Cysts in three difffernt areas on my body..

mac_chuckles

I have myself so worked up. I really could use some support. Hoping for the best outcome if it is possible but so scared waiting to get through this next month. I had DCIS/left side mastectomy and reconstruction over 10 years ago. I feel like I have been waiting all this time for a recurrence. Over the past few months following my routine physical and routine mammo- I ended up having a few different screenings- an ultrasound on my ovaries, mammogram/ultrasound on right breast and my colonoscopy/endoscopy (having some stomach issues)....I failed all three screenings with the results showing cysts/tumors on my healthy breast, my ovary and my esophagus. Three different doctors- all saying come back in a few weeks/months to do a double check on the cysts/tumor.... I have all these scheduled for the end of January and into Feb. but I am terrified. Is it possible at all that I am just a cysty person and these are nothing to worry about? Has anyone had this happen? Does this sound incredibly serious to you? I can't function because I have myself so worked up. I am grateful for this forum- it helped me all those years ago thought I could revisit to calm me down a bit.

MelissaDallas

mac-chuckles, I think we are all just “cysty persons.” We just don’t know about them unless we have imaging. Most cysts are harmless and require no action. In various tests I’ve had done there have shown to be breast cysts, ovarian cysts (ovaries function by producing follicular cysts that rupture, releasing an ovum), a kidney cyst, a liver cyst and a cyst on the head of my humerus. All apparently very common. The doctors were not concerned about any of them. Sounds like your docs just want a short term follow-up to demonstrate stability. It does not sound incredibly serious to me at all. I guess some cysts can get big enough to require action, but most probably do not, so I don’t think you need to be terrified at all

Beesie

I'll second what MelissaDallas said. Cysts are very common and unless they are hiding something else, cysts are harmless. Some of us just tend to develop them. The good news with cysts is that they are usually easily identifiable on ultrasound; cysts are fluid-filled and ultrasounds are able to distinguish between fluid and solid. So if your ultrasounds indicated nothing more than a simple cyst, there doesn't seem to be anything to worry about.

If it were me, I wouldn't say "I failed all three screenings with the results showing cysts/tumors on my healthy breast, my ovary and my esophagus" but instead would say "Not perfect screenings because cysts were found, but it's all good news.". I say that as someone who over the years has had more breast cysts than I can count and who had a couple of recent neck ultrasounds where there was a serious concern about cancer (given my personal and family health history) but all that was found was a cyst on my thyroid.

Cysts can sometimes hide something - and that's likely why you have the short-term follow-ups. I believe what your doctors are looking for is either stability (i.e. no change) or shrinkage (cysts do tend to eventually shrink on their own). So here again, if it were me, I wouldn't be worried at all at this point - I'd actually be relieved that nothing more than cysts were found - and I would only get concerned if the follow-ups didn't go as expected.

mac_chuckles

Beesie and MelissaDallas- Thank you so much for chiming in. I really needed some other perspectives. I am so grateful. I will just keep rereading your comments to keep me calm,

MountainMia

I agree with the above. I've had ovarian cyst and sebaceous cyst that I know about, likely others I never knew about. They were worthy of investigation but neither were any indication of a bigger problem.

That said, I understand your worry. I'm glad you brought it here, and I hope you feel reassured.