Hello everybody,

this is my first post!

I have been visiting this forum for many months now and on so many occasions I have read people going 'we never seem to hear back from people who's test results come back clear'. 
 

Well, here I am. And hoping to reassure others who may have been in my position. 

I have had a large, smooth, oval lump in my left breast for over 10 years (I am 24 now). I was too young to understand it might have been cancer when I first found it so it has always been a part of me and never been checked. It maybe has gotten slightly bigger (I'm on the pill and have obviously developed more as I went through puberty so maybe that's why) but over that long period of time, that is to be expected. 
 

About 4 months ago I found a new lump. It felt hard on the inside wall of my right breast. It was smooth, probably the size of an olive but very deep. Movable. 
 

I was absolutely terrified, been climbing the walls every single day - too scared to get it checked. I would check it every hour - poking and prodding until my boobs were absolutely covered in bruises and so tender. 
 

Googling symptoms daily (would NOT recommend this) and generally thinking the worst and having no control over my life. hating myself. I couldn't even shower without panicking like mad. 
 

Every time I went on social media, I would see a post or advert relating to cancer and it made me even more crazy. 

Last night I got so triggered by a post on social media about cancer that I finally told my boyfriend and I booked a same day results appointment with a breast specialist in London. It was hugely expensive (£300) but I knew if I was going to get it checked I needed to know there and then what was going on. 

We went this morning - the surgeon was amazing. So kind, calm, explaining everything. He did a manual examination first. He said he could feel the lumps but nothing felt suspicious.

He then did an ultrasound - I could see the screen in front of me and I could not believe my eyes. There were dark lumps EVERYWHERE. Not just the 2 that I knew I had. 
 

He said straight away that they are benign fibroids - all of them are oval shaped with smooth, clear edges. He said that it's more than likely that all of them (including the new lump I had found a few months ago) had been in my body for years. He did not perform any biopsy as there were so many similar lumps he could clearly see that I have fibrocystic breast disease, and also the fact I am 24 and have no family history of breast cancer. He measured them all and is sending me across a report and the ultrasound images, so I can see where they all are and obviously keep an eye on them when I do my monthly examinations. 
 

I am feeling incredibly lucky. I know so many women are not as lucky as me - and I have not come on here in any way to push this in your faces, but as I said above - I have seen so many threads where people post their findings of a lump and then you never hear from them again. 
 

I hope maybe this can provide some reassurance to people maybe in my position, who find a new lump. Don't make the same mistake that I did and leave it for months. If I had been diagnosed with breast cancer, those 4 months could've made a huge difference to the success of treatment. I feel stupid for not getting it checked sooner, but ladies I'm sure you all know how terrifying it is, and it takes a huge amount of courage to seek a diagnosis. 

I am sending you huge amounts of love - for wherever you are on your journey. 
 

if anyone would like to ask any questions, please feel free!

Hugs to you all xxx