Just over a week ago I found a lump in my right breast, I went to the doctor and she sent me for a mammogram and an ultrasound. The mammo showed a very dense area in the area of concern, the ultrasound was normal. There is quite obviously a palpable lump so my doctor has refered me to a specialist for a biopsy.
I usually trust my gut instincts in this kind of situation, I am telling my family that everything is ok and the test will show that the lump is benign, but deep down I have this nagging feeling that this could be bad. I think when I'm telling them that all is ok I'm trying to convince myself allso.
I thought mammograms and ultrasound would show if it was cancer, has anyone else been through this ? Should I trust my instincts I am really terrified ( even though I am putting on a big "I am fine" show for the family)
I am only 28 and I have 3 kids that were breast fed, this should go in my favor right?
I would apreciate any advise on this topic.
Thanks If you have the lump in one of your breasts there is a chance of it is cancer. However the mammogram had shown some doubt while and ultrasound is clear. Mammogram does not show the actual thing always. so you have to go for biopsy of the lump .
If at all you find any abnormality in your breasts, than what I have explained earlier, you should report to a Qualified Oncologist for further evaluation. 鈥?It is for detection of Breast Cancer I if present.
There's a whole world of testing that goes along with taking care of your breasts. No matter where you are on the line between healthy breasts and breast cancer, tests can be nerve-wracking. But they are an indispensable part of:
* finding breast cancer early, when it is most treatable
* helping treatment team design the treatment that is right for you
* determining the effectiveness of your continuing care
There are two different stages of testing. Screening tests (such as an annual mammogram) look for signs of disease in women without symptoms; they should be part of every healthy woman's routine. Secondly, Diagnostic tests (such as magnetic resonance imaging [MRI], blood tests, or bone scans) become part of the picture when breast cancer is suspected or has been diagnosed. Here you will have to learn more about other evaluations viz: Ultrasound, MRI, PET scans, and more. You'll also see images of what these tests look like.
Breast cancer symptoms vary widely 鈥?from lumps to swelling to skin changes 鈥?and many breast cancers have no obvious symptoms at all. Symptoms that are similar to those of breast cancer may be the result of non-cancerous conditions like infection or a cyst. Only it can be found out and diagnosed by tests such as Ultra-sonography and Biopsy, apart from Mammography.
1. Mammography is an x-ray of the breast that reveals suspicious areas that are denser than normal breast tissue or have abnormal deposits of calcium. Mammography is an important screening test which can show a breast cancer long before it is big enough to be felt in the breast. Women over age 40 should undergo a mammogram every year in order to detect breast cancers when they are small and can be treated easily. Since mammograms have been used routinely in the United States, the death rate from breast cancer has fallen dramatically as cancers are found earlier, when they are more likely to be curable. 鈥?I HAVE ALREADY IN MY EARLIER BLOG WRITTEN ABOUT THIS AND AGAIN REPEATING BECAUSE IT IS VERY ESSENTIAL TO FIND OUT AND LOCATE THE DISEASE IN THE EARLIEST AVAILABLE OPERTUNITY.
2. Ultrasonography uses high frequency sound waves that enter the breast and bounce back. The pattern of their echoes produces a picture called a sonogram that detects whether the breast lump is solid (possibly cancerous) or filled with fluid (non-cancerous). An ultrasound is usually recommended to evaluate a palpable breast lump or an abnormality seen on a mammogram.
3. Many times when an abnormality is felt in the breast or seen on a mammogram, the doctor will recommend a biopsy. In a biopsy, tissue is removed from the breast and examined by a pathologist, who can tell if cancerous cells are present. There are three ways to do breast biopsies: fine needle aspiration, large core Breast Biopsy and surgical biopsy. Fine needle aspiration (FNA) uses a fine needle, inserted into the breast tissue, to withdraw cells from the suspicious area. Large core breast biopsy uses a large core needle in a spring-loaded device that removes "cores" or plugs of tissue from the suspicious area. Surgical biopsy is the surgical removal of part or all of the lump or suspicious area.
So, there is no need at all, to get nervous or to be afraid for having a mammogram or needle biopsy (second one - if needed only) but it is very essential to undergo this as CANCER IS STILL AN ENIGMA-
I also request you kindly to see my blogs on Breast cancer topics at Yahoo-360 under link - http://360.yahoo.com/jayaramanms - which will give you further idea. - I think it is natural to have that fear. I have been tested for HIV 3 times; I always have that 鈥渨hat if?鈥?in the back of my mind鈥?
A few good things that you have going for you even if it is malignant鈥?You have detected it and you are young.
Good luck! Hey you got HOPE! And that's all you need! Just know that everything will be ok,and it will turn out to be just fine!
