Waiting surgery for interductal papillomas...
First post here. I am 35, no family history of BC. A few weeks ago I started noticing discharge from my right nipple, along with some pain. My youngest is 5, so this definitely caught me by surprise. I had a lump checked out a few years ago by a breast specialist (it was nothing, I'm super fibrocystic & it was just more of that) but I thought since I was not a new patient with them I could maybe bypass my OB & get it checked out right away. Thankfully they saw me on Friday. I fully anticipated another "you're fine, take some vitamin E" answer like last time - so I was surprised with how the conversation went. The doctor first noted when she sampled the nipple discharge that there was blood in it (which I didn't ever see - I thought it was clear to yellow only; glad I didn't see that at home or I would have likely panicked). She asked if I had any lumps & I said no... but two minutes later she said "well, here's one." At least now I know what a lump feels like? She went to get the ultrasound machine and immediately said I had a sack of fluid (I saw her measure it to 1200, whatever that means).. and then she got quiet. Which no one ever likes during an kind of ultrasound. After a few minutes of looking around & typing, she said "well, you've got a few different things going on here". She showed me a grey oblong shaped thing on the screen & said "see that? And this one over here?" (I can't remember if there were 2 or 3).... she said they were papillomas & that they needed to come out. I don't remember much after that because I was so in shock to hear that I was going to have to have surgery. She said they're benign but then said they needed to come out & be sent to pathology, which of course makes me question how sure she is that they're benign. But of course, I couldn't think of any questions in the moment & just wanted to call my husband.
Anyways, surgery is next week & I'm anxiously awaiting it to get here. I remember her saying they would be removing some ducts as well & doing a "duct exploration" (is that the dye test maybe?).
I have found these message boards to be so helpful for me in just wanting information & to understand what they're going to be doing, so I wanted to share my experience incase it helps anyone else as this continues. I'm scared & it seems like most of the people in my life don't understand why I'm scared... "the doctor said they're benign." or "we have no family history of BC, I'm sure it's nothing." But it doesn't feel like nothing. Which I guess you can't understand unless you've been in this spot, which is why I'm reaching out here for just general support from others who have traveled this road. I'd also love to hear from anyone else who has dealt with papillomas, or what they think are papillomas, and how it turned out (as well as how your recovery went from surgery when cutting into/around the nipple area).
Comments
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Hi afaye,
Welcome to the board, but so sorry you are here under these circumstances. I know exactly what you are going through. I just had this exact same surgery this past Thursday 1/25.
I had nipple discharge for close to a year, didn't think anything about it, until it turned bloody and then became painful. Had a Mammo and US which only showed inflamed ducts, and was referred to an MRI. To which insurance denied, but my surgeon fought the insurance company and won the MRI. The MRI showed a 8mm lesion on my left breast at 12 oclock. The US confirmed this, and the lesion had a blood vessel running right through it.
They did not say for sure if it was a papilloma in my case, only that they thought it could be. And they didn't use the word benign for me, but said that it was suspicious for malignancy.
I had the breast mass excision with milk duct exploration, and they did remove some of my ducts and sent both the ducts and the lesion off to path. The surgeon says she was able to get everything, and hopefully will hear something by the middle of this week on pathology.
My mind has been racing with thoughts of possibly having cancer.
Let me give you some helpful hints for surgery:
Get yourself a front zipping sports bra. This is a life saver not having to pull anything over your breast after surgery. Wear this your day of surgery. You will be wearing this day and night until you have your follow up with your surgeon after surgery (in my case 3 weeks I'll be wearing mine 24/7). You can get one at Walmart, they are cheap and really good!
Get yourself an ice pack that you can reuse. You can wear them 20 minutes at a time. I've only used mine once.
Get some gauze and tape that can stick to the skin so that you can change out your bandage.
Wear a button up top to surgery day so that it's easier to put on afterwards and you aren't having to pull anything over your breasts or lift your arms.
You are going to do great. I know so many people don't understand what its like going through a scare like this. I am 33, no children, no family history of breast cancer either. So the odds are in our favor, but this is still a very scary time!
Please keep us posted on how you are. If you want to PM me with any questions, or if you just want to vent because you are feeling worried or scared, I'm here.
Sending prayers your way! *hugs*
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Thank you so much for your thought out (& very helpful) reply, StrongJess!
First, I'm so sorry you too are in this waiting game - at at our young age. When do you expect to get your pathology results back? How has your recovery been so far/how does your breast/nipple look so far?
