Poll regarding how us Triple Negs found our tumor

I found mine while laying in bed watching TV but I had been doing monthly self checks and never found it. Weirder yet is that after I felt it, I looked in the mirror and I could SEE it because it was high up at close to 12:00 and close to the skin. I have no idea how I never noticed that before. It was July and hot and you'd think I would have seen that in my tank tops or bathing suit....

I was working, getting my paper order for the day in Hotel Stores, and my hand brushed against my breast and I felt a lump on the side.

Ferne

I found mine last July. I was walking across my back yard and felt an itch, so reached under my blouse to scratch it and felt the lump. Like everyone else, I am surprised I didn't find it before as it was quite large and I could see it in the mirror after that. Mine was about 1:30 high up in my right breast. I was due for yearly in Aug.

I had a normal mammo in February of 2006 and found the lump accidently (had an itch also!) in July, 2006. It was also visible and I don't know how I did not know it was there. Mine was not near the chest wall either.

I had a normal mammo in November of 2005 and found a 3cm lump on Memorial day of 06. I was getting in the shower and saw it in the mirror. I though I had a big bruise. When I felt it I knew for sure it was BC.

I found mine in April 06, after I kept having discomfort when sleeping on my left side/stomach. I actually thought it was a rib that was bothering me, but found a lump at the base of my breast instead. I was lucky that it was close to the skin, or I probably wouldn't have found it. I was only 30, and probably wouldn't have had a mammogram until I was at least 35.

Theresa

I had a sharp pain in my chest, slightly left of center. I first thought it might be my heart as I had recently had a pacemaker implanted. It was late Friday evening so no way I could reach my Dr until Monday.
I felt the area of the pain and was horrified. There was a huge mass where there was nothing a day or two prior. The lump was laying right under the bottom band of my bra and totally impossible not to have noticed. Even when showering my hand would have gone right over this area. (And yes, it was visable.)

I felt a mass while showering - not painful, but large enough that I would have felt it if it had been there at that size for very long. I did regular self-exams, and would not have missed this (3 cm). I had also had regular mammograms, which had been negative. It seems that the percentage that came up overnight is staying very constant - wonder if there is something to this?

Hi Ladies,
I am a triple negative, I did regular self exams also. My tumor (2.4cm) just popped up overnight. It was at the 12 o'clock position, right above the nipple, not near the chest wall. My year before mamogram was completely normal, clean. AC chemo starts July 30, I read a thread from Twink that says AC does not help trip negs? I thought it did help trip negs more so than + tumors.
Charlene

I can't say if mine turned up overnight as I was 4 months overdue for a mammo, and I did self-exams only every 3 or 4 months. But I did find it myself in the shower doing a BSE, 12 o'clock position, turned out to be 1.3 cm, pretty near the surface. It felt pea-shaped the way I had heard BC tumors described, so I wasn't at all surprised to find out it was BC. The triple negative status and 2 positive nodes, however, were something that I wasn't ready for.

Good idea for this poll.

Mine was found by accident while my docs were following another lump. I went back for the six month mammo to see if there were any changes and the lump they were following was gone. The radiologist did both breasts and on the opposite breast, way up high, she spotted my lump. It wouldn't have been found if I hadn't been going for the other benign lump.

Found it 3 months after a 2nd follow-up mammogram and ultrasound confirmed b-9, see you next year...felt like I was crazy. There was an on-going pain in the exact spot the tumor was removed; like 10 years, a naggging, sharp, pain.

Always had premenstral breast pain and cystic lumpy breasts, but this pain was "different". I knew it was nasty; it felt mean, piercing, and unlike other breast pains. Couldn't run, walk fast, or find a comfortable bra; it was painful. The doctors told me I was suffering from perimenopause, fibromyalgia, osteoarthritis, or a myalgia of some type, but that cancer never has pain.

How many times did I hear that line? I am still being told that cancer doesn't cause pain and that it is not a symptom in the beginning stages.

3 months after the mammogram and ultrasound, 1.7 grade 3 Invasive Ductal Cancer, aggressive, high risk, triple negative; clear sentinal lymph nodes (4 tested); nerves cut, tumor 2 cm from chest wall;

Triple Negative Hormones never discussed until surgery was over. I didn't really understand what any of it was until I researched chemo and radiation treatments. Would a bi-lateral mastectomy been the better choice? Should I have had genetic testing done first? Should chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy be preformed before surgery?

With triple negative cancers, should they even bother checking lymph nodes since the treatment is ultimately the same depending on the size of the tumor?

Just wondering, have been wondering since I first heard the physician say hormone receptor negative tumor. He never actually called it "triple negative" anything.

Indi

Indi, thank you. I, also, have wondered, "why are we triple neg's so into lymph node status, when we are pretty much always going to do chemo. Nothing will be different with regard to treatment. Plus taking out a bunch of lymph nodes just causes other problems, ie, lymphedema. I mean, I don't think that removal of lymph nodes is therapeutic. It is for determining treatment. Right?

Shannon

I had been doing breast self exams diligently and found a small change in a lump that had been there the year before....They had ultrsounded it and said it was just a cyst the year before....hmmm not so sure. Nothing showed up on Mammogram as I have dense breasts....everyone should be told that mammograms will not detect anything in people with dense breasts unless you have a calcification. I am not going to reccommend my daughter have mammo's just ultrasound and MRI's......as she is only 28. I don't think the radiation is good for us. My Tumor was at 2:00 O'clock in my right breast.

I found mine myself both times. 12 years ago at age 32 and they said let's just watch it. I said no do a biopsy....good thing I did. And again on the other side this time at age 44. Both times I rolled over in the middle of the night and realized something hurt, felt a lump and immediately called my doctor the next morning. Of course this time they didn't try and put me off. Everyone moved quite quickly. I am also BRCA1 positive which they didn't know the first time.

Do triple negs tend to be diagnosed young?