Lump under armpit

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Jalsmama55
Jalsmama55 Member Posts: 104
edited June 2014 in Not Diagnosed With a Recurrence or Metastases but Concerned

Hi all, I was diagnosed 8/10, BMX 9/10, chemo 10/10-1/11 and 38 rads to my right side only. Left only had LCIS so mastectomy was more than enough to deal with that issue. Anyway, here's my concern, found a small knot/lump last night under cancer side armpit, up towards the top about 2 inches down from the shoulder crease. The lump is on the muscle/tendon that runs along my outer chest under my armpit.. Hope that description makes sense Haha! I've already confuses myself. The lump is a little painful and is really hard like a cyst and isn't movable. Anyone had anything like this in the means of scar tissue? Seeing rads onco tomorrow (I'm just more partial to him rather than onco) and he's extremely thorough and I figured if he wants a scan, he can take care of it right away. I'm so concerned that this could be a recurrence :(

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  • Jalsmama55
    Jalsmama55 Member Posts: 104
    edited July 2011

    Oh and let me add its very small, like only a little bigger than the head of a pen

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  • pejkug3
    pejkug3 Member Posts: 902
    edited July 2011

    bump

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  • debbie6122
    debbie6122 Member Posts: 5,161
    edited July 2011

    Jalsmamma- I havnt had that problem myself, but know of woman who after having a mastectomy had a small lump that turned out to be fat necrosis, but you should have it checked out right away and have it biopsied for peace of mind and to be on the safe side. Keeping my fingers crossed it is nothing! ((((((hugs)))))))

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  • Gitane
    Gitane Member Posts: 1,885
    edited July 2011

    Jaismama55,  I see we haven't heard from you in a while.  I hope you are O.K.  I don't know about the lump, but I'm really hoping the rad onc was reassuring.  G.

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  • Jalsmama55
    Jalsmama55 Member Posts: 104
    edited July 2011

    Hi girls. Well, had the lump checked out last week (7/7/11) by rads onco who is amazing and I trust him and his judgement. He seemed to think it was a suture granuloma (scar tissue forming over a suture left in my axilla after full ALND, or undissolved suture) OR, just plain scar tissue. It's about 2mm and he wanted to watch it over the next 6 weeks. Unless anything changed, then we would consider surgery to remove it and get path on it. But he wanted to see first because I already have lynphedema and once we start rooting around in that arm, it'll exacerbate the lynphedema AND possibly mess even more with my range of motion (which I've actually recovered very well as of this point). Anyway, wouldn't u know that the lump is now protruding more and visible on the outside of my skin and feel a tad bigger. Not sure if thats due to the protruding or not. So, my rads onco is coming in tomorrow and wants to see me right away. Hopefully he will want an U/S or scan atleast. I'll keep you all posted and let u know. This crap is for the birds! UGH! haha! Thanks for checking in on me. Xoxoxo

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  • Gitane
    Gitane Member Posts: 1,885
    edited July 2011

    Jaismama55,  I hope it is no big deal.  If it is a little piece of suture maybe it is working its way to the surface or something.  Obviously I have no medical knowledge about this, but it makes sense to me.  I hope you can get the reassurance you need, and SOON.  Hugs, G.

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  • Jalsmama55
    Jalsmama55 Member Posts: 104
    edited July 2011

    Well, looks like more surgery in my future :( Saw rads onco and he said it definitely needs to come out. He called my surgeon and I have an appt with her Monday. It's definitely changed. It's visible on the outside on my skin where it wasn't just 6 days ago. Turns out the area that it's in probably wasn't radiated at all due to being close to the shoulder joint which is shielded during rads to protect the joint from drying out. So still praying it's suture granuloma or just scar tissue. Weird thing is that my lymphedema is actually behaving pretty well right now, I would think that if I had a tumor in my lymph channel somewhere, it would be flaring up. Rads onco thinks worse case scenario, it's a lymph transit failure. And that this cancer (tumor) in transit, got stuck in my axilla area because of no lymphnodes being there anymore and all the scar tissue. But if path shows it's cancer, that now means many more scans are also in my future to make sure no other tumors are "planting" themselves in other areas. I'm so scared right now. Been crying all day. Don't know what to think/feel. Wish I would hear from someone who might have had this before and could maybe put my mind at ease. Thanks for the support. Xoxoxo