I just called my docs office to ask some questions (b/c I couldn't think straight to ask them Friday). First, I found out that my results should only take 1-2 days & they'll call me with the, so that's good news. I was anticipating a week or two. I also asked if she (the nurse) could tell me how many papillomas I have, how deep they are, etc - but she said she wasn't sure, but she thinks they're right under the nipple. I'm not sure if she's "not sure" b/c she's not allowed to tell me (I don't know the rules on this... the doc is out of town this week, so maybe that's not her territory to tell patients the number/size of their masses) or if she was just answering general questions & didn't have that information. Either way, I guess I'll find out when they start shoving wires in me at the hospital :P
Great to hear about the front zipping sports bra - I just bought one today! I have a friend who just recovered from a double preventative mastectomy & reconstruction and she said she loved those too. I wasn't sure if it was something I needed or not (since this is obviously nothing compared to what she went through) but sounded like something to get just incase, so I'm glad you've found yours to be so helpful!
What kind of ice pack did you use? Something bendable/flexible?
All of those other notes - great to know! I'm jotting them down.
Hugs & prayers to you - I hope you hear something (positive) back very soon. -
Regarding the ice packs...I found some round gel reusable ice packs on Amazon.https://www.amazon.com/LotFancy-Reusable-Comfortable-Heating-Arthritis/dp/B01A6E24VM/ref=sr_1_7_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1517332883&sr=8-7&keywords=round+gel+ice+packs
They are small enough to fit inside your bra and they do not get hard when frozen.
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Thank you for that link, Silbar - I just purchased those per your recommendation!
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I had an intraducal papiloma removed in 2000. I had the discharge for nearly 2 years. I know...way too long! But I finally had it checked it out when it started showing signs of blood. The doctor told me they were almost always benign. He said maybe 2% of the time they were not. The way he explained it to me was that they are a wart-like growth that grows in the milk ducts. I had mine removed and they removed all of the milk ducts. I asked my breast surgeon if it had anything to do with the breast cancer I was diagnosed with this past year and she told me no. The final pathology report from my mastectomy showed I had another small one showing up in the other breast!
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Hi Afaye!
So sorry I didn't get back to you sooner, it has been a crazy week! Recovery has went spectacular. My breast looked so normal the first couple of days, no bruising. Then on the third day I had bruising extending from my incision out to my nipple, but it didn't hurt, and then a couple of days later I started bruising around my breast, just yellow, but again no pain, just sore.
I probably had to take the pain medication two days, but ended up taking it the third day because I tried to get out of the house with the family and go shopping and over extended myself.
I went back to working today, and I feel pretty good.
What day is your surgery this week? I've been thinking about you and I know everything will go great!
Also, I heard back from the path report. The nurse said NO CANCER!!! She said alot of other things showed on the path report, but I was so focused on the "no cancer was found" part, that all I heard was "calcifications, cysts, chronic inflammation and atypical". She said the surgeon would go over the path and would go over all the details with me the day of my post op appt. Feb. 14th.
Keep us posted!
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StrongJess that’s great news!! I’m sure you’re so relieved! Do you know yet what that means that they found atypical cells? I need to research that more.
Surgery is Wednesday. Can’t get here soon enough. So so anxious - it’s consuming my thoughts!
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Awesome news Jess!
Good luck with your surgery afaye! You'll do great!
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Afaye~ I will be thinking of you next Wed and sending you healing thoughts. I am right behind you, as my excisional biopsy surgery is next Thursday. My post-op appt is on the 12th and will get the results that day (so they said). Here's praying we both get good bx results for Valentine's Day.
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Hi afaye,
Had you on my mind today, hope you are doing well after surgery!
Silbar - I have you on my mind too for yours tomorrow! I know it will go great!
Not sure what the atypical cells means yet, hoping to find out next week at my follow up with the surgeon.
All was great with me until the second day back to work. I over did it and my breast started to swell and has been extremely tender. The nurse said that the blood was pooling underneath where the incision is,and to just keep ice packs on it. Surgical strips came off yesterday on their own and the incision looks like it will heal good.
Let us know how y’all are. Keeping you both in my thoughts and prayers! *hugs*
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Thanks for thinking of me yesterday, StrongJess.
I'm in bed now, almost 24 hrs after surgery - not feeling too bad. Surgery went well yesterday. I'll post the whole rundown here for anyone who might come across this in the future & find it helpful. (Silbar, I'm betting you're in surgery right about now - thinking of you!!)
