Found lump on opposite breast after bmx

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Xtra
Xtra Member Posts: 16
edited March 2020 in Not Diagnosed With a Recurrence or Metastases but Concerned

I just wanted to share my latest story to let you know that sometimes it turns out ok. I was stage 1, grade 1, DCIS/IDC HR/ER+ HER2-, no nodal involvement. Opted for a bmx with immediate reconstruction with implants in June of 2019. Currently on Anastrozole. A few weeks ago, a felt thickening on the top of my healthy breast - about 1:00 from my nipple. There was redness. I figured I would wait until my next appointment. Then all the Shannon Doherty stuff came out and I started to worry. The thickening now felt like a lump and I could feel it over my implant. It is small, like a pea, but not round, and fibrous, and I could pinch it and roll it in my fingers. I was terrified, I'm feeling under my arms for swollen nodes, my body is sore because I was sure that the cancer has metastasized elsewhere, I'm reading about metachronous recurrence - it was bad. My doctor is in only one day a week, and I was not going to go to his PA or see a nurse. In fact, I called a nurse at his office and described it and she said she's never heard of such a thing in that location. Now I was out of my mind with fear. I finally get in to see him. He palpated the area and said he wasn't concerned as it felt like scar tissue, but of course he sent me for an ultrasound to be sure, and the ultrasound confirmed that is was just scar tissue that has built up. My point is, and someone else said it here - people who get good news don't hang around on this board, and when people are scared and want to see if there are others like them who have a problem - it's not always bad news. Always check yourself, but it could be scar tissue.

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  • Mudstick
    Mudstick Member Posts: 100
    edited February 2020

    That is a wonderful story and great outcome. Thanks for the reminder as well. It is easy to get drawn into dark thoughts, despite the odds and it is so true that there is a definite bias towards the cases/patients that have complications/negative outcomes. I'm hoping to be able to update my posts about a fear of recurrence with a b9 result too.

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  • Xtra
    Xtra Member Posts: 16
    edited February 2020

    @mudstick - I hope you never have to worry. I will tell you with all my frantic research that when people find lumps after DIEP flaps like you had, which are extremely common, they are almost always scar tissue. I had an implant, so that wasn’t me. Mastectomy cuts one’s chances of localized recurrence to a very small percentage, then taking Tamoxifin or an AI cuts that in half again. I wish you good health!

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  • Mudstick
    Mudstick Member Posts: 100
    edited February 2020

    Thanks xtra. I’m waiting now for the results of a biopsy now...so hard.

    Even though there is a 98% chance it is scar tissue given the imaging, it’s so hard not to catastrophize (is that even a word? 😄) and imagine the worst.

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  • Xtra
    Xtra Member Posts: 16
    edited February 2020
    • Mudstick, my HR was 205 while reading about what could be, I know what you’re going through. They have to be sure, that’s why they did the biopsy. You were multifocal, they would be negligent if they didn’t check it out to the fullest. You are correct about the stats. The likelihood of anything being wrongis like pulling 1 card out of a deck. We had our turn, bad news can skip us this time. Waiting is a thousand times worse than the diagnosis. Please let me know how it goes. I am thinking of you.
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  • KBeee
    KBeee Member Posts: 5,109
    edited February 2020

    xtra: Great news!

    Mudstick: Hoping it is benign.

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  • Mudstick
    Mudstick Member Posts: 100
    edited February 2020

    Thanks guys!

    I’ve been calling and bugging my plastic surgeon and surgical onc. for results...but was told this week after Complaining to the patient advocate at the hospital that “Sorry, biopsies currently have a 3-4 week turn around time”.

    Brutal....

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  • Xtra
    Xtra Member Posts: 16
    edited February 2020

    WEEKS??? I understand you’re in Canada and everything, but couldn’t you get it done at a private practice and pay for it (if affordable) and find out sooner? I’m thinking of you!

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  • KBeee
    KBeee Member Posts: 5,109
    edited March 2020

    3-4 weeks? Oh my goodness!

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