Hi Pippin,

A very warm welcome to our forum.

I am sorry to hear of your concerns and I am glad to hear that you don't have long to wait, before you'll be seen at the breast clinic. You have made the cardinal mistake of consulting Dr Google. Tempting though it is, we usually advise against it at this stage. Most of the information is aimed at the more spectacular cases, won't apply to you and will only serve to scare you even further. If you've had cysts before, you'll be aware that not all lumps are cancerous.

This is always a worrying wait, but you are doing the right thing by getting it checked out. Only 20% of all referrals to the clinic turn out to be cancerous, so there's still a good chance that you could be one of the lucky ones.  If not, treatment is perfectly "doable". I have had 2 bouts of breast cancer within a year of each other. That was 14 years ago and I still lead a busy life.

Please keep in touch and let us know how you get on. We are always here for you.

Kind regards,

Jolamine xx

Thank you so much for your reply, it is so reassuring.  It was definitely a mistake going online, as soon as I typed in breast pain and redness, the results were awful, showing aggressive and rare cancer. Really went into panic mode, but have calmed down a bit today. Will be glad to get to my appointment on Thursday and get some answers. Thanks again Jolamine, for taking the time to respond. xx

Hi Pippin,

The temptation to go online is great, but, as you.ve discovered, it isn't a good thing to do. I am glad that you've had your appointment and sorry to hear that they think your lump is suspicious. This is always a difficult wait. Did they say when you should get your results back?

Kind regards,

Jolamine xx

Thanks for your response, it really does help to be in touch with other people who know how you are feeling. They have said I should get results in a couple of weeks. On one hand I am dreading walking into the office,  it will be so scary. But on the other hand I just need to know and two weeks seems do long. The thing I most worried about is that I've got redness and pain, which points to a rare and aggressive cancer. I can't seem to get this out of my mind.

Thanks for your response, it really does help to be in touch with other people who know how you are feeling. They have said I should get results in a couple of weeks. On one hand I am dreading walking into the office,  it will be so scary. But on the other hand I just need to know and two weeks seems do long. The thing I most worried about is that I've got redness and pain, which points to a rare and aggressive cancer. I can't seem to get this out of my mind.

Hi Pippin,

Irrespective of the outcome, you will feel better once you know exactly what you are dealing with. Google hasn't done you any favours, has it? Pain seldom accompanies breast cancer. This could still be inflammation, that maybe needs a different antibiotic. Are you taking someone with you to your appointment? - this is always advisable. Even if it does turn out to be cancer, Treatments have improved immensely in recent years

Please keep in touch and let us know how you get on. We are always here for you.

Kind regards,

Jolamine xx

Thank you, you are right, knowing will be better than the waiting. Hubby will be coming to the  appointment with me, He's very supportive and a positive person, which helps.I can't emphasise enough to others to not google symptoms, like you advise, it certainly has made my anxiety worse. Will keep you updated when results come back. Thank you for your support, it really helps. Xxx

Can only echo what Jolamene said about Google, and bc in general.

When my wife was in your position, we googled everything. She was dead and buried before the event according to google. Her back pain, her cough and shoulder pain meant it was stage 4. Yeah, she was as good as gone. It's what everyone does. When her scans came in, her back pain was muscular, her cough was allergies and her shoulder pain, well, we dunno, but nothing was seen on umpteen scans, so it wasn't cancer. But google said it was.

The thing about google, almost all information you will stumble upon is at least 5 years out of date. It's how medical data works. They require years of data before they can say one treatment is better than another. When my wife was diagnosed with cancer, one of her treatments had only been available to women for around 6 months. There was zero mention of this on the net anywhere. It's probably only now you'd find it on the net. So yeah, the stuff you read on google is years out of date more often than not.

Google also has no way to divide symptoms into individual and unrelated causes. You type in bc and back pain, boom, you have stage 4 cancer because you have literally, and unwittingly asked it to return that diagnosis. Google can't and won't differentiate between symptoms.

Google is a great tool once you know exactly what you are dealing with because it can put you in touch with others who are going through a similar thing, it can give you information on which drugs you are being given once you know which drugs you are being given and so on.

Thank you so much for taking the time to respond and sorry that your wife has been through this. I have had such awful thoughts that I'll miss the grandkids growing up and they won't remember me. Also who will look after my hubby, he can just about make toast! Your response has made me realise these are thoughts that others have too. Will definitely not be googling anymore, such a big mistake. Thank you again, it has been really helpful.

Hi Pippin,

I am glad to hear that your hubby will be going with you. You may find it helpful to write down any questions you have beforehand. I always take 2 copies - 1 for hubby and 1 for myself. As I ask the questions, he writes down the answers. Most of us forget about 80% of what is said in a consultation, before we leave the hospital grounds, so this also a helpful reminder.

I hope that your results don't take too long.

Kind regards,

Jolamine xx

Thank you Jolamine, that is great advice and is much appreciated. xx