Uneven bottom of breast (dent, indentation?)

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booksandanxiety
booksandanxiety Member Posts: 7
edited April 2018 in Not Diagnosed But Worried

Hello all

Just to preface, I am36, have 3 kids and only history is paternal grandma who got BC in her 60's a very long time ago.

About 2 weeks ago, I noticed a lump in my armpit 10 days after shaving for the first time in months (gross I know, I go furry in the winter). I saw my Dr and he said it didn't feel like a lymph node but felt like something from shaving (ingrown hair, clogged duct, etc). When I found that lump I delved DEEP into google. Big mistake. Well, now that lump is almost gone, but it brought me to my next issue.

My breasts have always been different sizes/shapes. I didn't get my period till 15, I've had 3 kids, and I am 100lbs overweight (was actually starting process of weight loss surgery till this derailed me). When I raise my arms, the countour of my left breast (smaller breast) is different than the right. It just looks not as rounded. Now, this isn't a new change. My boobs have looked like this as long as I can remember, but when I fell down the rabbit hole because of the armpit lump, this became my primary concern (I have severe health anxiety). I went back to dr who did CBE, and felt nothing. I was hysterical in her office, and she decided for my peace of mind to order mammogram. I go Wednesday for diagnostic mammogram and ultrasound. I have been reading this board nonstop since I found the almost nonexistent armpit lump. I just wanted to share my story. I am so scared for Wednesday.

Thank you all for reading that, and I wish nothing but the best for every single one of you.




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  • Nursepatient35
    Nursepatient35 Member Posts: 166
    edited April 2018

    It sounds like you've most likely talked yourself into it being something bad but glad you have a mammogram ordered. If nothing else, that will give you some peace of mind. Try to stay off the internet and off this site. Most everyone on here has had or has cancer and can tell their rare story of how they found it, etc. You are not at that point and surrounding yourself with this can't be helpful. I wish you lots of good health and that your test comes back all clear.

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  • Worrywart414
    Worrywart414 Member Posts: 7
    edited April 2018

    Please go to the doctor's on Wednesday to get a mammogram and ultrasound exam. And in the extremely likely case they don't find anything, please do believe it. Until then, stay off Google, stay off this board, stay off all medical or cancer-related websites.

    I'm not saying this to be dismissive of your concerns, but as a fellow anxiety patient. I had a similar experience last spring, which also started off with a swollen lymph node from shaving for the first time in months. I have a stronger family history of breast cancer than you (both my mum and my aunt passed away due to BC). By the time I got to see a doctor, I was already suffering major panic attacks -- I'm still struggling with the fallout from last spring and summer, psychologically speaking. (For example, I have to take CBT to keep myself from reading cancer discussion boards all the time...).

    Don't fall down the same rabbit hole. Your two symptoms are:

    - a lump, maybe an irritated lymph node, easily explained by shaving and already going away (which cancer doesn't!)

    - "funny-shaped" breast on one side, which has been like that for years

    If that funny shape was actually due to to cancer, you really would have noticed by now, after all those years. No two breasts are symmetrical (my left boob is one cup size bigger, for instance, which also used to worry me A LOT last year), and if the difference isn't recent, it's very likely just what your normal body looks like.

    If you can, do talk to a psychologist or psychiatrist about your anxiety and adjust your meds, if necessary. You don't want the fear of breast cancer haunting you for months and ruining your life. Do something you enjoy until your doctor's appointment and try to relax.

    Best of luck!

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  • booksandanxiety
    booksandanxiety Member Posts: 7
    edited April 2018

    Thank you ladies for your replies. I take meds for anxiety but I've been taking them so long I really don't think they work anymore. Right now my biggest fear is that maybe my symptoms aren't nothing, but because I had good things happening in my life, the mammogram will show something I didn't even realize was there and is untreatable. Part of me wants to cancel the mammogram as I feel I have no reason to have it, the other part wants the all clear, and the less rational part of me Is terrified that my boob is going to be full of cancer. I know I need help for my anxiety. After this gets straightened out, that's will be the first thing i do

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  • djmammo
    djmammo Member Posts: 2,939
    edited April 2018

    booksandanxiety

    You are basing your decisions on facts not yet in evidence. You need to know what is going on if only to allay your anxiety. Do not cancel your imaging appointment.

    If/when the imaging comes back negative on your breasts, make sure your other symptoms are evaluated as it is not likely to be metastatic breast cancer causing them at your age.

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  • booksandanxiety
    booksandanxiety Member Posts: 7
    edited April 2018

    @DJMAMMO

    Thank you for the reply. I don’t have any other symptoms that would point to BC is the thing. The initial armpit lump is very small now, as I think I popped it under my skin. I am afraid that I’ll be a hysterical mess while all my tests are being done. Is this a common occurrence? I’m afraid they will stop doing my tests or think I’m insane while doing it. If the mammogram shows nothing, will they still do the ultrasound? Thank you so much for your tkme

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  • djmammo
    djmammo Member Posts: 2,939
    edited April 2018

    booksandanxiety

    So if I understand correctly you have a contour deformity that has been there for as long as you can remember and that is your chief concern at this point.

