Breast clinic today and prognosis not looking good

Symptoms discovered very recently.

About 4 weeks ago, a day after weight training at the gym I woke up the next day with a pulling feeling under my arm.

it was mild pain and just felt like a muscle sprain. I had intermittent pain on extending my arm out to the side but still continued with my sports activities as it seemed a minor niggle. I iced and took Ibrobrufin and the whole thing seemed to be no biggie.

2 weeks after the initial pulling feeling the pain it seemed to be there on a daily basis rather than just occasional tightening.

when I had originally felt the tightening I had a good feel around the arm,shoulder,side of breast region and felt nothing untoward.

So fast forward to going to bed last Sunday. I turned in bed and felt worse pain under the arm. I was very alarmed to find a very large hard almost egg like lump about 5cm or so outer left side of breast.

i had a sleepless night and examined the lump and boob in the morning. It had not changed and I thought I could see a small pink area . As the day wore on the pink area started getting bigger and I was now getting burning pain in the whole breast.

I made a decision that if no change overnight I would phone drs and ask for an urgent appointment.

Next morning pink had gone to red and the breast was throbbing. Redness was about an inch in diameter.

i called my nurse sister over. She took one look and said A &E as she thought it looked like a severe infection that would need possible draining and strong antibiotics.

saw 2 drs who treated as abscess until they could not get any pus out with needle aspiration.

Sent away with antibiotics which made no difference and breast clinic spot today.

Dr says lump solid and immovable . Again only blood on aspiration. Has grown since hosp last Wednesday and redness worse but confined to less than quarter of breast. No orange peel look. No heat. ,no nipple change. Not feeling unwell.

mammogram reveals probable tumour. Ultrasound much the same. Punch biopsies taken of breast and underarms for lymph nodes.

called back into dr after all tests and he says things not looking good. He says he suspects tumour and lymph nodes appeared enlarged on ultrasound.

i said how quickly it had appeared and grown but he says that was me finding it. I check my breasts monthly and had a normal mammogram 2 years ago.

i go back in a week for biopsy results and am under no illusion as to what it probably is.

He has ruled out infection,cysts,abscess,fat necrosis and says does not think fat necrosis due to inflamed lymph nodes. Does not think inflammatory breast cancer.

Anyone else had similar circumstances

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • Hi Tay54,

    Welcome to Cancer Chat. I'm sorry to read about what's going on at the moment - I'm sure this is a tough time. I'm sure you know your body well and if it's something you hadn't noticed before and that you feel has appeared quite quickly, you can always discuss this with your doctor to find out more.

    There are many others on this forum who have been through, or are going through, something similar - so do feel free to search this forum for others, or otherwise hopefully others will be along here soon for further support. This is a very supportive community of people.

    I hope you don't have too much longer to wait for the results.

    Wishing you all the best,

    Ben
    Cancer Chat Moderator

  • Thank you Ben.

    Sadly as expected it was bad news on Monday and I do have invasive ductal breast cancer stage 3

    i am waiting on more tests for the exact prognosis before starting treatment.

    i had hoped others who were or had been in a similar situation might be able to shed some further light on what to expect next.

  • Hi there ...

    So sorry mist your post the first time round ... but our Ben is right there's lots of breast lasses on here .. I came on here over 2 years ago... I had a grade 3 her 2 neg oestrogen positive lump... thought my number was up ... just preyed for the 7 week school holiday to have with my granddaughter...

    Wrote all my letters ... had a total right masectomy.... but I'm still here and those letters are put away safe ... hopefully for a good while yet ...  and there were about 6 other breast cancer lasses came on close to me .. all different stages and treatments....  we havnt lost one yet ... wer all still here, and one has had a baby sinse her treatment .. most of the others have all left here to go back to "life after cancer"  

    It's not a walk in the park,  but it is doable...   @Marilyn  is a great inspiration ... who has been amazing all through her treatment ... so remember cancer wants us to lay down and never get up... cry forever .. but you know .. cry / rant cuss at cancer .. I did for two days... then got up, put my pink boxing gloves on and got in the ring .. looked it in the eye .. and got ready to hit it right back ... 

    So when your ready .. get your vertual boxing gloves and get in the ring ready to kick it's ***....

    Here most days if you want a chat ...Chrissie xx

  • Thank you Chriss

    still waiting on further tests so will not know the full prognosis until later next week.

    All the waiting round adds to the stress.

    Is there somewhere I could go to talk to others in a similar boat on this forum?

    I am glad you are doing much better than you expected and I am glad to hear your friend group are coming through the other side of their treatments.

     

    Best wishes Lorna

  • Hello love, just seen your post. Oh blimey, you'll be in a complete whirlwind of appointments at the the moment.

    just a quick run down on me....diagnosed Dec.her2 pos ...mucinous invasive ductal carcinoma, lumpectomy jan, chemo started Feb.... rads done ( boy that was tedious) now on herceptin, and hormone blockers....

    i will send you a friend request so we can chat properly.....you can do this love...if I can....you can xxx

  • Thank you Marlyn

    I am glad to hear that you are coming through the other side of your treatments

    The thing I struggle with the most is why on earth did I not find this lump? Because I had the under arm pain I actively felt around the underarm area and breast where I felt the discomfort.

    I had clear mammogram in last 2 years too. 

    I guess so many here will say the same .

    CT scan tomorrow which I am dreading

    I will look out for your friend request  and hope to chat soon.

    you sound positive and that is wonderful to hear.

    Lorna x

  • Hi Tay...

    If you go on your home page .. near the top is a bell by one of those thought emogy... click on bell .. it will say you have a friend request from Marlyn... just accept and you will be able to message ...

    Your in good hands there ... and if you ever see a thread called "the good and bad" that was started two years ago by Sandra... it's lots of our experiences along this cancer journey ... like it says the good and bad bits .. and some funny bits along the way .. but it's a long long thread ,but we'll worth a brouse if you come across it ...

    Chrissie xx

  • Thank you Chrissie

    i will take a look. Just starting to navigate this site a little now.

    Lorna xxx

  • I sent you a request....just waiting for you to accept xxx

  • Hello Tay 54

    I have similar symptoms - except that the pain in my upper arm has been going on for more than a year but I ignored it.  I thought it was because I was excercising - I do pilates and I run - which I realise now was stupid.  About 10 days ago I found a substantial lump in my right breast and my GP got me an appointment at the Rapid Diagnostic clinic within a week.  After a mammogram, scan and breast and lymph node biopsy right away they told me that I had cancer - such a shock and I have no family history, have never smoked.... have lead a pretty blameless and healthy life.  Tomorrow I go for my treatment plan... they will have to shrink the tumor before any kind of op.  It's 4cm - and I didn't notice it.  I asked the radiologist who did the scan and she said it's very common for people to miss these things - the lump is at the back - although now it feels like I have a tennis ball in my right breast.

    Waiting is the worst - I can't tell my family yet - apart from my husband - and I'm on a knife edge.  I keep praying they've made a mistake.  Now I realise how important it is to take someone with you to your appointment - as I can't really remember clearly what was said except it was cancer.  My husband coming tomorrow....