Women who had BC while nursing/pregnant and misdiagnosed?

I actually got very good care from my OB. I found the lump when my baby was about 5 weeks old on Thanksgiving 09. Of course everyone was closed until Monday so I called first thing and was told oh its probably a clogged milk duct. I was due for my 6 week post partum for that Thursday. On Wednesday while I was shaving I found a huge lump under my arm. I knew it was cancer at that point. I have to give kudos to my OB. She felt the lumps and I was in getting ultrasound and mamo the next day (Friday) had biopsy on Monday and got the cancer diagnosis on Tuesday. Within 2 weeks I was starting chemo.

I honestly think doing breast exams at your monthly OB check up during pregnancy should be mandatory.

Thank you Wornout and Yorel.

Yorel - It will get better with time. Yes, it is so hard in the beginning. I remember just looking at my baby and tearing up... A dozen questions raced in my mind, but the biggest one being whether or not I would live to see her grow up. Eventually it does get easier... but it takes time after treatment to heal both physically and emotionally. I am sending you huge hugs because I remember those days. I will be 6 years out this week...

Another here who discovered a problem during nursing. Family doc and specialist both said not to worry about it...I was too young. I wish doctors were better listeners.

I was also misdiagnosed with clogged duct and on top of that I got pregnant again:(

I'll never know for sure, but I had a recurring plugged duct (or what I thought was a plugged duct) suspiciously close to where my tumor was later found.  I nursed my 2nd son for a year, then as soon as he was weaned I did my genetic screen and found I was brca2, immediately did a mammogram (all clear!) and 6 months later did an MRI to find I had a 6 cm tumor and lymph node involvement.  I blamed the lumpiness in my left breast on the plugged duct, thinking it hadn't fully cleared, but now I think it was a malignancy all along.  Totally haunts me.  

I too found a lump while breastfeeding and thought it was a clogged duct. When it didn't go away, I saw an OB who said it was a fibroadenoma (a benign tumor) but sent me for a ultrasound just in case. The US led to a mammogram, which led to a biopsy, which led to my diagnosis: triple-positive Grade 3 invasive ductal cancer. I had to stop breastfeeding my then 5-month-old to start neoadjuvant chemo, which nearly broke my heart, but I had no choice.

Although my OB did misdiagnose me initially, I'm extremely grateful to him for ordering the appropriate tests instead of just sending me home. I'm also thankful that I found the lump myself, as my annual exam was many months away, and I wasn't particularly vigilant about monthly self-exams.

Nobody thinks that a woman who has just had a baby will get breast cancer, but pregnancy and breastfeeding flood the body with the exact hormones that ER/PR+ tumors thrive on. Sad but true. However, I consider myself to be one of the lucky ones - because I already have my beautiful, healthy baby and don't have to deal with the agony of trying to have a baby after cancer treatment.

Hi, I know this thread is old, but I'm hoping someone will read it and offer some advice. About 2-3 months ago, I felt a large lump and then a smaller one right next to it. I saw my pcp about it and she felt the lump, through my nursing bra, and didn't even look at it. Outwardly, I have no signs at all. Just the lumps deep in my tissue and maybe very slight pink over the area. She ordered an US. I was told it was a solid mass and not a cyst as we initially thought. She said it was more than likely an absecess deep in my tissue, which is why I have no symptoms of one? I haven't had mastitis or anything else to indicate or cause an absecess. She put me on antibiotics and had me do a follow up ultrasound. The US showed no significant change. She told me since I'm breastfeeding that it probably is an abscess that just didn't respond to the antibiotics and that I need an mri. I smiled and said, "Great... So nothing bad, like cancer then?" She replied, "Uh.. Well... The mri will give us a clear cut answer on that. Abscesses and cancer look almost identical on US. But you shouldn't worry at all, I'm confident it's an abs. since you're breastfeeding." So my insurance denied the mri request and now I don't know what to do. My pcp is not taking me seriously and doesn't seem to have much knowledge on this(she's an arnp). Where do I go from here? Is it even possible to have an abscess for almost 3 months with no symptoms but a lump? I should also add that my other breast has become swollen over the last few days by my armpit. All of my lymph nodes are swollen on that side. I'm not sure if it's related since it's the opposite breast.

I am having the same type of symptoms as well. I have been nursing again for just over two months. I went to my Pcp and she didn't seem concerned. They are not going away. Have you done anymore follow up?

Hazelkitten I certainly hope you have gotten tested by now but I don't see why they can't do a biopsy of the mass. I was diagnosed while breastfeeding and I never had an MRI until after diagnosis, and in fact the MRI was basically worthless because the milk shows up very strangely on the MRI and makes it impossible to see anything. Don't give up, get it tested!

Darwin mum that sounds very suspicious to me that you have a mass and I'm glad you're getting it looked at. The c reactive protein isn't very much above normal levels so don't panic, mine was 55 when I was diagnosed, and it can be a sign of any type of inflammation not only cancer.

I was breastfeeding when I was diagnosed with her2 stage 2 cancer in 2015. I found a lump and was sent for an ultrasound where the radiologist informed me it was not a tumor. Two months later I went back, which I felt silly about at the time, and that time they did a biopsy and it was cancer. So it is possible and don't settle for just an ultrasound, get it biopsied. Good luck