Just had a biopsy of large tumor, worried.

Thanks, Elaine. I'm on 3 meds daily already, and I don't see why not 4-10 more (jokes, jokes). A sleeping aid might not be necessary, Gravol is likely cheaper and it doubles as a soothing element to the stomach cramps that are side effect of my original 3. Downside being, my body isn't tricked easily and it stops working after a few weeks.

I tried calling the doc's office today to get some kinda instruction, and I was told to call again tomorrow, and again, Monday, etc, if the results arent' there yet. Seems they don't wanna schedule anything until they have something from the pathologist. Which isn't new--this particular doctor of mine doesn't schedule anything more than 2 days out and only works 4 days of the week. And she's young. I don't think she has many patients who've gone through this process before.

As for ebnbsmith, 2 weeks is absurd. I think however, that she only meant if my doc's office just got so busy they didn't call me, to get in touch with them. I'm hoping I don't have to wait further than tomorrow or Monday. As for the radiologist tech and ultrasound, sometimes a tumor is just so irregular, or too small, or hard to see clearly and they want the actual radiologist (the doctor) to perform the test, since they're more experienced and might see things in action better than the ultrasonologist tech. It happened with me the first time I did the ultrasound, the tech left, and I had a radiologist come back with her to finish the ultrasound. The techs themselves aren't doctors per se, they're health care specialists who just operate the machinery and provide results to radiologists. The latter has the PhD.

Don't believe it means anything bad is to be expected. Likely they're being thorough, because if the tech misses something whilst taking the ultra, then they can't provide accurate results to the doc.

I hope your biopsy goes well! There's no reason it shouldn't. Other than being manhandled a lot whilst half-naked, it's not as scary as it seemed to me before I went in.

Rrobin,

Don't know what that means. The extent of my knowledge extends to what I was told during the biopsy (unrelated: seriously, this bandage won't even come off in the shower, what is it made of). That it's a tumor, could be benign, pathology report within 4-7 days. Damn right I'll be calling my Dr's office each day they're open.

Edit: Wait, there's a score that determines the probability/susceptibility of a tumor being malignant based on imaging results!? Why the hell don't the doctors tell me anything. Is it 'cause the results are pretty freakin' bad and they don't want to worry me or break the news?

Seriously, though. They shunted me through to a biopsy pretty dang fast after the mammo/ultra. Here in Ontario, with our health care system bogged as it is, 2 weeks for an appointment with a radiologist is like winning the Super Ball in a lottery. I thought that was suspicious.

Eh, oh well. Not gonna change the results. Wish I'd be braver and ask for information when I see doctors, but I'm at my core, pretty cowardly.

---

@Melissa, that's good to hear, actually. I can't find static evidence online about what the size of a tumor means in general, only what it means for cancerous ones. Wish I'd thought to ask the radiologist when she was there at the biopsy.

OUCH. Shot right through it? That must have left some damage. My tumor is so tough (another reason I refer to it as Mr. Walnut, this damn thing deserves the ridicule of a dumb nickname) that the radiologist had a hard time getting the needle into it. There was much pressure. Some bruising. And in relation to your swimming story, the only reason I discovered this lump?

I had emergency surgery to remove my gallbladder. 6 days in the hospital and surgery on Christmas morning. I became very self conscious about my health then. I did a random breast exam whilst treating my surgical scars and WHAM! Bigarse lump in left breast. Thank you, broken gallbladder?

I told doctors about my second cousins. All I know about them is that they died of BC in the 80s, not long before I was born. My mother's aunt lost 3 daughters in total. Since the cancer is in my mother's generation but twice removed from me, the doctors didn't seem all that concerned. At first. No idea if it genetically skips generations, but BC in women my age is rare enough that it cant be coincidence...

Welp.

Results are in. And it can't be a clear 'benign' or 'non-cancer' response. Oh, no. It's gotta be the 1% chance one.

It's a phylloids tumor. OR phyllodes. Not sure which is correct. The woman on the phone actually said 'fee-loid', which I took to mean either keloid, or phyllodes (she was a medical secretary, I think she pronounced it wrong...yeah...), and since a keloid is a dermal abnormal growth tumor common in those of African descent or other pigmented skintypes...y';know, not tumor inside of a breast...inside of a very white woman with mostly Irish genetics......then it made most sense she meant PHILL-oid.

I digress. I've got what is considered to be a benign tumor...just, one in the connective breast tissue that grows ridiculously fast. And has to get removed via surgery, unlike other benign tumors. And also has a chance of being cancerous. Whether it's benign for sure, or malignant, that can't be discovered until after surgery when the entire tumor can be examined under a microscope.

So now it's down to waiting again. This time, I'm waiting for a surgeon's office to call me to schedule a lumpectomy to remove this gremlin from my bosom area. Then it'll be waiting again, for the pathology report for the entire tumor.

Oh and this thing, which was 2.2cm back at the start of February, has very much definitely grown in size since then. I'm not sure what they're planning on, but it'd better be soon, or there won't be much breast left to recover and I might as well go full monty--I mean, mastectomy. Or at least removal of Breast A.

1% of all breast tumors. Ya kidding me. And boy, they do grow fast. I was worried before that I'd missed it somehow for months...but more likely, it grew there in the matter of weeks.

One. Percent.