Inflammatory breast cancer: can a sports bra subside symptoms?

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Casey03
Casey03 Member Posts: 12
edited September 2020 in Not Diagnosed But Worried

There has been a quarter-sized spot on my breast for 2-3 weeks. It looks a bit like a bruise but I don't recall being injured and it has never been sore to touch. The darkness of the spot comes and goes throughout the day and from day to day. Sometimes it looks dark gray, sometimes it's a light pink. (I am very pale so any spot is very noticeable on my skin.) Is is possible that a tight sports bra could provide enough compression in early stages of inflammatory breast cancer to make the lymph fluid push away and the skin discoloration fade? Or are the skin changes pretty permanent once they have happened (barring chemo or radiation treatment)?


I do have an appointment with my dermatologist this week to have her take a look and hopefully do a skin biopsy if I can talk her into it. I really want to visit a breast specialist but we only have 1 and it will be a bit before I can see her.

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  • exbrnxgrl
    exbrnxgrl Member Posts: 12,424
    edited August 2020

    Casey,

    IBC is rare, as you probably know by now. I know it is difficult but you are borrowing trouble by trying to micro-analyze everything you notice on your breast. I am not a doctor so take this with a grain of salt but my understanding is that IBC symptoms do not come and go. I know it’s difficult, but try to distract yourself until your appointment and let doctors do the diagnosis, not us! Wishing you the best

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  • Beesie
    Beesie Member Posts: 12,240
    edited August 2020

    In most cases with IBC, because it tends to progress so quickly, after 2-3 weeks the colored patch would have expanded in size and your breast would probably be so inflamed that it would be difficult if not impossible to put on a tight sports bra without there being a lot of pain. I don't know for sure - I don't have IBC - but that's my guess based on my understanding of IBC.

    My rule of thumb when I develop some weird symptom and I start googling is that if Google comes up with a possible diagnosis that includes 5 or 6 symptoms and I have only one of those symptoms, then that is almost certainly not what I'm dealing with. In your case, you have one out of a long list of symptoms for IBC - and your description of this one symptom doesn't really match what would happen with IBC - so why would you think that this is IBC?

    A dermatologist is the right doctor to see because this is most likely a skin issue and not a breast issue. And in any case, the best test for IBC is a skin punch biopsy, which a dermatologist can perform. That said, if the derm thinks it is an ordinary skin rash (which is 99%+ likely to be what it is) and suggests an OTC cream or an antibiotic and doesn't want to do the biopsy, listen to the doctor. It's the doctor's job to recommend the right course of treatment and you deciding that you want a biopsy because you read something on the internet doesn't make you right.

    Let us know how it goes.

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  • Casey03
    Casey03 Member Posts: 12
    edited August 2020

    Thank you so much for the reply. I know I need to take what you said to heart but have an anxiety disorder and it’s so difficult. My life seems to be surrounded by strange medical problems — my mom had a rare neurological condition then died a year later at 61 from a brain bleed that was a rare complication of her treatment. My husband was diagnosed with an aortic root aneurysm at age 29 and has undergone genetic testing that seems to point to a yet-unknown disorder. I myself have a metabolic disorder that took years and multiple physicians to diagnose. My one pregnancy/delivery was complicated with abnormal events. Not sure if anxiety is truly my baseline or if it’s situational or a form of PTSD. 🤣 Laugh or cry, right? but sometimes it’s hard to focus on the good and remind myself that not EVERYTHING is going to be worst-case.

    I really appreciate your reply and will try to stay away from the internet search bar. I hope you are doing well and healthy as a horse. ❤️

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  • Casey03
    Casey03 Member Posts: 12
    edited August 2020

    Thank you for the reply. In a nutshell, “anxiety” is what makes me jump to a worst-case scenario. I work in the medical field and know that sometimes we have to press physicians and be our own best advocate — my husband’s aneurysm was ignored/misdiagnosed three times until I finally found a physician willing to take a good look at the area of concern on his CTA. Then I had to demand genetic testing because they insisted it was a fluke. Now we are trying to pin down what exactly it all means and waiting for it to grow just a bit so he can have surgery. My mom was sent home from the hospital a few days before she died because the resident wouldn’t listen to me. I didn’t press harder at that time and will for the rest of my life regret not being her best advocate because she was back in the hospital unresponsive less than 24 hours later. That led to a week of pure hell before I had to decide to withdrawal care.

    My spot honestly looks more vascular than “rashy,” if that makes sense. Sorry for rambling, I’m just a mess and obviously need medication for my overactive head. 😣

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  • blue22
    blue22 Member Posts: 280
    edited August 2020

    Hi Casey,

    If anything I feel like wearing a bra made the redness worse. Definitely not the opposite. Do you have any other symptoms? Most people who come here thinking they have IBC do not, so please don't stress about that, it won't do you any good. You have a Drs. appointment set up so you are being pro-active and hopefully that will resolve the issue. Worrying never does...

    If you see a Dr. they can do a punch biopsy to look for IBC.

    Take care,

    Blue

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  • Moderators
    Moderators Member Posts: 25,912
    edited August 2020

    ((((Casey03)))) We understand anxiety!

    Indeed, go have a doctor check it out and if you are concerned, do ask for some testing.

    Keep us posted.

