2 years of painful breast

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strongintexas
strongintexas Member Posts: 8
edited May 2019 in Not Diagnosed But Worried

Hi Everyone, I'll try to make this short. My mom died of invasive breast cancer two months ago. She is the first in our family to have it. I am now considered high risk. As luck would have it, I noticed a rubbery lump and pain in my left breast two years ago around the same time my mom was diagnosed at stage IV. I had a mammogram, ultrasound, and MRI. All came out negative. I was supposed to get a follow up mammogram in 6 months, but symptoms stayed the same and I'm uninsured so I decided to wait a year. Then my mom's cancer returned and I became her caretaker, having little time for myself I did not follow up. Fast forward to now (2 years later) and I'm still experiencing painful lump (more painful ten days before my period). I'm 41. Could this be IBC or have I had symptoms too long for such an aggressive type of a cancer to be possible? I have an appointment with Planned Parenthood next week and they usually help uninsured women receive low cost screening. So far no doctor (I've seen a breast specialist, OBGYN, and Naturopath) has been able to figure out why my left breast swells and has pain. One guess has been fibroadenoma, but only a guess. This has been so frustrating and frankly terrifying after watching this disease take my mother's life. Any tips for what type of doctor I need to see or what this could be? I live in Austin, Texas. Also, there is no possibility of me getting insurance at this moment.

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  • MelissaDallas
    MelissaDallas Member Posts: 7,268
    edited March 2019

    I would think that the mammogram, ultrasound and MRI together would have pretty much narrowed it down to nothing but benign findings if no biopsy was recommended.

    Here's the information for Texas for the National Women's Breast and Cervical Cancer screening program.

    https://www.healthytexaswomen.org/bccs-program


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  • Rebeccasmile
    Rebeccasmile Member Posts: 4
    edited April 2019

    Hi

    This could be fibroadenosis.

    Don't worry, seems like non-malignant for me(Am a Pathologist)

    Do BSE(breast self exam),follow up with Mammogram and biopsy if needed .

    Oncologist is the one you should see.

    Take care

    Believe that you are strong and have a healthy body !

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  • Salamandra
    Salamandra Member Posts: 1,444
    edited April 2019

    My (lay and limited) understanding of IBC is that it does not match the progression you've described. But your Planned Parenthood appointment should definitely help you rule that out.

    There is a lot of financial support infrastructure for breast cancer and help with diagnosis and treatment. That will come into play if any malignancy is found (which seems unlikely).

    The frustrating part is that it seems like often, once the doctors have ruled out cancer, any urgency to figure out what actually is going on that's causing you pain is just gone. And without health insurance everything is harder.

    At Planned Parenthood, try to make it clear not only that you want to rule out cancer, but also that this is an ongoing issue that is causing you pain and discomfort, and you would like to figure it out and treat it even if it's not cancer. Hopefully they can work with you to make a plan of attack for that.

    I'm so sorry about your mother. I also lost my mother to stage IV breast cancer, almost twenty years ago. It definitely colored my own experiences of diagnosis and treatment. But their fates are not our fates, which can seem even kind of strange I think, when you're very close with your mom. I think it's very unlikely that what you have now is breast cancer, and even if it is, you'll have your own path that will probably look different from hers.

    I hope the PP appointment is very useful, and that you'll be able to get insurance/health care soon!

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  • LoriCA
    LoriCA Member Posts: 923
    edited May 2019

    strongintexas I'm very sorry about your mom.

    You don't list any symptoms of IBC and after two years it would be unmistakable (if it hadn't already killed you). The skin changes get rapidly worse daily/weekly. That doesn't necessarily rule out another type of breast cancer, but based on your description that your symptoms get worse right before your period and fluctuate with your hormones, I'm inclined to agree with Rebeccasmile and your doctor's guess that it sounds like fibroadenoma is a strong possibility.

    I hope your appointment with Planned Parenthood goes well.

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