Hi Debs10 and a warm welcome to our forum, 

You have done the right thing in coming here and writing down your feelings. It's bound to be a bit of a confusing time for you at the moment and as you said, googling is often not recommended as it will make you worry unnecessarily and it's best for you not to try and interpret results but to ask your medical team instead what these mean as it can all be a bit complicated and jargony. I completely understand why you are unhappy that you have been sent results without any explanation and you definitely deserve to find out what is going on so I hope that you can talk to someone very soon. In the meantime, resist the urge if you can to try and figure things out yourself by looking things up online as this will not give you any satisfactory or reliable answers. Waiting for results is not easy and it can take a while for these to be reviewed and to have a definite diagnosis.

I am keeping everything crossed for you that you get clarity soon - while you are waiting, have a look at our helpful tips to help you cope while waiting for important news. 

Best wishes, 

Lucie, Cancer Chat Moderator

Hi Lucie

Thanks for your response. Of course you’re right, googling and worrying doesn’t solve anything. I had a call from the hospital on Friday and now have an appointment for Tuesday so hopefully I’ll have a better idea of how bad the situation is and how to deal with it. 

Hi Debs10.  Waiting for results is the worst possible thing isn't it.  It is good that you have an appointment for Tuesday.  If it is cancer, once you know what treatment plan you will be having it does get easier to deal with.  I have never heard of lump (U5) or the M5/T5 my biopsy results never said anything like that, maybe it is the new technology that they have now.  Anyway I will be thinking of you on Tuesday so please let me know how you get on.  Big hugs.

Lee x

Hi Leelaloo

Thanks for such a supportive response. I haven’t had the actual biopsy results yet. The U5 is the ultrasound and M5/T5 is from the mammogram. From what I can gather, they’re graded 1 to 5 with 1 being completely benign and 5 being cancer. I suppose the biopsy will show what stage it is. Anyway, I should know more on Tuesday and will report back x

Hi Leelaloo.

Just a quick update. Things went well yesterday. The cancer was confirmed, which was expected, but it's stage two and treatable which is a massive relief. Apparently, there's only one lump but the ultrasound measured it at 2cm and the mammogram measured it at 4cm so I need to have a MRI to give a better idea of what size it actually is.The hope is that as long as it's no more than 4cm I might get away with a lumpectomy so fingers crossed for that!

Thank you again for your support - it really does mean a lot x

Hi  Debs.  I am sorry that the lump is actually cancer but it is good news that it is treatable and curable.  I had stage 3, grade 2 invasive lobular breast cancer and tumor was 4cm.  I had a lumpectomy, then chemo then radiotherapy.  I can feel that you are actually relieved to hear and once you get your treatment plan to just get going and get rid of the horrible cancer.  Have you got a date for MRI yet, more waiting sucks.  Did they mention anything about chemo or are they waiting for MRI?  I am so glad that you updated me on here.  I find the support on here brilliant and it certainly helps me.  So I am here to support you.  Big hugs.

Lee x

Hi Lee,

Yes, I'm definitely relieved that it's treatable; I was fearing the worst before my appointment.

I don't have a date yet for the MRI - I think it will either be next week or the week after - and I've a feeling that then they will decide whether it will be chemo and/or radiotherapy, How did you find the chemo? I've heard so many people say how awful they felt that I'm not looking forward to it, although if it gets rid of the cancer then it'll be worth it.

D x

Hi D,  I found the chemo hard and the effects build up the more you have but if it gets rid of the cancer then it is definitely worth it.  Not everyone gets all the side effects and if you do, they give you something to counteract it.  I really hope you get away with the lumpectomy like you said.  Mine scar is okay and I don't really notice it anymore.  One piece of advice I was given is to try and keep to your normal routine whilst having treatment.  I found that this really helped me and carried on walking the dogs etc, maybe I had to do shorter walks but still did it.  I found it kept me feeling more normal because this cancer thing can be come all consuming and sometimes lonely.  That's why these forums are so helpful because everyone is going through the same sh---y journey.  Macmillan have a breast cancer forum which is really useful and you will find ladies that are having the same treatment as you.  Anyway I am rambling.  I was trying to insert a photo of my dogs but I don't know how to do it.  You can put photos on the Macmillan site but I am not sure about here.  Sending you big hugs and hope you get your MRI soon .

Lee x

Hi - I was diagnosed with estrogen positive breast cancer on new years eve 2022, and had a lumpectomy and lymph node remival in March 2023

My surgeon explained everything in detail and put our minds at ease .  The trouble is you can only think about cancer - no wonder people's heads are 'mashed'

I was lucky and was offered Oncotyping - my score was 7 which is low and therefore only had to have 10 sessions of radiotherapy and feel fine now so keep your pecker up girl you've got this xxx