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  • Casey03
    Casey03 Member Posts: 12
    edited August 2020

    Update: “Nodular asymmetry with possible spiculation" — repeat mammogram and ultrasound scheduled for this week. Probably comes as no surprise to you guys that I've googled the word of the day (spiculation) and remain terrified. Lol.

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  • AliceBastable
    AliceBastable Member Posts: 3,461
    edited August 2020

    Your report said POSSIBLE spiculation. That's pretty vague and inconclusive. Stop googling and do some fun things until your next appointment.

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  • Casey03
    Casey03 Member Posts: 12
    edited August 2020

    For anyone who might be following or might stumble upon this in the future, I did have my repeat mammo and ultrasound. Spiculated mass still seen. Approx 1.2cm. Biopsy was Friday and results should be in this week, but it has a high likelihood of being malignant.

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  • Beesie
    Beesie Member Posts: 12,240
    edited August 2020

    Casey, good luck with the biopsy results. Even when the odds of malignancy are high, there is still a chance for a benign result. Radial scars, for example, tend to have a spiculated appearance and from imaging are usually presumed to be cancer but are benign. Hoping for the best for you.

    From your reading of the imaging report, does the area of concern appear to correlate with the spot on your breast or is this a separate/different finding? What has happened to the spot on your breast? Has it grown or become more inflamed?


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  • Casey03
    Casey03 Member Posts: 12
    edited August 2020

    The biopsied area actually does not correlate to the “bruise,” which is still there but has faded. Dermatology agreed that it looked like some sort of vascular issue and offered to laser it for cosmetic appearance (I declined), so she wants me to return for a skin biopsy if it flares back up.

    Yes, I am hoping for a radial scar or fibromatosis or something else benign! Thank you for your support!

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  • Beesie
    Beesie Member Posts: 12,240
    edited August 2020

    I'm really glad that the bruise doesn't appear to be anything. Hopefully this will turn out to be two false alarms. But if not, the bruise will have turned out to be a lucky bruise, if it caused you to find a breast cancer sooner that you otherwise would have.

    Fingers and various other appendages are crossed for you!

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  • Casey03
    Casey03 Member Posts: 12
    edited August 2020

    Had a strange dream last night that results came back inconclusive but the pathologist was on vacation for the rest of the month. Today I got a phone call from my PCP saying basically the same thing, without the patho-on-vacation part.

    “MICROSCOPIC DESCRIPTION:
    Sections display multiple samples of fibroadipose breast stroma. The
    fibrous region is paucicellular with a focal area of chronic
    inflammation. The original level of sectioning did not reveal the
    presence of glandular breast elements. At this point, deeper sections
    were prepared which revealed foci of chronic inflammation within the
    fibrous stroma, but breast glandular elements were still not present.“


    So at this point I don’t know if my spiculated area is cancer or is not cancer. My PCP was going to call pathology and see what they recommended and try to get me into our breast surgeon.

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  • Beesie
    Beesie Member Posts: 12,240
    edited August 2020

    Well, crap, that's unfortunate. The good news I suppose is that no cancer has been found. However generally when the biopsy results are discordant with the imaging, an excisional biopsy is recommended. This means the surgical removal of the entire suspicious area so that it can all be analyzed under a microscope. I've had 3 excisional biopsies - it's an easy surgery - and it will provide a definitive answer.


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  • 2019whatayear
    2019whatayear Member Posts: 767
    edited August 2020

    Sorry you are still sitting with uncertaint

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  • Casey03
    Casey03 Member Posts: 12
    edited September 2020

    Just wanted to give an update: Had lumpectomy(surgeon’s terminology)/excisional biopsy on Tuesday, awaiting patho now. She did not do sentinel node mapping/dye test or biopsy while in there, as she feels strongly that it is just weird scar tissue. Fingers crossed tightly, and hope the rest of you are doing well.

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  • AliceBastable
    AliceBastable Member Posts: 3,461
    edited September 2020

    If you had an excisional biopsy, I don't know what you mean by not having a biopsy while she was in there. Your entire lumpectomy was a biopsy and will be examined by a pathologist.

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  • Casey03
    Casey03 Member Posts: 12
    edited September 2020

    I’m sorry, I meant sentinel node biopsy. Sorry if that wasn’t clear. I’m not sure the 100% technical terms for some of this.

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  • MelissaDallas
    MelissaDallas Member Posts: 7,268
    edited September 2020

    While (often for insurance purposes) the term “lumpectomy” is sometimes used to refer to an excisional biopsy, they are not the same. An excisional biopsy is used to remove tissue for examination and identification. A lumpectomy is used to remove a known cancer with adequate clear margins. Sentinel node biopsies are only done when a known cancer is present.

    Now, a “standalone” lymph node needle biopsy is sometimes done for a suspicious looking node. I had one with a breast biopsy once. A regular lymph node biopsy is not the same procedure as a sentinel node biopsy, where radiographic tracer is injected around the nipple and the node or nodes that take up the dye are completelyremoved.

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  • Casey03
    Casey03 Member Posts: 12
    edited September 2020

    Oh this makes sense, thanks so much for explaining like that! I was kind of concerned when the OR was booked as “lumpectomy with sentinel node biopsy” because there’s no official cancer diagnosis and she has said she thinks it’s just scar tissue. Insurance reasons explain so much.

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