Breast Lump

Liz e-mailed me this morning to ask me to contact you.

I am the doctor that she told you about, that suggested that she didn't google!  Liz and I have got to know each other a little through this site - she has a great deal of common sense and I strongly recommend that you follow her advice!

I am sorry to hear about your lump.  As Liz said, the fact that it is painful is a good sign, as so often malignant lumps are not.  However - was it

the discomfort in your breast that alerted you to check them, or is the lump itself painful?

The other fairly positive sign is that (hopefully) if your GP thought it was likely to be malignant, I think your appointment would have been expedited, and that you would have been seen very quickly. 

I strongly believe that no woman (or man, for that matter) should have to wait weeks with the agony of worry that is the inevitable result of knowing that you have a breast lump.  I would definitely follow Liz's advice about chasing up your appointment, and asking for a cancellation.

Locally, a private consultation costs about £175.00, and I believe a private mammogram is about the same (or was), although there would probably be another fee of much the same for the radiologist to report on it. 

Obviously, depending on your finances, you may find that the relief of knowing where you are is worth every penny, and of course, if the worst comes to the worst, then the sooner you are treated, the better.

I am 54.  I had an invasive carcinoma detected at my first mammogram, two years ago.  It was removed, and another, less invasive one (a ductal carcinoma in situ) was found in the material removed, so I went back for more surgery.  This was followed by radiotherapy, although I was fortunate not to require chemotherapy. 

I seem to be fine now - my last mammogram was clear, and my surgeon was happy with me a few months ago.

I know exactly the anxiety that you are suffering - although until I had the mammo., I was unaware that there was anything wrong - it was the wait for the lymph node results that was torture for me. 

Sometimes it may help to go into a practical mode - in your case, making sure that you receive adequate medical attention as fast as possible.  Stay away from Dr Google, even with medical training it is frightening, and without it, you don't really know which sites are reliable.

If the worst happens, once you are in the system, if you just go with the flow, a while later you are through it, and eventually you stop thinking about it all the time, and get back to normal life.  The treatments are far less radical than they were, even ten years ago, and the results far more promising. 

Great idea to stop your HRT patches.  Most of these tumours are oestrogen receptor positive, so HRT will not help.  If you have a benign lump, it may be worth discussing with your GP the benefit v risk of continuing with it, depending on how long you have been taking it. 

I did exactly the same thing, and at least felt that I was doing something positive to help myself!  My cancers were both oestrogen receptor positive, so I am now on Tamoxifen.  It's OK, once you get used to it. 

There is a charity - easy to find on line - (this site doesn't like people putting in websites) - called Breast Cancer Care UK.  If you put those words into Google, it is the third one down. It is a wonderful organisation - you can call them anytime during working hours, and they will put you on to a trained member of staff (who has to either have had breast cancer, a partner with it, or a genetic predisposition to develop it) that you can talk to, cry to, ask questions of, with reliable answers, and feel that someone is interested in what you are going  through, who entirely understands, because they have been there themselves.

I really recommend that you look them up, and phone them.  I found them to be so good, that although it is too soon for me to apply to become one of their telephone answering people (it has to be well over two years since your own cancer), I would seriously consider training to be one.  The training is surprisingly onerous - involving, amongst other things, away weekend workshops and so on. 

So - you can understand why I recommend them to you.  Far better than Dr Google, and not only do you receive reliable information, you have a lovely human being to empathise with you.  They know exactly the place that you find yourself to be in today, because they have been there. 

Meanwhile, don't forget that you need to sleep.  You need to eat well, drink lots of water or juice, especially as it is hot, and you need to stop rummaging around, as you will only bruise yourself, and learn nothing new.

Try anything that distracts you - go out with a friend, have a lovely bath with smellies plus a G & T, go for a walk, and try to enjoy nature, listen to music, or whatever floats your boat.  Lean on your partner, family and friends.

Just don't become fixated with trying to find answers that simply are not there on Google, winding yourself up with erroneous information, and staying awake, fretting.  If you must - the Mayo Clinic site is very reliable, in my opinion.

Please feel free to write back to me at any time, and I shall try to reply - but please do so on our private comm.s - there are some rather weird people out there that seem to take vicarious pleasure out of the sufferings of others, and I prefer not to talk much on the open site.

I shall be thinking of you.

If you wish to, I would be very pleased to hear how you get on.

With my very best wishes

Mxx