REALLY SCARED

Hi, I am nearly 29 years old. I went to the doctors on Tuesday due to a lump under my armpit on my left side. 

Turns out,  the doctor is not concerned about that. But wanted to do a thorough examination. 

He found that I had a few lymph nodes, one that is quite large under my right armpit. 

He also found a 4.5cm hard lump in my left breast. 

I was shocked because I didn't go there with that and I was shocked how I never felt it myself. 

Hes referred me for suspected cancer on a two week wait. 

I have no family history of breast cancer but I am so so scared and the lump is not painful or causes me any problems. 

I'm working 13hr days at the moment including weekends doing the covid vaccinations so I haven't really focused much on myself. 

I'm a single mum to an 11 year old boy and all I keep thinking is I'm not going to see him grow up. 

Anyone had anything similar?

 

Thanks so much in advance. Xx

  • Hello!

    I hope you're okay, it is a horrible thing to have to go through. I like you am in my 20s (21), statistically in our age group it is unlikely to get a diagnosis of cancer. However your symptoms of a lump in your breast and lymph nodes means you are showing more than one symptom which is why you would have been referred as suspected cancer. What i've learnt is that it is really difficult to predict what is going to happen. Throughout my whole process i've been getting told that my lump is very likely to be a fibroadenoma (benign), but at my breast clinic appointment the way the tumour looked on ultrasound meant that they wanted to do a biopsy to determine if its cancer or not (I was originally referred as a non cancer suspected patient!). 

    It can be useful to remember when you have tests, that the majority of biopsies come back benign, and in our age group that chance is even more likely. It is also useful to remember that fibroadenomas are most common in women in their 20s/30s. However I completely understand preparing yourself for the worst as I am doing the same. I'm not really sure about the lymph nodes, whether that can also be caused by hormones or not as thats a symptom i don't have, but i'm sure you will be told by the consultant. Upon examination my consultant told me that my lump was mobile and moved around a lot which is a good sign (fibroadenomas are often referred to as breast mice because of this), so that might be worth asking about too.

    Good luck I really hope it all goes okay for you xx

  • Thank you so much. I'm praying I will update once I have had my mammogram and ultrasound at the breast clinic. Xx