Phyllodes.The tumor that keeps on growing.

Edit: *Phyllodes

Edit edit: I'm a goofy goober.

First off, I don't even know if I should be posting this in 'Just Diagnosed'. Because it's a diagnosis. And it's not a full diagnosis. And it won't be, for a little while.

I'm diagnosed enough to go under the knife though, apparently.

The medical secretary from my doctor's office called me yesterday morning. I suppose since it was 'good' news, they figured there was no point in calling me in to see my doctor herself, in person. Anyway...

I have a 'phee-loid' tumor. I say that, because I'm 99% certain she pronounced it incorrectly. I did my research on the only other possibility (I couldn't get a hold of them again, don't even get me started on their contact availability/responsibility), a 'keloid', and that...well, it's not that. It is not a dermal scarring/overgrowth problem most commonly found in humans with pigmented skin after some kind of skin injury.

Back on track...so, I've been duly informed that needs to be removed via lumpectomy. No freaking kidding. Back on Feb 5 of this year, it was 2.2cm (about an inch). I can feel it, and I guarantee you, it's at least 1cm or more bigger now. And it's pressing against my skin almost painfully. This thing grows. FAST. Fast enough that now I'm alarmed at what's gonna be left when the surgeon's office actually contacts me.

For those who don't know, phylloids tumors are benign...sorta. They generally are, but cannot be officially diagnosed as such until after the lumpectomy and following pathology of the entire tumor. They can be malignant, or 'borderline' (whatever that means, aside from demanding radiation therapy to make it not borderline anymore). There's like, a 70/30 chance it's benign or one of the latter two.

My mother isn't happy. I'm not either, but she's the one freaking out--and of course, it's a phylloids tumor. What can I tell her? "Wait till after 1/2 my boob is removed and the pathologist tests it." Is this the only kind of tumor that gets a real diagnoses after surgery?

I know there's probably not many here with phylloid tumor experience. I've heard it's rare enough that some pathologists will go years without having a case. So now I'm feeling an odd combination of relieved (that it's not confirmed malignant, I'm cancer-free until told otherwise) and screwed, because this is something that has a high risk of coming back, even after surgery. I'm almost ready to say 'to hell with it', just take 'em both. All of it. I'm all for going way overboard if it means I'm not watching this bizarre thing practically grow overnight in a very, very inconvenient place.

32 years old. Tired, and mostly just annoyed...I don't know what to tell my family.