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  • barbe1958
    barbe1958 Member Posts: 19,757
    edited July 2011

    Jalsmamma, I just saw this post. I had 2 incidents that took to to the doc for followup. One was a mass under my arm. The ultrasound tech took a lot of pictures which made me very, very nervous. Then the radiologist came in and assured me there was no evidence of cancer. He was very nice and could see that I was quite concerned. They did mess around with the nodes in there, so what I had was scar tissue.

    Then, on my non-cancer side at the end of my mast scar is a little bb just under the skin. It's been there since my mast, so the doc assumes it's a stitch and told me it would dissolve. It's been almost 3 years and it hasn't dissolved and at times it is SO irritating that I almost want to pop it like a pimple just to get the little bb out!!!! When it gets irritated by something I wear that rubs there, it does seem to get bigger and more obvious. Because it hasn't changed in 3 years I just tolerate it, but I had months of worry at the point you are at now.

    Sending good thoughts your way. Please keep us posted!!!

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  • toomuch
    toomuch Member Posts: 901
    edited July 2011

    Jalsmama - We all know that the stress of not knowing is the hardest part. Did you ask the RO about ordering an imaging test, like a PET scan, prior to sending the BS back into an area that already has LE? Maybe the BS can do a core biopsy on the lesion rather then diving in with a full surgery. I have no experience with this but those are things that I would want to talk to the BS about before I had more surgery in my axilla on my LE side. I'll be praying that you find out that it's a benign lesion.

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  • Jalsmama55
    Jalsmama55 Member Posts: 104
    edited July 2011

    GOOD NEWS! I had ultrasound on Thursday and the radiologist came in afterwards and said he was pretty much 100% sure that's it's NOT cancer! There's absolutely no bloodflow to it whatsoever, it's not a lymphnode and it's very superficial. He said he would call my surgeon and discuss the possibility of not removing it. He said it's probably a sebaceous cyst or a little swelling of a gland but that it's probably b9. THEN, on my way home, the radiologist calls my cell and said he talked about my situation and results with another colleague and they decided that because of my history and the aggressiveness of my cancer, they would still recommend having it removed. Well, I had already emailed my surgeon at that point asking about the possibility of canceling surgery. She emailed me back late that night and said although the ultrasound results was great news, she still wanted to excise it just to be sure. So, I'm scheduled for surgery 8/2. Also, she ordered a chest MRI and PET scan to just be sure that everything else is ok and she wanted to have a baseline anyway. I feel good about the decision to remove the lump, the only thing that really concerns me is my LE. So afraid of it flaring up. I have it pretty much under control right now and it feels good. My surgeon thinks that the LE "shouldn't" be an issue since it's so superficial and she won't be going into the axilla. But again she said "we r talking about the human body so anything is possible, BUT I think it'll be fine". Just wanted to update you all. I'll update after pathology comes back on this little nuisance Haha! Xoxoxo

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  • barbe1958
    barbe1958 Member Posts: 19,757
    edited July 2011

    EXCELLENT news!!! We will await the final pathology to fully congratulate you, but so far, so good!

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  • Binney4
    Binney4 Member Posts: 8,609
    edited July 2011

    Hey, hey!!! I love good news!Cool And it sounds like your team is taking very good care of you -- how reassuring!

    Here is information about doing surgery in an area that already has lymphedema. Hope it helps!

    http://www.stepup-speakout.org/GUIDELINES_FOR_SURGERY

    Looking forward with you to an easy surgery and great results on all the scans. Keep us posted!

    Be well,
    Binney

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