I arrived at the hospital at my appointed 10:30. Turns out, they were a great hospital to pick - were on time all day, so kind & efficient. Never felt forgot about like you usually do in hospitals. I told my nurse that I have low blood sugar issues & was worried about going so long without eating anything (from midnight the night before until after my 12:30 surgery). She made note of that & said it was good to know - they'd have OJ ready for me after surgery. She asked if I was already shaky & I told her no, just from nerves so she popped some tordal (?) in my IV which helped tremendously. I was anticipating having to do a localized wire thing that I've read about so much on this site, but to my dismay I didn't have to! That was great news b/c I was super worried about how uncomfortable that would be. The next 2 hours were just filled with nurses, chatting with anesthesia, and hospital mumbo-jumbo. Before long, it was 12:15 & they were wheeling me into the OR. It was pretty packed in there - more people than I anticipated (maybe 8?). I spoke to my surgeon briefly both before & after surgery, asking exactly how many lumps/milk ducts they were removing & neither time did I get a straight answer, so that was frustrating. The only thing I remember her repeating is getting out the cyst - which I knew there was a cyst, but didn't think it was the main problem. Looking back, I remember at my inital appt, her observing that the cyst had a "finger" kind of, going downward - essentially, it wasn't perfectly round or with clean borders. So maybe that cyst is more of an issue than I even knew. I didn't really know that cyst could be bad at all? Anyways, I think she probably knows well what she's doing, but her bed-side manner is lack-luster & I think if my path results come back showing any sort of abnormality, I'll be finding a new doc who can actually have a conversation with me. Anyways, the last thing I remember was them strapping my arms down to the board & sticking the cannula in my nose - telling me something was going in my IV & I should be getting sleepy soon. I was out like a light. The anesthesiologist told me prior to the surgery that I would be in "la la land" and totally out, but wouldn't be putting me completely under (complete with a tube town my throat) unless they had any issues with me in "la la land". I never thought to ask afterwards, but I'm thinking they must have ended up putting me all the way out b/c my throat was THROBBING the rest of the day. Hurt so so bad. I woke up in recovery, they said surgery was about an hour & the rest of the day is a blur. Anesthesia kicked my butt & I slept the hour drive home, 40 minutes in the car waiting for my husband to get my scripts filled (zofran for nausea & valium for pain) and the rest of the day yesterday. Today I feel okay.... the valium she gave me is 5/325, so I think it's decently low-dose.... and she only prescribed 12 of them, so I'm scared to run through them. It says take 1-2 every 6-8 hrs (with a note at the bottom to only take the lowest amount necessary) so I've been doing just 1 - but I think when I'm due for more pills in a few hours I'll do 1.5 or 2. I'm guessing today will be the worst for the pain & I probably shouldn't worry about running out of them.
She told my husband after surgery that it went well & something that sounded optimistic. I can't remember if he said that she said "I'm optimistic" or if she said "I think things will be just fine" - either way, it was something positive. She said she'll be calling tomorrow (Friday) with results & then i'll be going back 1-2 weeks from now for post-op appt & to get my full pathology report.
I think at this point I'm mostly worried about pre-cancerous stuff lingering in there. I don't feel like I'm going to hear a "it's malignant" report- I feel like I'm more likely to hear that the full pathology report showed something like ADH, and that I'm not sure what to do with..... I sure as hell don't want to always live with the anxiety I've felt over the last week. So, I guess we'll cross that bridge when we get to it & hope for a benign result in the meantime. -
I'm so glad everything went well. Are you sure that they gave you Valium for pain and not Lortab/Norco//hydro codone? I'll bet your throat hurt from the oxygen from the cannula...it can do that sometimes. I'm still a bit tired right now , after my surgery, so my response is short...lol. I hope you continue to get better and keep us posted.
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Oh you're right - Norco! Ha! I don't even know what I'm on :P
Update us when you can on how things went - thought of you today! -
Benign! Benign! Benign!
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Yay!!! So glad your results were benign and that you are doing good! I know it feels like a weight lifted off your shoulders! How are you feeling today?
So ready for my follow up! I am thinking that with the atypical cells found, I’ll probably be told I have ADH or ALH. They already have me scheduled for July to have a repeat mammogram. So I guess I will be watched closely.
Silbar - Glad you are doing good, keep us posted!
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Hi ladies! I'm glad you both had benign results and a decent experience. I'm scheduled for a ductal excision on the 26th and am nervous about both the procedure and results. Thanks for sharing your experiences, as this is so helpful at a lonely time. I'll be ordering ice packs and a front zip bra and will stay optimistic.
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Yay afaye!! So happy for you!!!!
Will keep you both in my prayers, StrongJess & Khawkes!!
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afaye, congrats on the B9 results!!!!! My results were B9 also. I wish everyone could have B9 results, too
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That’s great news afaye!!!
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