Anyone diagnosed after being told to follow up in 6 months?

I don't want to scare you but my first oncologist did tell me to be back in a year for follow-up. I found nipple discharge and felt a lump in my breast. Immediately I went to this oncologist. He did a mammogram along with an ultrasound then even a biopsy. After all these, he decided it was cystic mastopathy and nothing to be concerned. But since I was 39 at that time and he thought that women around my age should do a yearly check-up, he suggested that I would come back for follow-up a year later. Then a year passed and boom it indeed was cancer. Of course I ditched him and went to the new oncologist but my tumor was measured nearly 4cm when I was finally diagnosed by this new oncologist, which put me in the stage IIb cancer world. Except for few rare types of breast cancer, it doesn't grow that fast. From the size of the tumor my new oncologist found, he said that my cancer should have been big enough to be found during my first test a year earlier, not too tiny to be missed to say the least. Actually he said he had no idea why it had been missed.

If they wanted major surgery to see if your cyst was anything bad, then I wouldn't push you to let them do it. But if it's just a biopsy, I would say go for it. I understand it's not a piece of cake but it's certainly not a huge deal. Don't be too scared. Most lumps turn out to be benign. 

One question - how much anxiety will you have for the next 6 months if you decide to wait and how will you handle it? I just had my 18 mo mammo on the affected breast in Aug and they saw new calcifications in the lumpectomy site. Rad gave me to option to re-check in 6 months but I know I could not have tolerated the anxiety. I went ahead with the biopsy and it was fat necrosis, thank goodnexx.

Get the biopsy, you'll have peace of mind.  I did the 6 month follow up and was then told i had cancer.  That one day was the biggest regret i have in my life.  

I was told I had fibroadenoma and told to come back in 6 mos even though I had pain at the lump site . Waiting the six months caused me great anxiety I wished I had just biopsied it right then and there especially after I had the biopsy and it was such a simple procedure I did not have a fibroadenoma however I did have a benign abcess and ended up having surgery to remove all my affected ducts I would have the biopsy put your mind at ease 

peacejen, I've never been in your position;  you can always seek another opinion, go to a trusted Breast specialist/surgeon and/or ask if a Breast MRI would be helpful...of course, the only sure way to tell is by doing a biopsy. Do you have a family history? Sometimes you just have to follow your gut. Only you can decide if the waiting is bearable. Wishing you the best! 

Jen:

I feel as if you'll primarily get responses from people who did ultimately end up with a cancer diagnosis, because those are the people who are on this site.  Whereas, if you asked a lot of random people at any given imaging center, probably you would not end up with the same answers. 

It has seemed to me as if most everyone has had imaging that looked fine and then later turned out to be "something" to worry about, or "nothing" to worry about.  If your radiologist felt anything more needed to be done, that's what they would have recommended.  Some doctors tend to fill you in and let you help decide whether you want to be more aggressive or less. Others try to guide you a bit more.  I'm the type who, when a doc says "I think it's probably fine," -- I run as fast as I can to the door.  Maybe it's all the procedures I've been through, but I trust them to have passed their statistics classes and know how to calculate my odds.  I've never, ever had any imagining on my breasts, since my very first one, where I as just sent on my merry way and told "nothing to look at here."  I've always had a slew of additional imagine and tests, never really knowing what they were looking at or for. But, no matter what "finding" they're looking at--I tend to listen to their advice because I certainly don't know how to read those images.

That said, I was indeed sent away to come back after two months (so some menstrual periods had passed) to watch for changes in a finding. It was something my tech argued with my doctor about.  Sometimes I wonder if my doc ordered the biopsy just to show the ultrasound technician. She was quite surprised when it turned out to be cancer.  So, we never know. We just let our docs do their job, add in our own feelings, and do what we've got to do.

Best of luck, but please don't squander the next six months with worry that won't help anything.

I just wanted to reassure everyone that Jen also posted on the Not Diagnosed topic. On that thread she is getting info and support about the wait 6 months standard of care. I know I wanted to make sure that she wasn't just getting info from those of us who were diagnosed after being told to wait.

I am amazed by the wonderful people on this site, who offer their experiences and support to others. You are kind and so helpful!

Gentle hugs!