Major fatigue for over a year, now lump.

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  • Promisesmommy
    Promisesmommy Member Posts: 21
    edited December 2018

    Notbroken- ๐Ÿ™„๐Ÿ™„๐Ÿ™„ I was expecting something like that to come out of his mouth. I'm sitting there like.. I birth 2 babies out of there.. it is what it is. My husband never complains ๐Ÿคท๐Ÿ’

    How irritating. I prefer female gyn's. They at least have the part that they are looking at.๐Ÿ˜

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  • Promisesmommy
    Promisesmommy Member Posts: 21
    edited December 2018

    Just got done with the US. They did a bilateral. She obviously spent more time on my right breast, she however didn't seem to measure any type of mass, just took still shots, so I assume that is good. On my other breast she just measured what looked to be a small cyst. So I'm assuming that there's nothing going on because there was no mass measured.... I saw on the US when she got to the spot. It was long and thin and had black around the edges and a grey thing inside it, but like i said, not measured, so I assume fatty tissue or something?


    My doc said to wait 2 weeks for results.

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

    I have no hard numbers concerning how many lumps turned out to be cancer but a spouse finding a breast lump and encouraging the patient to come in for imaging is a fairly common history in my experience. IMO a spouse is more familiar with what things should feel like, and also tends to spend more time in examining them than the average doc during an office visit. In addition, again IMO it can be harder to detect small/slow changes in the breast if one checks themself frequently, than if they are checked intermittently by an interested party, at least thats the way it was explained to me. It was also explained to me that not all husbands are male.

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  • bella2013
    bella2013 Member Posts: 489
    edited December 2018

    djmammo, everything that you stated is very true. The problem begins when the patient (owner of the breasts) is dismissed by her gynecologist...to the point he does a breast exam through her clothes...not exactly standard of care

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

    bella2013

    Yeah, that breast exam through the clothes is bothersome. She wasn't so much examined as she was "felt up" ร  la junior hight school. Call me old fashion but I don't like the new "stethescope-over-the-shirt" or "blood-pressure-cuff-over-the-sleeve" much either.

    Google the Vertical Strip Technique for clinical breast exams, in which one can be trained and certified. Its time consuming but very thorough.


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  • bella2013
    bella2013 Member Posts: 489
    edited December 2018

    My BC Surgeon used that technique. That was the first time I had experienced that technique

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  • Spoonie77
    Spoonie77 Member Posts: 925
    edited December 2018

    Thanks Djammo for suggesting the Vertical Strip Technique. I googled it and found this study (Vertical Strip Breast Exam Improves Detection) about how much more successful those trained in the is method are at finding masses.

    ""One of the things we get from diagnosticians is that this takes too long," Dr. Steiner said in an interview. "But the one factor that has been shown to make a difference in every study about breast exam sensitivity is the time you take. In our study, for every 15 seconds you took, it made you 29% more likely to find a 3-mm mass."

    image

    I plan on learning how to do this process for myself. Thanks again. :)

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  • Promisesmommy
    Promisesmommy Member Posts: 21
    edited December 2018

    Djmammo- I totally agree with you on a few levels. I do get that he possibly felt a significant change but I felt a gradual change. But like you said.. I never thought that literally being tapped like one would do with that tool on the knee 3 times around each breast would even suffice as a breast exam. ๐Ÿ˜‚ I was so lucky I made that comment or my husband would have ended up back at the doctor's office throwing a fit demanding a US or mammo lol. He's pretty adament.

    I mean I'm just happy I got the US. I was talking to a lady at the women's center and she was like "Find a lump?" I said "yea.." she says "your lucky that your doctor sent you in and listened. Alot of the docs around here (small town) dismiss young girls when they say they have a lump. My daughter was one of them. She actually died because nobody listened and we just didn't have the money to come out of pocket for the exams, so we found out too late. So here I am. Glad your getting it checked. My guess is your doc wouldn't give you a mammogram huh?" I said, "No, he said I was too young and an ultrasound would suffice." She said "If you can afford it, do thermography and 3D ultrasound too." She then got called back.

    What is thermography and why would she suggest a 3d mammo? I'm hoping that the US will suffice and everything is good. My doc said it will take about 2 weeks to get the results back especially with the holidays.

    Bella- you are right though. I totally felt dismissed. I remember when I was nursing, my doc would take her time feeling when I had mastitis but wanted to make sure i didn't have any masses. Sent me in for an US just to be sure because one duct was super inflamed. I loved her. She always took time and listened. I hope to find a doctor like her again. It sucks to be dismissed and to only be listened to because i mentioned my husband finding it odd.๐Ÿคท

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  • MelissaDallas
    MelissaDallas Member Posts: 7,268
    edited December 2018

    Promisesmommy, forget thermography. It is specifically NOT approved as a breast cancer detection tool by the FDA. They have issued warnings on this

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  • Promisesmommy
    Promisesmommy Member Posts: 21
    edited December 2018

    Ok- just wanted to update. Got a letter in the mail from the doctors office. Very brief message that basically said "We are happy to report you do not have breast cancer". Sincerely, the womens clinic I went to.


    So I suppose all is well and I'm fine ๐Ÿคท

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  • KBeee
    KBeee Member Posts: 5,109
    edited December 2018

    Great news

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

    Promisesmommy

    I have always been a big fan of ultrasound for any part of the body not only for purposes of diagnosis but its very handy for procedures of all kinds from head to toe. The only problem is there are very specific requirements for the US machine and in particular the transducer used for high resolution breast imaging that not all non-radiology offices have available. You can't do breast US with the same settings and transducer used for OB or abdominal ultrasound.

    I have seen a number of patients who come in with there thermography reports requesting an ultrasound of the areas deemed abnormal on that exam. I have not found a correlation yet. I used to try to explain that the exam is hocus-pocus but most are firm in their belief the results are gospel so I stopped arguing, did the US exam and included this statement on thermography by the Society of Breast Imaging in with their paperwork to read at home.

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