Hello chick22 and thanks for posting,

I think there are times when a GP can be very confident that a breast lump is cancer, it probably has something to do with how it feels and how the breast looks, but there are other times when they might not be so sure. Either way, an assessment at the breast clinic is usually needed. A tissue biopsy is the standard way to confirm a cancer and find out more about it and with breast lumps these are done at the clinic with a local anaesthetic to numb the area first.

In older women breast cancers are often sensative to hormone treatment which can come in tablet form. You can read more about it on our website here. I think it will be up to the breast care team to decide if an operation is in your mum's best interests, generally people have to be fit enough for surgery.  

Hopefully your mum will be seen soon and get the diagnosis confirmed, once that has happened,  you will be able to find out more about how they want to treat her.

I imagine this has come as a big shock. If you want to talk anything over please give us a ring, our number is  Freephone 0808 800 4040 and we are around weekdays, 9-5.

Best wishes,

Julia