Swollen and Suspicious

I-AM-A-Nobody · July 2017

This is my first post.

I am 67 and overweight. I had my annual well woman July 10. A week or two before, I noticed my right breast looked fuller and higher than my left, wheres they both looked and drooped the same before. I could not feel any masses, and the skin looked and still looks normal. A few days after my well woman mammogram I got a letter in the mail saying the "examination showed a finding that requires additional imaging studies".

July 18 I had a a diagnostic and 3D mammogram. The technician showed the onsite breast specialist radiologist the results, and I was sent for an ultrasound. After the radiologist looked at the ultrasound, she repeated the ultrasound herself. She told me I have a 1cm mass at 10 o'clock and a suspicious lymph node deep in my right armpit, and that I need a biopsy of both, which is set up for July 25. She will be doing the biopsies. We spoke for awhile and described how the tissue in my breast is tethering where the mass is located, and she at one point, without saying I have breast cancer, that when having breast surgery, I need to go to a breast specialist,.

I did not ask the radiologist about my swollen breast, but after doing some googling, I am assuming the lymph node is cancerous and is not allowing lymph to flow to and from my breast, causing my breast to to swell.

I will have the results of the biopsies about 48 hours after the biopsies are completed,

I am loosing my mind right now, more about finding the money and talking to my grown children. I am anxious, nauseous, over eating and sleeping a lot.

I would love some input on my swollen breast, and the finding of a suspicious lymph node deep in my arm pit.

Thank you for listening.

ElaineTherese · July 2017

Hi!

((Hugs)) I wouldn't make any assumptions yet about your lump or your node. Mammograms can pick up on all sorts of benign breast conditions. Also, nodes can appear enlarged for any number of reasons, including infections.

Re: losing sleep about finding the money -- many breast care centers can help patients with the financing of their treatment. My breast care center has a nurse navigator who directs patients to help with paying for their scans, biopsies, and treatment.

Until your biopsy, try to keep busy and not think about your breast too much. Best wishes for a benign result!

Icietla · July 2017

Hi I-AM, and welcome to BCO. We are very sorry for the concerns that brought you here. We know the fears and dread. We all understand that the times of waiting and wondering seem such long times, always anxious. The next week will seem very long. If there is anything you really like or love to do, anything that can so engage your focus as to make time seem to pass more quickly, that would be good to try to keep your focus turned from the worries. If the anxiety is too much, though, you can ask your Doctor for medicine to help about that.

Consider that it may be best (at this time) not to tell your children what you are thinking -- not just because you should not assume, but also because they would likely have questions for which you would not have answers.

Of course we are hoping for the best for you.

We are here for you.

((Hugs))

I-AM-A-Nobody · July 2017

Dear ElaineTherese and Icietla,

Thank you SOO MUCH for replying to my post and sending ((Hugs))! Your words mean the world to me!

I got the courage to call the radiologist today to ask her more questions. I am so glad I did because I understood she would be the doctor to do the biopsies next Tuesday, but it turns out she will not be there this coming Tuesday and another radiologist would do the biopsies. I really want her. She has already seen me and I like her a lot. She graciously had the staff change the biopsies to this coming Monday when she would be there to do them for me. It is all very confusing because I am going to Memorial Hermann in a Houston suburb, but M D Anderson radiologists read the reports and do the biopsies in the Memorial Hermann facility. When I got the call back to confirm my biopsies were moved to Monday a 7:30am, I was told that she normally does not do biopsies on Monday, but is accommodating my wishes. I feel like a million dollars now.

When I asked her about my breast being swollen with no visual sign of Inflammatory breast cancer, she said she did not know, but that the biopsy results might give us the answer. She told me that my lymph node actually looks normal, but that there is a prominent capsule around it that needs to be biopsied. She described the mass in my breast as a solid 1 cm mass with architectural distortion, which means, I believe, the tissue around the mass is pulling in toward the mass. This time I wrote everything down. I will bring a pencil and paper into the room when I have my biopsies.

I need to tell my kids or they will kill me. Both are returning from vacations, but one leaves again to visit a very active 93 year old grandmother 2,000 miles away, toward the end of next week. Our plan (mine and the doctor) is to hopefully have the results before this child leaves again, so that she can make an informed decision as to whether she wants to stay in town with me, or leave again. .

Thank you again ElaineTherese and Icietla, you have both helped to center me.

Icietla · July 2017

What a break -- having your biopsy moved up for a few days less waiting! Small mercies, huh? See, You Are A Somebody!

Whatever the biopsy result for the mass, they are going to want it excised. Even if it is benign, they do not want suspicious-looking stuff confounding future mammogram evaluations.

Do your children live near you?

Swollen and Suspicious

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