New Member...petrified....

burchRN
burchRN Member Posts: 12
edited February 2019 in Not Diagnosed But Worried

I've been having pain in my right chest wall, right shoulder, right arm, and right side of my neck for about 2-3 months. It's a deep muscle ache.

Last week....I found a lump. It's small, a little larger than a pea. It's in the 11 o'clock position, the upper outer quadrant, of the right breast....embedded in the chest wall. Only able to be found if I lean forward and let my breat dangle (I am a 40DD).

When I touched it, it was hard and didn't move. It triggered an awful, painful cramp in my right chest wall, shoulder, and arm about 30 minutes after I first touched it. The next day, the whole area was swollen and tender. I took an anti-inflammatory med and it helped some.

I saw my gynecologist Wednesday. Per his recommendation, I'm having an ultrasound and mammogram on Monday. He doesn't think the mammogram will see it because its so deep an anchored to my chest wall. Then I meet with a surgeon on Tuesday to have it removed.

My whole right chest, underarm, neck, and shoulder are slightly sore/achy with intermittent sharp pain, and puffy today after my exam yesterday. My axillary lymph nodes and the ones in my neck are swollen today...and that's new. I'm terrified.

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Comments

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

    burchRN

    In addition to having the breast imaging, be open to the idea that most of your symptoms may not be breast related.

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  • burchRN
    burchRN Member Posts: 12
    edited April 2018

    djmammo,

    I'e been having odd symptoms for awhile. But I am a full time ER RN and work 2 jobs. I have 2 kids. I just blamed everything else for my symptoms, which include:

    Being very tired

    The ache the the RUQ of my body. I was constantly rubbing that side of my neck, chest, back. I even saw a neurosurgeon because I thought it might be musculoskeletal in nature. They did a cervical mri...because c8 would be the culprit of sensations in my right arm. It was negative. I was even scheduled tk start PT in May for it. My gyno told me the postpone it for now. I saw a chiropractor. I took muscle relaxers and anti inflammatory meds. Nothing helped. The ache isn't constant or severe. It's just sometimes there. No pinpointing, precipitating factors. It was just more obnoxious than really painful.

    The intermittent, sudden onset feeling of a letdown...long after I was no longer nursing.

    I never thought much of any of it. Until I found the spot. My gyno almost didn't find it. I had him blindly feeling, because I didn't want to lead him on. I wanted him to truly think about what he was feeling and whether it was normal or not. He couldn't feel it when I was lying down. Or sitting up. But when I leaned forward, it didn't take long for him to find it. Since it has been touched, it's almost as if my body is angry that I touched the spot. I feel the soreness more.

    I've had mastitis and clogged ducts before. This doesn't feel like them. But everyone says not to worry....BC doesn't hurt. But what if it does?

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  • burchRN
    burchRN Member Posts: 12
    edited April 2018

    Also....I feel it's important to mention that I developed a goiter 2 years ago. It showed a hypoechoic lesion on it. We just monitor it.


    I've also had my cervix frozen and scraped due to precancerous cells. And 5 months ago I got yet another abnormal pap.

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

    burchRN

    Breast cancers can be tender to palpation. The fact that they are never painful is a myth.

    For your somatic symptoms to be caused by a barely palpable breast CA is unlikely. These cancers usually declare themselves locally before they spread. Either way they cant get out without going through the axillary nodes. If those nodes are normal in size and appearance, then chances are the horse is still in the barn.

    Let us know what the imaging shows.

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  • burchRN
    burchRN Member Posts: 12
    edited April 2018

    Just as my doctor suspected, the lump is not visible on US. He insists I still see the surgeon tomorrow for removal.

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  • burchRN
    burchRN Member Posts: 12
    edited April 2018

    I give up. Me, my husband, my OB, and the surgeon can all feel this lump. But the US and Chest CT were negative. I don't know where we go from here. I guess wait and watch.

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  • mustlovepoodles
    mustlovepoodles Member Posts: 2,825
    edited April 2018

    I'm surprised that the surgeon doesn't want to remove it.

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  • burchRN
    burchRN Member Posts: 12
    edited April 2018

    He does. My OB wants him to. But its deep in the chest wall, and he doesnt want to blindly cut around in there. He said he would call me later today because he wanted to look at the scans himself. The tech said the ct was the route to take to get the mri. But I'm doubtul at this point that it will be seen anywhere.

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  • burchRN
    burchRN Member Posts: 12
    edited April 2018

    I just spoke with surgeon. We will be doing yearly mammo and I have to report any new symptoms or growth.

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  • Recap
    Recap Member Posts: 120
    edited April 2018

    if it is hard and doesn't move and is deep in the chest wall, could it be a bony mass and not breast tissue? I wonder if a nuc med bone scan might show it.

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  • burchRN
    burchRN Member Posts: 12
    edited April 2018

    I have no idea. I don't have a close family history of breat cancer, but I do have a strong family history of bone cancer. Given that I am 29 and have already been diagnosed with multiple disc herniations, scoliosis, degenerative disc disease, and arthritis from my tailbone thru my L3 vertebrae....I wouldn't doubt that it's bone related. Its so deep behind the breast tissue. And of course that breast tissue is super dense, because I am young and a 40DD. Plus...the achy/strained feeling of that area is of concern to me. But the CT should have shown musculoskeletal issues, because that's how my lumbar issues were discovered (and we found further issues on the L-Spine MRI.

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  • burchRN
    burchRN Member Posts: 12
    edited May 2018

    ***UPDATE***

    My GYN and PCP went back to the drawing board. Today I had a US of my thyroid (since it's been 3 years since my last one), MRI chest w/wo contrast, CBC, CMP, CRP.

    Results:

    US: lesion is stable. Hasn't changed in size.

    MRI: Sweeping inflammation most likely consistent with cellulitis-folliculitis-no visible mass. (Although it's actually more easily palpated now according to everyone)

    CBC-NORMAL. CMP-NOT SURE YET. CRP-NORMAL.

    Physicians wanted a biopsy done, mainly because I have no redness, fever, nausea, vomiting, etc. General surgeon refuses because mass doesn't show up on films.

    I'm going to do a round of antibiotics and steroids. Then followup in 2 weeks to check for resolution.

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  • burchRN
    burchRN Member Posts: 12
    edited May 2018

    Also....per recommendation of GYN....I got the myrisk genetics testing done today. I'll hear from that in a few weeks.

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  • Lula73
    Lula73 Member Posts: 1,824
    edited May 2018

    so glad the docs went back to the drawing board! Keep us posted.

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  • MarcysMomma
    MarcysMomma Member Posts: 4
    edited February 2019

    How’s it going? Breast pain and MRI with tons of inflammation. No palpable mass but definitely can feel the inflammation and thickening of an area in my breast.

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