Good Luck with everything! You are doing what you need to do to take care of yourself. It is much better to get the biopsy and find out for sure that it is a benign mass than to let it go and find out it was cancer.
I had an abnormal mammogram a few years back and had to go back for more views - it didn't go as far as a biopsy. But I totally understand the anxiety involved when you have something going on and don't know what it is.
Right now IMO your age and history are in your favor - I would suspect it turns out to be a fibroadenoma, and not malignant.
Go and get it taken care of, and good luck. Only a biopsy can determine cancer, mammograms and ultrasounds just show areas that are questionable. I've read that 80% or more of lumps are benign, certainly there are plenty of women who have cysts and such.
I understand that you are worried, but try not to be too upset at least until you know what you are dealing with. Chances are that it will turn out to be nothing. The waiting to find out is the hardest part.
breastcancer.org is an excellent site for information and for support. OK Mammograms don't CAUSE cancer. . . they don't help it. . . but it's more like feeding sugar to a hyper kid than a causal relationship. It's too little exposure for too finite a period. . . (Sorry, I had to get that in!)
Mammo's and U/S don't show if it's cancerous--just what the lump looks like and if it's likely fluid filled. Take a non-asprin pain killer before the biopsy. (Especially if they are "core" biopsies. They kinda hurt. Sorry to tell you that. . . )
I've been thru it twice, was dx'd with BC at the age of 32 and recurrence at 33. . .
Chances are it IS nothing. But if it's not, it's treatable. There is hope. . . and there are resources. Check out the Young Survival Coalition: www.youngsurvival.org after you hear.
Best wishes. Becareful!!!! mammograms are only about 70% accurate and highly dependant on the readers. Alwaysgo to a very busy breat center. Ultrasound even less. If you have dense breast the stats go down. The is a new procedure called a PEM. It is a positron emission mammogram and being used for your circumstance, but not available everywere and this is very new! also, breast MRI is very common place but can lead to many false positives.
however it will not replace biopsy.
good luck. If they recommended a biopsy... do it.
I went through a very similar situation and the biopsy is what ruled Stage 2 breast cancer. I was 27 at the time.
I breastfed my daughter and have no history of the disease in my family. I thought i was "just fine" too, even when they called me in to the office to tell me the results.
I am now in remission after having chemo and 3 surgeries...
Good luck and i'm here if you need someone to talk to. I am much older than you but I went through almost the same thing. They did the mamo. twice and didn't even do the ultrasound. I also have dense breast tissue. Having dense breast tissue is another risk for breast cancer. The higher the breast tissue density the greater risk for breast cancer. The breast has more ducts and lobules verses fat. I went to get my mamo. alone and they sorta let me know that something was wrong and told me to contact my family Dr. to set up a core biopsy. I did the same thing with my family, I didn't want to say anything until I knew for sure. PLEASE TAKE SOME ONE WITH YOU to your surgeon that does you biopsy, because if something is wrong you are going to need someone, because its going to hit you like a load of bricks being dropped on your head. My husband was in surgery when I had my biopsy and I had no one. Hopefully if it is cancer you have caught it early. Mine was thought to be in stage 2 then upgraded after all the ct scans and bone scans and PET scans, to Stage 3. If you do have cancer they wont know what type until the results of the biopsy comes back. But all my surgeon had to do was look at me and tell me you know this is reallly bad dont you! It just blew me away. The best thing that you can do is keep a positve attitude it will help more than you know. Dont worry until you know something for sure. If things are bad you have to hold it togehter for you and your children. If you'd like to talk you can e-mail me at keepongoing29138@hotmail.com. You do need to vent to someone. God Bless! and Good Luck! You sound a lot like me. I was only 28 with 2 breastfed children and no family history when I was diagnosed. I had an area of dense tissue that showed normal on an ultrasound but after having a biopsy they found stage 0, non-invasive breast cancer. It's been over a year and a half now and I'm cancer free.
It's totally normal to be scared, you wouldn't be human if you weren't. Just remember that 80% of breast lumps are NOT cancerous. The odds are definitley in your favor, but it's not something to mess around with or take risks with. The earlier breast cancer is caught the more treatable it is.
There is some WONDERFUL support and information specifically for young women and breast cancer at youngsurvival.org
I'll be praying for you, let me know if you'd like to talk more!! In order to determine the level of impact of that affection you must consider the following risks factors:
1) Have cases of cancer in my familiar file?
2) I am a person of legal age (>40 years)?
3) Have a life without exercise or sedentary?
4) My feeding is with products process and greasy scrap iron and foods of origin animal?
5) Have a life with the high daily stress, by the work, or my responsibilities?
