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

    Just read your post. I had my annual mammogram in June which was a good time, as I had felt a lump appear in my breast. I had a small carcinoma in situ in 2012 and have had a mammogram every year since then. In 2018 nothing showed up and than this year the lump grew very quickly. 

    It had also spread to my lymph nodes, but nowhere else. It is the same diagnosis as yours, invasive ducal carcinoma. You will have all the scans, blood tests in the near future. Make sure you get them as quick as you can. 

    My treatment at present comprises of 8 rounds of chemo which will commence every 3 weeks. The first 4 chemo are the more strong ones called AC treatment. The next 4 are a milder version. I was also told, that because of the Size of the lump and as it it my second Time with Cancer that i will have to have a mastectomy. This, however is my my treatment plan. Wait to see wha5 your doctor will recommend. At present I think you need to stay calm, as you can’t do anything until you have all the relevant information.

    i also have been assigned a cancer nurse, which you will probably have. My one is very good and it is very helpful to have someone to speak to who speaks in a more clearer language than the doctors sometimes.

    I hope this helps. 

    Keep strong, positive thoughts and get ready to beat this.

    kind regards 

    Cilly

  • Dear Cilly

    Thank you for your kind words ,support and advice.

    I am sorry that you are having to deal with this again.

    I hope that you are able to start your treatment soon and send positive vibes that you kick this disease into touch ASAP.

    Lorna x 

  • Hi Lorna

    same to you. Keep strong. Wishing you all the best.

    kind regards

    Cilly

  • Hi Lorna

    Hope all went well with your scan.  I am following you down the same path.  They will give me appointments next week for CT and Bone Scan.  My diagnosis is like Chezachuk, I have triple negative invasive carcinoma - hopefully it hasn't gone anywhere else as the biopsy of the lymph nodes the took were negative, but I need the scans next week to be sure. Then I see the Oncologist on 9th October before starting chemo hopefully the week after.  I will need 6-8 cycles of chemo apparently and then an operation.  They couldn't have been kinder or more supportive at the hospital, I've come back with heaps of literature to read and can call the cancer nurses any time if I have questions. 

     

    It's all such a shock. Just waiting to tell my oldest son, the other one is away till Monday.  Have told my mother, who is 96 and she was wonderful - that was what I was dreading the most.  My husband came with me and he was somewhat shell shocked too.

     Want to start fighting this demon as soon as I can.

    All best wishes

    Julia

     

  • Hi J63

    Was literally just logging in here to see how today went for you.

    I am glad that you got answers,information and that the staff were good.

    Not sure if I said yesterday but a very good friend of mine had the triple negative kind too. She went through all this 3 years ago and is now doing really well.

    That is good news that your lymph nodes are clear. Mine are too.

    So I have had the CT scan today and it was not as bad as I expected and was all over quickly .

    I spoke to my breast nurse today and she said my dr will look at the scan on Monday and they will chase up the receptors and markers on my biopsy.

    She said hopefully at close of play Monday they will be able to give me a date to see the orncologist.

    There is s backlog on bone scans here . I will update when of if I know more on Monday.

    I am glad that you have some direction with your treatment now. 

    I hope that you do not have to wait long for your scans x

  • Dear Lorna

    I wondered how you are doing?  I am now nearing the end of my chemo journey - since October 17th and finishing at the end of February and just today met the breast surgoeon.

    I have had fantastic shrinkage - from 43mm down to 18mm - but I carry the faulty BRCA2 gene so a double mastecomy and removal of ovaries and fallopian tubes is necessary.

    Because my life never seems to go in a straight line I met the surgeon today and he said I don't have enough tummy fat for a DIEP reconstruction - i.e. using my own body fat rather than an implant. However all is not lost and he has referred me to the plastic surgeons at xxx for their opinion - there are other options from the back or the thights.    I am not keen on having implants as apparently they need replacing every 10 years according to the surgeon I saw this morning .

    What about you, how has your chemo gone so far?  I was so lucky not to feel sick during chemo, I just feel incredibly tired - in fact I had to have a blood transfusion at New Year as my haemoglobin was very low - feeling a lot better now though.

    With best wishes

     

    Julia