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Doctors felt something during my Breast Examination & I’ve been an emotional wreck

Hodaney233
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Hey everyone, I hope you all are well.

I’m going to start this from the beginning to give you all a bit of context.

Pretty much one of my scariest fears has happened yesterday and I’ve been in distress.

On Friday morning, I decided to do a breast examination couple days after my period finished. This was because during the night I saw a post of a Woman who passed away at only 26 due to a rare form of Breast C she had which is known as IBC. She left behind 2 kids. As I was doing the Breast examination I felt something on my left breast, the area on near the outskirts of the areola I’ve been worried and fixtated on it the whole day and was even crying. My Aunt took me out later that day to not focus on it. During the weekend, I tried to not focus on it too much even though I would see myself trying to touch on that area, I started fixtating on something else.

On Monday, I started to fixtate on a specific part under my left breast because right under it there was a red line but under the right breast it isn’t as visible. This is like the under boob part where the breasts starts.

Fast forward yesterday, I booked an appointment to see the doctor. I told the doctor, the doctor called in another senior doctor at the GP and a female chaperone to make me comfortable, to which I allowed. The doctor explained the procedure and then asked if I was comfortable to proceed to which I said I was.

The doctor asked me to squeeze my nipples to see if any discharge was coming out of both and there wasn’t (which is a good sign). They then felt my arm pits and then my breasts, I told the doctor about the part I was concerned about, the senior doctor did feel my left breast and he also felt something, said it was 1cm long, they both had a feel of it.

Afterwards they discussed as I was getting dressed and the main doctor I had the appointment with told me they felt something. It’s kind of like a vertical shape like a line. I started breaking down crying, he said it was pretty immobile and deep within the inside rather than attached to the skin but he will send a referral to the Breast clinic where they will look into it. Referrals here might usually take two weeks from what I was told by someone else later on but he did say he wasn’t sure how long it will take for them to get back to me.

He said that I’m young so it’s good that I was able to do examination on myself and point it out, he said to not assume the worst but it’s just so difficult when you’re told about something you fear so much. I was really hoping they told me it’s just a tissue or a muscle or something completely harmless just so I can go home with a peace of mind, instead it happened to be the opposite of what I hoped for.

I’m 23, I feel like I haven’t lived life yet, I want to explore, I want to have amazing new experiences and opportunities, I want to find someone I love one day and settle down with them. I want to live a long, harmonious, beautiful and healthy life free of scary things.

What do I do now? What’s next? I don’t know what’s going to happen in these next few weeks, I don’t know what to expect. I have terrible health anxiety and Google is the last place to seek reassurance but a lot of places just aren’t saying good things.

I’ve been crying a lot yesterday - it’s been an emotional one. I’m just nervous, I just want everything to be okay.

Even today I’ve been crying, I can’t get my mind to think about anything else. I’m just so sad. The GP asked for me to collect the referral letter today - I was referred to the Breast Clinic and it would be a 2 week wait. They told me if I don’t get a call by the 16th June to then ring them but they would most likely will ring me before then to arrange an appointment. I feel like I’ll be so anxious waiting, I don’t know how to spend the time I have to wait, it’s just going to be difficult for me to go about my life. I never thought I’ll have to deal with this during this time of my life and yet it happened. My Health Anxiety has been pretty high within the past year and I’ve been recently trying to regulate and get it in control and this happens.

I can’t even distract myself because my mind is just so far gone and fixtated on this situation. Any advice or support during this time will be great. 

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    I appreciate and thank you all in advance ️

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    Hey, I'm sorry you're going through such a worrying time, I've just been through this myself really similar, my lump is hard fixed and on the outskirts of my areola too and also kind of in a vertical line, I'm only 25 but my gp did also seem concerned so was referred to the breast clinic, what happened first was I was given my referral details that should be on your letter and can go on the NHS referral website and see if you have an option to book your appointment if not they will ring and contact you. I hadn't heard so I rang my breast clinic and they said were over run with appointments at the moment keep an eye on the NHS referral website it will come on there and you will be sent a letter. My appointment was for 3 weeks after I'd seen the gp, I went today and they were all really nice I had an exam first to feel the lump and look at my breasts and was asked lots of questions, then they said because of my age they won't be doing a mammogram but will do an ultrasound, so I went for my ultrasound and nothing sinister could be seen, so I was seen again by the woman who did my exam who explained they think it's just normal dense breast tissue because nothing showed in the scan, and to come back if it's still there or changes in a few months. I know you're worried but the majority of people who go to the breast clinic do not have cancer, if you have any questions please feel free to ask x

  • Offline in reply to Dddddd

    Hey!

    Thank you so much for taking the time to respond to me and my worries. Yesterday and Today has been emotionally difficult, I was just so worried. There is a number on the referral letter they told me to call, I’ll take your advice on going on the website if I don’t hear back. I’m so glad everything went well for you at the end and you didn’t have to worry about it no more. I guess my mind always focuses on the negative outcomes and even though in our age group it commonly isn’t what we think we fear we sometimes always focus on the small probability.

    I spoke to a family member who had a similar situation where something came up on her breast when she had a scan for something entirely different and they ended up investigating it and found it was benign. 

    Since you did your ultrasound and everything came back clear, did they tell you to come back every 6 months. 

  • Offline in reply to Dddddd

    What I am worried about is that on my left under boob I have a red line and it’s kind of darker whilst the one on the right is more lighter and I feel like maybe I had this for a while but at the same time I’m not sure didn’t focus on this until literally Monday where I started crying about it possibly being rash and with this coming up it made me a crying mess.

    I don’t wear bras that often since I don’t like the feel of it and I find it a bit of a hassle to put on and remove. Maybe it could be chaffing, Maybe it could be from how I sweat from that area a lot but the way it’s more darker on the left than the right has also been added stress for me.

  • Offline in reply to Hodaney233

    Bless you I understand its so hard not not worry and think of the worst case scenario! I really hope you get your appointment through soon so you don't have too long to wait. She told me to come back in a couple months if it's still there so I'll keep an eye on it but I'm guessing if nothing showed in the scan today it must just be the dense tissue. 

    I know exactly what you mean about the red line under your boob, I've noticed it on my boobs over the years sometimes on just one sometimes on both, I hardly wear bras either and if I do never underwired and I still get it just from being hot, or itching there without realising, it's very common to get red lines under there but definitely mention it at the appointment if it's still there 

  • Offline in reply to Dddddd

    I’m just so scared and worried about IBC, I’ve been crying more now due to the discolouration under the breast and how the side boob has stretch marks and I’m such a nervous wreck at the moment. I hardly wear bras and if I do it’s the underwear one but I do sweat a lot under the breasts.

    I’m just so sad and I can’t stop thinking about the scary outcomes. My mind cannot focus on anything else. 

  • Offline in reply to Hodaney233

    I understand its so hard not to worry and overthink, just try remind yourself redness under the breast and stretch marks are extremely common for breasts and more than likely its nothing scary. Fingers crossed you find out soon when your appointment is!

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