Debating a Duct Excision

ellefromtexas

I'm a 28F, have never been pregnant, and I noticed I had bloody nipple discharge in my left breast in October of last year (about 9 months ago now). It has kept happening since then and only happens when I squeeze my breast. I periodically check it, and two or three times it has been crystal clear for a few seconds before turning back to a bright red or rusty red. My right breast has crystal clear discharge when I check.

When I first noticed it I immediately went to my OBGYN who referred me to a breast surgeon and US + Mammo. Both imaging were clear, but they mentioned I have "extremely dense breasts."

The first thing the surgeon said when she came in the room was, "No matter what, you and I are going into surgery together" and I honestly think it really freaked me out. I ended up seeing another doctor who helped a family friend with her breast cancer and he basically said the exact opposite, that I was young, healthy, and had no other symptoms or risk factors so the surgery wasn't worth it. My original doctor was really against that opinion so I sought a third opinion, who was basically in the middle saying technically the right next step is an excision to thoroughly rule out cancer, but she can see where the other doc is coming from.

The first doctor had ordered a contrast dye MRI that I had in December. It came back clear on the left, but had "noise" (or something like that) on the right breast and recommended a follow-up at six months. That is coming up next week and I guess I'm just really anxious because either it shows something and I have surgery or it is clear and I am still in this stressful place of not knowing...

I think it is unrelated, but I was having wild bouts of fatigue and really weird menstrual cycles. Right now, I haven't had a period in over 60 days and am definitely not pregnant. I did some bloodwork with my primary care doctor and it showed low iron and high testosterone, she said: "it may support a PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome) diagnosis."

I guess it is worth having the surgery, just for the comfort of knowing, but I am just so in my head about all of this happening at once. I am mostly scared of the impact it may all have on my ability to be a mom, which has always been something I have dreamt of doing.

Thank you for reading my long-winded rant, this forum seems like it has so many caring people

Moderators

ellefromtexas, welcome to Brestcancer.org! We are sorry for the concern that brought you here but glad that you reached out to our members. You seem to have been proactive and taken care of those changes in your health. It's not an easy decision for sure... So hope you find the answers you are looking for from other members soon.

Good luck, and keep us posted!

The Mods