Painful Lump Discovered

Hi there,

I'm a 33-year-old male. My mom had breast cancer 20 years ago. Not sure what type. Not sure of the details, I was too young to really understand what was going on. She did survive. But died earlier this year from lung cancer.

I was diagnosed with Graves Disease (hyperthyroidism) about 2 or 3 months ago. Symptoms were weight loss and muscle wasting, tremor, and palpitations. Since starting beta blocker and anti-thyroid med, all symptoms have disappeared as far as I can tell. I've started gaining muscle mass back and my strength and endurance are returning (I'm an athlete).

That said, about two weeks ago or so, I brushed my left nipple while putting a shirt on and it hurt. Like not just sore, but like a sort of deep stinging sensation. I felt around and there was a lump or thickening of the tissue just below my nipple. Like a button. Sort of flat and round, within the confines of my areola.

Went to my primary care doc, his best guess was gynecomastia. Especially considering the hyperthyroidism.

Went to get mammogram and ultrasound two days ago. After mammogram, tech came back and said radiologist suspected gynecomastia as well. But wanted to do an ultrasound. During ultrasound, radiologist seems concerned. Didn't mention gynecomastia at all. Showed me image on the screen. Looked like a thin, oblong (dark/all black) void on the screen, just below my nipple. Hard to remember the exact image. He said it's definitely a solid mass. Not a cyst.

I've got a core biopsy scheduled for next week (4 days from now).

Of course, I'm freaking out internally here. The lump is hard. It's not mobile. And it's painful. If I roll over on my stomach in bed, It hurts. If I brush it accidentally, it hurts. If a buddy slaps me, playfully, in the chest it hurts. And so on. No dimpling of the skin. No redness. No changes in color. No discharge or anything like that. Just the lump, which I swear is bigger now. But hard to say. Could just be me freaking out about it.

I usually have the mentality of if the situation can be changed, no use freaking out. And if the situation can't be changed, no use freaking out. But hey... my mom had breast cancer and died of lung cancer within like 6 months of diagnosis. So yeah... I'm concerned.

What I'd love to do (and would have loved to have done) is just skip all this testing stuff and go straight to surgery and get this thing removed. Why bother with a mammogram and ultrasound and biopsy and then wind up in surgery anyway. They can remove the thing and then do the biopsy on the entire lump when it's removed. I figure that saves a lot of time, considering each step in the process eats up a week or two (if not more) at a time. Time from discovery to first doc appointment was 1 week. Time from that appointment to mammogram was 2 weeks. Time from that to biopsy will be almost 1 week. Time from biopsy to results = no idea. But from that point to another follow up with primary care, to surgery... all that adds up to months of doing nothing.