Lump in breast

[Ruby77]

Hi all,

I am only 28 but this weekend I found a lump in my breast. It scared the hell out of me and I went to the doctor this morning who has referred me to the breast clinic. I have a family history of breast cancer, my mum had it at 45.

Now all I can do is wait for my appt and see what they say but I dont know how long that will take and even then I may have to wait weeks for biopsies / results etc and as someone who suffers from anxiety anyway, the anxiety is through the roof and I dont know how to get through the days while I wait.

Any tips / words of advice / positive stories of anyone who has been through something similar??

Thanks.

[Brunette]

I had a breast lump removed at 27 - it was benign.

If the doctor thought you had breast cancer you'd get an appointment within a couple of days, not weeks.

[debs71]

Hi Ruby77,

I've been through a similar thing.

The first thing I will say is that one would hope that if your doctor thought that you had anything sinister they would probably make it an urgent 2 week referral time, so you would be seen fast. I am not sure if they mentioned that they were doing that or not, but I assume not.

I found a lump in my breast a couple of years ago. I saw my GP and strangely, she felt nothing in the breast I thought i felt something, but did feel a lump in my other breast. She actually did refer me as a 2 week urgent case, and that scared the hell out of me!!

My Mum has a history of lumps in the breast (though not malignant) but I was still very worried before I was seen. I ended up having a breast scan and was found to have numerous micro-cysts running through my breast, but no sign of the lump the doctor felt. I was just told that I have very 'active breasts' (whatever that means, lol) and that was it.

Please be reassured somewhat that the vast majority of lumps are cysts rather than anything sinister. I know it must be a worry due to your Mum's history, but I think that they would see you far sooner if they suspected for a minute they needed to.

Big hugs to you.x:hugs:

[suki300]

Hi,

This link might reassure you a bit:

http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Breast-lump/Pages/Introduction.aspx

I don't know anyone who has died from breast cancer, but I know lots of people who have survived it. My sister-in-law is 40 and she discovered a lump which turned out to be cancerous. They removed the lump and to be on the safe side she had radiotherapy and chemotherapy and now she's fine.

It's unlikely it will be cancerous statistically and you will be in good hands, so try and plan some nice things to try and distract you while you wait.

[Darren1]

cancer is a rare disease. even those who get referred to a cancer specialist for suspected cancer, 70% come back negative.

[Ruby77]

Thank you for all your replies.

The doctor did say I would have an appt within 2 weeks but I'm hoping the rush is because of the family history.

Thank you for the link, I just need to keep that in mind. It's just so stressful, waiting and not knowing and thinking the worst :weep:

[Hypo]

Hello Ruby!

How scary for you :(

Please keep us updated.

The breast clinic is amazing and you usually get a good idea about what is going on the same day. The two weeks is standard in my area now no matter how little they think the risk is.

[blueangel]

Hi Ruby

The NHS have a policy of seeing anything within 2 weeks if there is even the smallest possibility of it being cancer because they work on the "better safe than sorry" principle.

As your mum had breast cancer at quite a young age, it's definitely worth discussing this as they might well recommend that you have screening earlier than normal.

Hope this helps.

[purple to black]

2 weeks is the 'normal' referal time for the breast clinic, so I was told and have been many times due to having cystic breasts. Try not to worry too much : )

Take care.