Punch biopsy showed inflammation

catmommy

I have had a rash and breast pain since late November. In mid-December I went to my PCP, and she sent me for an ultrasound and diagnostic mammogram, which both came back normal. She referred me a breast specialist who I saw last Wednesday. He thought it was shingles but decided to do a punch biopsy to be on the safe side. He said the biopsy results should be available by today. When I didn't hear from him by mid-afternoon, I called his office. His answering service said they closed the office early today. A friend suggested I call my PCP to see if she could access the pathology report. I did that and my PCP called me within an hour to say path report showed inflammation. She said she wasn't really sure what that meant and that she didn't think the shingles diagnosis made sense. She is going to talk to the breast specialist tomorrow.

All this waiting is making me nuts. Any suggestions on what questions to ask the breast specialist if I hear from him tomorrow. Could this be IBC? The pain is now spreading to my ribs and the rash is still there.

Moderators

Dear catmommy, welcome to Breastcancer.org. We are sorry that you are here and worried, but glad that you reached out.

We know the waiting is truly hard, and it's scary, but try not to worry too much. As you can read in the article Inflammatory Breast Cancer from our main site, "According to the American Cancer Society, about 1% of all breast cancer cases in the United States are inflammatory breast cancers", so not really common. You can read more on symptoms and diagnosis of IBC in the same page.

Please let us know what you learn tomorrow. We're thinking of you!

The Mods