    US is usually reserved for palpable abnormalities / lumps so if the mammo is completely normal they may suggest skipping the US so you may have to tell them that area feels a little different to you recently.

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  • Worrywart414
    Worrywart414 Member Posts: 7
    edited April 2018

    Well, I was a "hysterical mess" during my exams. The medical staff was nice enough about it, but in my experience, many doctors are more likely take to take you seriously and answer your questions if you aren't freaking out at them, especially if there's very little to be concerned about. Also, panic attacks in public are no fun. :(

    Is there anyone you can take with you to keep you calm? Your husband, a family member, a close friend...? That might help you to keep a clear head, to take in what the doctors are telling you, and to avoid a rather unpleasant anxiety-induced meltdown.

    Your fear that the exams might discover an unknown and incurable cancer because life has been going well for you is a pretty classic case of "magical thinking". Shit sometimes just happens, and we can't control it, no matter whether life has treated us well so far or not. Again, sorry for playing the armchair psychologist here, but wow, your situation sounds a lot like déjà vu to me. ;)

    Make sure that your exams evaluate both the breast contour thing and the armpit lump, and if they give you the all-clear, please let it go. I'm telling you that because my anxiety brain came up with scenarios like "what if the doctor had a bad day and was wrong?" "What if the imaging wasn't sensitive enough and I should have gotten an MRI instead?" None of these was even remotely likely, but I wanted to be 150% sure I didn't have cancer or, better yet, that I'd never get cancer in my entire life, and that's what nobody will ever be able to promise you.

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  • djmammo
    djmammo Member Posts: 2,939
    edited April 2018


    Agree with above from Worrywart414 . Good advice well stated.

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  • booksandanxiety
    booksandanxiety Member Posts: 7
    edited April 2018

    hi everyone. Friendly neighborhood hypochondriac here. So today I had my mammogram and ultrasound due to extreme anxiety over left breast shape. Mammogram was normal (but I guess dense as I'm 36) and the left breast and armpit was normal in an ultrasound. The radiologist came in to talk with me and asked me if anything else concerned me. I said as I've been feeling my breasts a lot I felt something that might be lump, might be normal breast tissue on my right breast at 3 o'clock. So he puts the wand there and there is a black hole in my breast and says it's a cyst, then says I wonder if its a lymph node, no, it's a cyst or a cluster cyst. I get super scared. I ask him birad score, he says 3 because I could feel it. Said to come back in 6 months. I asked if it was a cyst couldn't he aspirate it and now I'm schedule next week for a biopsy on a "cluster cyst" that measured less than 1cm. To say I am scared now is an understatement. None of this sounds normal to me based on what I’ve seen here. Can anyone shed some light?

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  • Worrywart414
    Worrywart414 Member Posts: 7
    edited April 2018

    Thanks for the update! I'd actually been wondering how your medical appointment turned out. I hope you weren't too nervous.

    First of all, I'm very happy to hear that everything's okay with your left breast and the armpit lump. But I'm sorry that your right breast is now causing all these new worries. But don't panic yet! (Easier said than done, I know. )

    - Is there any way you can access your official patient report before the appointment next week? There has to be one that sums up the findings, and you could ask djmammo to explain to you what all those terms mean. It usually includes a description of any findings and the BIRADS score as based on the radiologist's assessment. That might makes things a bit clearer than stuff you remember from a talk in a highly stressful situation.

    - Also, I'm obviously not a doctor, but could he have talked about so-called clustered microcysts? https://breast-cancer.ca/clustrocysts/ The article says that they are not that rare (basically and almost always benign.

    I've never had those (my breasts are basically stuffed with normal cysts, though, since they are pretty fibrocystic). However, I did have a so-called "complicated cyst" last year, which was also BIRADS 3. This means a malignancy risk of under 2%, or even less, depending on the exact ultrasound finding, and follow up in six months is standard procedure.

    - But it's good that you have an appointment for an aspiration (biopsy?) next week, as these six months would cause probably a lot more anxiety. Now you'll soon know for sure what's going on! Until then, try to distract yourself as much as possible.

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  • booksandanxiety
    booksandanxiety Member Posts: 7
    edited April 2018

    @djmammo this is the report on the right breast issue :

    Right breast sonogram: Targeted right breast ultrasound near patient directed area of interest 3 o'clock axis, 2 cm from the nipple, demonstrates a 0.9 x 0.3 x 0.8 cm oval parallel circumscribed hypoechoic cystic mass with posterior enhancement and absent vascularity. No other suspicious sonographic abnormality is identified.

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