Surgical biopsy Thursday after two months wait.

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heather1355
heather1355 Member Posts: 4
edited April 2015 in Waiting for Test Results

My boyfriend found my lump in Feb, my mammo and u/s came back with no visual signs of cancer. But, I did peek at my mammogram and what I did see of it - the majority of my breast Showed up as white. After lots of research I believe that I have dense breasts, but seeing the mammo, I couldnt understand how they could see anything through the wall of white??. The office called me a few weeks later and asked if I wanted to schedule an apt with a surgeon since it was obvious I wasn't happy with the results of... we don't see any cancer, even though the lump is still there, all we can tell you is you have dense tissue, come back in 9 years when you're 40 for your next mammo.

My surgeon wasn't the best, he basically told me that the lump I perceived in my breast is just dense tissue and he wouldn't recommend a biopsy because in his experience my risk factors are low and it's unlikely to be cancer. I asked for it anyway. Thursday I told him that I have been experiencing pain in that lump going into my nipple along with discharge.. Milky, almost clear. His attitude changed a bit towards me and he assured me that it's probably nothing. After the biopsy he came to tell me that he's expecting the results to be benign. I've felt awful these past two days, and I was able to take my bandage off today. I wasn't expecting an incision almost an inch long around my nipple. He had explained ithat he would only need to make a small incision to perform the biopsy. scars don't bother me btw, I was just expecting something smaller. He scheduled my follow up appt and to go over the results with him this Friday morning.

After talking with my boyfriend about the Dr. he didn't see him as being the prick that I took him as, he says he's acting this way so as not to worry me or make me concerned over something that may not be there. I get that.

But, is the incision supposed to be that big? Is it worse when it's larger? Does it seem like I should be worried? I really don't know what I'm asking.. I just know that the lump isn't normal. The discharge from my nipple isn't normal. I'm horrible at being patient. My boyfriend has been wonderful through this whole process and I can't bring myself to rant to him anymore and stress him out more than he already is. Lol


Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

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  • Fakeboobs123
    Fakeboobs123 Member Posts: 92
    edited April 2015

    I wrote you a reply twice and my iPad went out of battery last night so never posted! I was wondering what type of biopsy did you have? I had a failed core biopsy before fine needle and the core biopsy left a small cut on my skin like 1cm maybe, and a biggish blue/yellow bruise. When I had a Breast uplift I had my entire nipple cut off and sewn back on, those scars around the circumrfrance have completely faded and you can't tell, it took about one year for my scars to completely fade. Breasts heal really well generally. Things to look out for would be any signs of infection which would be hot feeling on skin around incision, feeling hot, redness around incision and bleeding, like a soaked through gauze warrants a call to the doctor. The fact your u/s came back clear sounds promising. If you have dense breasts and are concerned that the doctor did not biopsy the right spot you could try to push for an MRI maybe, they are very sensitive according to my surgeon. I had one and it picked up a nodule my surgeon missed doing a casual ultrasound in her office. However, the tech doing ultrasound immediately picked it up

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  • BarredOwl
    BarredOwl Member Posts: 2,433
    edited February 2016

    Hi Heather:

    I am glad your surgeon listened to you (after some dialog) and took your concerns seriously, but am sorry you were surprised by the scar. They look a little angry at first. You didn't say how big the lump or thickening you have is, but probably that is what dictates the size of the sample taken and the incision made. They want to be sure to get a representative and informative sample, and it doesn't necessarily mean it's not benign.

    I had one surgical biopsy (not accessible with the equipment for cores). Because there was no lump, it was guided by wire localization (they do a mammogram and insert wires so the tips are near the calcifications, and the wire tip serves as a physical signpost for the surgeon to identify the area to be removed). My scar was also about 1 inch. According to the biopsy report, my surgeon removed a slab of tissue 4.1 x 3.1 x 0.7 cm (long and wide, but thin). It didn't affect my shape (barely B) and it healed fast and very nicely. I am hoping your surgeon's gut instinct is right (benign, crossed fingers and positive thoughts being sent your way).

    BarredOwl

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