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Armpit lump but no breast lump

Dizzyflossy
Offline

Hiya, thanks for reading. 

Just looking to bounce a few questions off others, to see if anyone may be in a similar position. 

I saw a nurse at my GP surgery back in June as I could feel a lump in my armpit. It was causing me mild discomfort, easily ignored, but as my mum has had breast cancer recently I wanted to get checked. As I'd just had pneumonia at the time I was dismissed by the nurse who told me she couldn't feel the lump and it was most likely discomfort from my chest after being really ill (in hospital) with the pneumonia.  

Fast forward to now, October, and I feel the lump has increased in size, although still small (size of a pea). But it appears to be causing me a lot of discomfort, a constant heaviness and dull ache, not dissimilar to toothache if you know what I mean. Luckily, a different nurse said there IS a lump there and has now referred me on the 2 week pathway. 

I'm relatively calm but i do have questions:

Is it possible that it could be malignant and causing pain? Everyone says cancer lumps dont hurt initially. And it's quite small still. But the lump feels hard, and pressing it causes pain in my hand especially, which fades again after a while, back to an ache. 

Also, is a biopsy possible of such a small lump - either core biopsy or fine needle aspiration? 

Is it possible to have breast cancer START in the armpit? I have no breast lumps (that I or the nurse could feel). 

I really hope I'm not dismissed by the breast clinic as simply anxious over what happened with my mum. 

Thanks in advance! 

  • Hello

    Unfortunately we can't tell you how likely it is that this will turn out to be cancer.  To answer your individual questions honestly I would have to answer yes to them.  Although breast cancer is usually painless it could potentially cause pain when pressed and it is possible for breast cancer first to be noticed through a lump in the armpit.  But non of this tells you how likely this will turn out to be breast cancer.

    As you can feel the lump I think it is possible that they may be able to do a core biopsy or needle aspiration, but after assessing you they may decide differently.

    I can appreciate that waiting for results is extremely difficult.  But I can reassure you that the majority of women referred to the breast clinic and through the urgent referral "two week wait" pathway turn out not to have breast cancer.

    I hope this is helpful

    Martin

  • Offline in reply to CRUK Nurse Martin

    Hi, thanks so much for replying. I'd imagined that the answer to my questions would be 'yes', but glad to hear it from someone else. 

    It's so frustrating as I could feel the lump way back in June but I was refused a referral on the basis the nurse couldn't feel it (although my armpit was also painful back then as well). To me, I can actually feel a second lump, about a centimetre away from the first. 

    The 'what ifs' are naturally weighing on my mind whilst waiting for the clinic appointment as I've 2 small kids under 5. Just praying that it is something else!

  • Offline in reply to Dizzyflossy

    Hi Dizzy,

    sorry you've got this worry hanging over you, fingers crossed it turns out to be nothing. 
    I just wanted to say that I didn't have a lump that could be felt in my breast and it was so small on the mammogram and scan that they really weren't sure, but they were able to do a needle biopsy, so I'm sure they will be able to do the same for you, you may not even need it.

    good luck x

  • Offline in reply to Ploppy

    Thank you Ploppy. That's really good to know, as I wasnt sure if they would be able to take samples from the lump in my armpit, good to know they can do it even if the lump is small. :) 

  • Offline in reply to Dizzyflossy

    Hi ploppy, 

     

    did you ever find out what this was? 

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