Trying to stay off Google and keeping peace but How??

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Jlyn3
Jlyn3 Member Posts: 3
edited March 2021 in Waiting for Test Results

Hi Everyone! How do you keep from googling to find answers while you are in the waiting game?

Approximately 2 months ago I felt an extremely tender spot where my armpit and breast meet. I of course blew it off thinking it was a strain or something. Over the months the tenderness in the area has gotten worse and my breast appears bigger. I have breast itchiness and skin peeling. I went to MD this week and she reports feeling a 2-3cm tender area with coarse texture unlike surrounding tissue and no distinct margins. She ordered an "urgent" mammogram and US. The urgent testing is 1 week away, and it feels like a lifetime!

My maternal grandma has had BC 3x. My mom has a "chipped" spot in her breast now being watched after biopsies. My maternal aunt has had numerous lumpectomys. My mom's maternal cousin died from BC around 50 years old. So there is obviously a family HX of BC /disease so now I sit, wait and wonder the worst.

Google paints an ugly picture that my mind can't erase. How do you keep in peace during the waiting time. How do you not be swallowed by the fears of what Google searches bring up?


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  • MelissaDallas
    MelissaDallas Member Posts: 7,268
    edited March 2021

    Hi Jlyn3, so sorry you are worried.

    As to your questions:

    a) Dr. Google is a really crappy doctor. You don’t know enough of anything at this point to Google, so stop it for now.

    b) It sounds like your mom and your aunt have had various benign biopsies. If they ended up being for fibrocystic type stuff, about 60% of women have fibrocystic breasts. Have your grandmother and aunt done any genetic testing?

    c) Itching,, peeling and even pain are not typical breast cancer symptoms. Can breast cancer hurt? Yes, but it is way down the list of possible causes of breast pain. Hopefully you can get in for your biopsy soon and this is just run of the mill fibrocystic or other benign stuff your doc felt.

    Let us know when you get scheduled. Hang in there

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  • AliceBastable
    AliceBastable Member Posts: 3,461
    edited March 2021

    Jlyn3, your mother's maternal cousin is WAY off the relevance scale for genetic issues, so please don't even consider her. So you actually have one grandmother who had breast cancer and no other close relatives with it. I hope your problems are diagnosed quickly and resolved easily.

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  • fiveoclock
    fiveoclock Member Posts: 38
    edited March 2021

    I am waiting, too, so we can be anxious together if you want LOL.

    My mom and one of her sisters have had benign lumps. Another of my mom sisters has had breast cancer. Another of my mom‘s sisters has a daughter who was diagnosed in her 20s. So my first cousin, and both of our moms are sisters. Neither my aunt nor my cousin are considered close enough to really have an impact on me. I am 43 and sceening here starts at 50 for low risk women, so I talked to my doctor and said I wouldn’t mind getting a mammogram given the family members who had cancer, And though she didn’t think there was a close enough connection she was supportive in me getting it just for peace of mind. Unfortunately we did find a couple of lesions or masses and I’m waiting for a biopsy. All that to say, the genetic component doesn’t sound close enough for you and even if it was a close relative genetics and breast cancer are only a really small factor, apparently. I might be the opposite of you in that I am really digging in as deep as I can and not getting stressed by what I’m finding but getting educated by what I’m finding. I have my images and I have the report and so I am reading the report while looking at the pictures and googling what I’m looking at to try to understand. But if googling is making you anxious, try to distract yourself. Netflix, podcasts, books, etc. I’m sort of thinking that once I know either it’ll be over for now, or things are going to intensify for me rather quickly. But right now there’s nothing that I can do, it’s completely out of my control, and I’m not going to fixate. I wish you well and hope you have answers soon

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  • LivinLife
    LivinLife Member Posts: 1,332
    edited March 2021

    I want to welcome you Jlyn! I had about 6 aunts on both sides of my family with breast cancer. Two died of it, one died of treatment related blood poisoning and two had recurrences including lymph nodes. I also have various kinds of cancer in my immediate family (parents and 3 sibs) and I had no genetic link with the ton of genes they checked. The genetics counselor told me families like mine are often more "coincidence" even though it would seem there would be something genetic going on... The same may be true in your case - you will see that a lot if you're exploring this site enough. I wish you well! Let us know how the mammogram goes and of course when you get results.....

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