6) During the day, I am exposed to strong environmental contamination (toxic in the air, water, use of chemistries in the work, etc.)?
7) I expose much to the sun?
8) Drink alcohol and I smoke frequently?
9) Have overweight or Obesity?
10) Have some problem of health like the diabetes, the metabolic syndrome, chronic anemia, undernourishment?
Whenever you respond yes, to anyone of the questions, your risk of cancer WILL BE MUCH GREATER!
I鈥檓 Adviser in Naturist Nutrition. It is understandable that you are terrified. I was too. You push ahead on this to find out what is going on. If it is cancer, then you got it earlier rather than later. It is very upsetting. Find people to talk to and that if you need to cry and scream they would understand. They would next want a biopsy. Don't look. The needle looks scary. It looks much worse than it feels. Take your husband with you. All in all, I'm sure things will turn out well. I will pray for you! See http://www.newstarget.com/022227.html , http://www.newstarget.com/010886.html , http://www.newstarget.com/022224.html , and http://www.bcaction.org. And http://www.newstarget.com/022157.html even says one of the 18 things that causes breast cancer is, you got it, Mammograms. http://www.newstarget.com/021608.html says "According to Canadian columnist Dr. W. Gifford -Jones, women between the ages of 40 and 49 who have regular mammograms are twice as likely to die from breast cancer as women who are not screened."
My recommendation is to please educate yourself.
Just talked to my wife, an ND, and she says every time you get x-rayed it increases your chance for getting cancer by 2%. And that is cumulative. She also says that isolating it to an area like your breast probably makes it worse. She says a better alternative is thermography - a different way of checking it. She wonders if the doctors are saying that it doesn't cause cancer when it really does.
Also, she says she knows of "vegetarians" that eat white bread, mik and cheese. She also knows of several that claim to be vegetarians and eat fish and chicken. Apparently for some vegetarians it means they're vegetarian when they don't eat beef. I'm just amazed how many claim to be eating healthy and are ending up with BC. That's not what Colin Campbell found in his study!
EDIT:
Okay, did some more research. My wife is an ND and just happens to have the Guyton & Hall "Textbook of Medical Physiology" eleventh edition. Their text is used in most mainstream medical curriculums and is the bible when it comes to physiology. My wife has it to learn more and to ultimately teach a class from the experts. They say on page 41 - "probabability of mutations can be increased manyfold when a person is exposed to certain chemical, physical, or biological factors, including the following:
1. It is well known that ionizing radiation, such as x-rays, gamma rays, and particle radiation from radiocative substances, and even ultraviolet light can predispose individuals to cancer. Ions formed in tussue cells under the influence of such radiation are highly reactive and can rupture DNA strands, thus causing many mutations.
2. Chemical substances of certain types also have a high propensity for causing mutations. It was discovered long ago that various aniline dye deritatives are likely to cause cancer, so that workers in chemical plants producing such substances, if unprotected, have a special predisposition to cancer. Chemical substances that can cause mutation are called carcinogens. That carcinogens that currently cause the greatest number of deaths are those in cigarette smoke. They cause about one quarter of all cancer deaths.
3. Physical irritants also can lead to cancer, such as continued abrasion of the linings of the intestinal tract by some types of food. The damage to the tissues leads to rapid mitotic replacement of the cells. The more rapid the mitosis, the greater the chance for mutation.
4. In many families, there is a strong hereditary tendency to cancer. This results from the fact that most cancers require not one mutation but two or more mutations before cancer occurs. In those families that are particularly predisposed to cancer, it is presumed that one or more cancerous genes are already mutated in the inherited genome. Therefore, far fewer additional mutations must take place in such family members before a cancer begins to grow.
5. In laboratory animals, certain types of viruses can cause some kinds of cancer, including leukemia. This usually results in one of two ways. In the case of DNA viruses, the DNA strand of the virus can insert itself directly into one of the chromosomes and thereby cause a mutation that leads to cancer. In the case of RNA viruses, some of these carry with them an enzyme called reverse transcriptase that causes DNA to be transcribed from the RNA. The transcribed DNA then inserts itself into the animal cell genome, leading to cancer."
LADIES - do NOT get mammograms. If the latest edition of this extremely popular medical text says that "It is well known that ionizing radiation ... causes a predisposition to cancer" and "many mutations", you can take it to the bank that it does. I wish I would have searched that text earlier. I wonder if some doctors are telling you it doesn't cause cancer because they forgot or are just plain MISLEADING you!!!
AND, what's cool is that this also confirms what we've been discussing here on this site about food. The Guyton and Hall text confirms that food is one of five factors that can cause mutations/cancer. I don't know how we can argue with the experts. |
