Friday, January 21, 2011

My breast mass journey summary

I first found a small lump above my left nipple about a year ago and the nipple began retracting.  I kept an eye on it waiting for it to go away on its own.  Finally when my sister came to visit in May of last year I had her look at it and she freaked and told me to go to a Dr.  My regular Dr. was very concerned and had me go get a mammo and ultrasound.  The mammo picked up nothing and the ultrasound just revealed cysts.  Meanwhile I still had this hard mass above my nipple and it actually goes down and around it deep into the breast tissue.  I had a small core biopsy done by guided ultrasound and that came back negative.  Personally I think the Dr. took the sample from the wrong area.  The surgeon I saw pretty much dismissed it saying I was too young for cancer, no family history etc.  I asked him what the hard mass was and he said "I don't know but if it still bothers you come back in a couple months".  I was pretty disgusted by the whole was I was blown off and ended up loosing my health insurance anyhow.  Now that I have it back I went back to my PCP and she sent me to a specialist in Albany, NY.  She took one look at my breast (which has a nearly full nipple retraction by now) and said "Oh my goodness".  She did two needle biopsies right there and I have an MRI scheduled for this Monday (this was previously suggested by the last ultrasound reading but ignored by surgeon #1)  The biopsy came back with "atypical cells".  This mass fills my entire palm when I grasp it.  It is about the size of a softball cut in half.  Dr. is talking about doing a core biopsy after the MRI. 

7 comments:

  1. Omg. Its just wrong they gave you such a runaround!!!! I hope the biopsy comes back benign

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  2. Praying you find it's nothing cancerous.

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  3. Thinking of you and keeping you in my thoughts and prayers ~ Ally x

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  4. I hate it when doctors don't care. I'm saying a prayer for you.

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  5. Yikes ... this is our medical system at its worst. What kind of doctor would just dismiss something like that saying you were "too young for cancer"?!? He should have his head examined and license revoked. Sending good wishes your way and let's hope this is nothing serious.

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  6. Just stopped over to thank you for visiting my blog. Of course I had to read through several of your posts. Please know that you're in my prayers. It's cold here so I know it's got to be colder where you are. Stay warm!

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  7. My mom has had breast cancer twice and both times her nipple was inward. The oncologist told her that the inward nipple is usually a warning sign that cancer has begun growing. Even before a lump is found. I'll keep you in my prayers!!

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