀

I_Spy

Yay me too! But OMG have you seen the bloopers on youtube? You will get sore stomach muscles from laughing.

Emcj

the bag pipe bloopers are my favorite!!

I_Spy

Yes haha!! Or actually, my favorite is when Rachel, Ross, and Chandler are trying to get Ross's new couch up the stairs: "Pivot!! Pivot!! Pivot!!"

OMG I laugh every time.

Emcj

😂😂😂 yes!

Krysm7

good luck today!! Keep us posted :

Emcj

thank you so much!

I_Spy

I'm getting an ultrasound today too, so we can be ultrasound sisters! Report back!

Emcj

good luck today!!!! Hope everything turns out to be nothing 😀

I_Spy

Mine was all good, benign, nothing to worry about. Let us know about you!

Emcj

biopsy scheduled for Monday morning. 7mm nodule with calcifications visible inside, not smooth edges. Thats what I got out of it... Waiting for portal to update for report.

Awesome news for you!!!

I_Spy

Okay well you're in the right place, both at your medical facility and here with us. We've all been through this in one way or another. Do you know what kind of biopsy you're having, whether ultrasound guided or stereotactic? I've had both, several times. I can give you tips. Either way, the set up for them is way more unsettling than the actual biopsy -- which doesn't hurt because they give you plenty of local numbing medicine.

Emcj

US guided core biopsy?

I_Spy

ok cool. That is less barbaric looking haha. Honestly you lie down in a cool dark room with a nice pillow just like when you had the ultrasound. The doctor uses the ultrasound to figure out where to put the needle. They numb you first. The needle goes in and pulls out tissue. They talk to you the whole time and tell you what they're doing. If you feel ANYTHING just tell them and they'll give you more numbing. You shouldn't feel pain. Sometimes you feel pressure or pulling, but not pain.

And remember my mantra, which I will now add to: If the doctors knew what it was, they wouldn't need to do this test. So if they don't know, then you can't figure it out. More: neither they nor you have a crystal ball. If we had one, we wouldn't have to do these annoying tests. They have to just get the test done and look at the tissue and then they will know for sure. It usually takes a few days for the pathologist to look at the tissue sample, and they will call you with the results. You can ask them when they will call and whether they will call you either way, good news or bad news (they should).

Here is what you can know: they don't like the look of it on the images, so they want to take a pinch out and look at it more closely.

This is truly the hardest part of this whole process. We want them to say "It is cancer" or "it isn't cancer" and they just can't do that until they do the biopsy. And it is always in stages: like first a mammogram, then come back for an ultrasound, then come back for a biopsy, and the wait is excruciating.

Just know that whatever it is, good or bad, you can handle it. You got this. Just one step at a time. Right now, you'll have a biopsy. Nothing to think about past that point because you don't know what will be found. So lots and lots of Friends this weekend. Start at the beginning and bingewatch this weekend.

Emcj

Such positive words!!! Thank you for the play by play, I'm just going to take it easy until Monday. There is nothing I can do until then. They originally said they were booking 2 weeks out for appointments, the look on my face must have changed her mind 😂 I'll feel more settled when i can actually see the report from today and make sure I don't have any questions. Thanks so much for everything! I'll let you know if I missed anything when I read it tomorrow!

I_Spy

ok sounds good!

Emcj

Emcj

Emcj

what do you think?

I_Spy

Well, I think it is what we decided yesterday

They don't like the look of it on the images, so they want to get a piece of it out and look at it more closely.

The waiting is the worst part. It is brutal. Honestly, I'm trying to figure out if i have a recurrence and so I analyzed how I would feel about dying at this point in my life, which is overdramatic to the point of idiocy. But this is what we do. Idiocy, since if I have a recurrence it is small, in the skin, and we can handle it. If yours is cancer they can take it out and you'll get treatment and you can handle it. But yours might NOT be cancer, and mine might NOT be a recurrence.

But we don't have a crystal ball, right?

Here is the good news, and it is no small feat: On some of these boards I'm screaming at the doctors taking care of our bco sisters, because they are ignoring symptoms or ignoring concerning results or giving them the runaround on seeing a specialist. With you, your doctors are ALL OVER IT. You don't have to do anything but surrender to the process (something my wonderful chiropractor said to me that I used as well: just surrender to the process).

We will all be here to go through it with you.

I_Spy

Oh and the biopsy with "clip placement" is because they want forevermore to know where the suspicious growth was. So they take some tissue out with a needle (as I described), and then they place an eensie weensie titanium chip in its place. Then afterwards if you have a mammogram it shows up, so they know that is where they already did a biopsy. Now here is the fun part: my cancer center had the chips in different shapes, so I got a pink ribbon shaped chip. So when I had a mammogram afterwards a little ribbon showed up on it.

Honestly we have to enjoy the little things, right?

Okay so what other questions do you have about biopsy day?

Emcj

I sae the ribbon one!!! I wonder if I can pick 😀

I_Spy

I bet you can! If you ever have a second biopsy they use a different shape so they can tell them apart. I just love that that is a thing.

I_Spy

How did the biopsy go?

Emcj

it wasnt as bad as I thought it was going to be, however I was on pain meds due to be being diagnosed with shingles Friday night in the ER... So one step at a time right??? 😜 its always something

Thank you so much for asking!

I_Spy

Ok glad to hear you made it through okay! Did they tell you when you might hear the results?

Emcj

They just called, BENIGN!!!!! THANK THE LORD 😀

I_Spy

OMG THANK THE LORD!!!!!! So glad you got this news!!!!!!