Ouch---Sore Under Non Cancer Armpit

Options
pupfoster1
pupfoster1 Member Posts: 1,484
edited June 2014 in Stage III Breast Cancer

Sheesh the fun never ends. I just needed somewhere to ask about this because I really don't want to mention yet another new pain/scare to my husband. I started having an ache, pain under my left non cancer side in the last couple weeks or so. Of course I've been feeling for swollen nodes and found some small knots deep in the node area. I'm not in full blown panic mode yet, bit must admit I'm scared "it's" come back. I've had a full mastectomy with the DIEP on the right/cancer side, and an implant on the left/ non cancer side. I'm not feeling any lumps or bumps anywhere else but the implant side is sore. Should I check with my PCP or go to my Oncologist to have it checked out? Any thoughts on what it might be?



Thanks all,

Sharon

· Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Comments

  • cmdczc
    cmdczc Member Posts: 75
    edited January 2013

    Are the knots tender and mobile?  Any redness of the overlying skin?  Could be inflamed lymph nodes (lymphadenitis).  Probably should check with your MO; a course of antibiotics may be indicated initially.  

    It's so hard not to worry and think the worst.  I do, it seems, nearly every day.  Hopefully you can resolve this quickly.

    Thinking all the best for you,

    Cindy (stage IIIa) 

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Kathleen26
    Kathleen26 Member Posts: 210
    edited January 2013

    I don't mean to scare you but I would check it out with your MO.   Symptoms almost exactly as you describe was the first indication that I had an issue on my "non-cancer" side in 2010, that turned out to be an extracapsulary mass from a new primary.   I hope yours turns out to be nothing.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • pupfoster1
    pupfoster1 Member Posts: 1,484
    edited January 2013

    Thank you ladies, and Kathleen I appreciate your honesty. Sometimes you just can't sugar coat this stuff, although I was hoping not to hear this. I am just very gun shy since my dx. Before that I had weird breast pain, lumps and bumps, scares including me insisting on a biopsy with nothing found----and had somewhat lulled myself in to some sort of false sense of security---only to have the rug ripped out from under me when I found what I hoped to be a cyst ended up being full blown multicentric disease. So I can't afford myself to just relax and think everything is "going to be OK" because we unfortunately know too well that that's just not always the case.

    With that said I suppose I' ll call my doctor and get something set up. And start the waiting game yet again.....

    Thank you all again for being here.



    Sharon

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • pupfoster1
    pupfoster1 Member Posts: 1,484
    edited January 2013

    PS, dumb question, what does MO stand for? Medical Oncologist?

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Kathleen26
    Kathleen26 Member Posts: 210
    edited January 2013

    Yes, pupfoster Medical Oncologist.

    The thing that was most shocking to me about my situation was that nothing showed up on a mammogram.  It's only because I had an MRI that they saw both the breast and axillary tumors, then did a ultrasound and saw the axillary mass there (and did the guided needle biopsy that way).   I don't want to contemplate what my situation would be right now if I had not had that MRI.   When I think about how many mammograms I've gotten every six months to check for new cancers, I am really annoyed.   No one ever suggested I should be having MRIs with a prior history.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • pupfoster1
    pupfoster1 Member Posts: 1,484
    edited January 2013

    Totally with you on that Kathleen!  Apparently mammography isn't very good in dectecting much in dense breasts, which I had, and been getting mammos yearly.  I try hard not to go back to the "what ifs" because it sure as hell isn't going to change where we are today right?  But damn it pops up from time to time and I get pissed too!

    Also, GOOD news!  I saw my MO yesterday and she reassured me she saw and felt nothing at all indicating BC.  She did say I have a lot of scare tissue from my recon, but I already knew that. Sadly I get keloid scars and basically look like the bride of Frankenstein between the breast recon and the hip to hip scar from the DIEP part.  Ugh.  But at least I got some reassurance. 

    Thanks for listening gang, and I'll promise to pipe in from time to time on a better note, or to try and help someone else instead of only when I'm freaking out!  Love you all!!!

    Sharon

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Categories