loosing my mind breast cancer!!

[Beckie4567]

I just wanted to bump this up and add are people nipples both slightly a different shape ?

[yummymommy]

My sister had breast cancer (she is a survivor, btw). She never checked her breasts. I remember her saying to me, before her diagnosis, that she thought the hard "lump" she was feeling (which was later breast cancer) was part of her rib. Meaning, she didn't even recognize it as a lump, but thought it was bone. Just adding some perspective in how a breast cancer can feel.

did this post trigger anyones anxiety as it did in mine? i know she meant to calm down the original poster, however as someone with severe ocd and anxiety, hearing that she thought a lump was a rib gets me extremely nervous. i am very skinny and can feel all ribs in my breast. some of them are really pertruding ribs and i can feel all. i dont need the thought to be now, that hey, maybe this is cancer? for g-dness sake, what will i do when i feel ribs? how do i differentiate btw ribs and lumps?

[ktdid2000]

did this post trigger anyones anxiety as it did in mine? i know she meant to calm down the original poster, however as someone with severe ocd and anxiety, hearing that she thought a lump was a rib gets me extremely nervous. i am very skinny and can feel all ribs in my breast. some of them are really pertruding ribs and i can feel all. i dont need the thought to be now, that hey, maybe this is cancer? for g-dness sake, what will i do when i feel ribs? how do i differentiate btw ribs and lumps?

^^ THIS!!

Also, I remember a long time ago in high school someone came to talk to the girls in our class about breast self-exam and what to feel for. She had these models that we practiced on, some of which contained lumps so we knew what we were feeling for. I wish every OB office had them and trained people each time we went in for our annual exams!!

Sort of like these but they were silicone: http://www.breastologybag.com/index.php

[adventurine]

I was diagnosed with fibrocystic breast disorder when I was around 19, I found a big lump in my breast that was beginning to protrude. During a scan there were three lumps instead of the one, all of them pushing on the one I could feel. I had a surgery to remove them and they came back as benign.

I'm now 30 and I have one lump that I couldn't feel that was detected in a sonogram. Biopsied, benign. One tiny one that could just about be felt again but couldn't be detected on scans, the surgeon was reluctant to get it out but I was adamant as it felt different from the rest and I didn't like that it couldn't be biopsied because no one could find it on the scans. I convinced her that if she took it out and just felt around it could be done, on top of that I would have the surgery wide awake so I could just leave after the op and not take up bed space at the hospital.

It was done, they said the lump was benign. Having an operation while awake was a new experience for me as well as the surgeons, I got to tell them about what I was feeling as they were doing it. Very strange, glad I was awake as the equipment said my vitals were going and I told them I was fine when they were having a panicy moment. Dunno what they would have done if I was put asleep during!

I have very lumpy breasts because of this condition. There's also another lump I got that comes and goes near my armpit when I'm coming up to my period. Whenever I get a new lump back to the GP I go.

Last night though it feels like my left nipple is burning (not pregnant or breast feeding) so I'm scared about that right now. Anyone ever get that?

I hope my story about lumpy breasts helps calm you all down though some women are really prone to getting lumps, still scares the crap out of me every time I find one even though it's been going on since I was 19. I have scar tissue from operations in the past from lumps being taken out.

Get your lumps checked by the docs though when you get new one's. Peace of mind and all that!