Originally Posted by
Carys
I think, to be honest, firstly, you should do exactly what Pulisa says - go back over your previous threads about BC, as the advice remains the same.
OK, so you were at the breast clinic just before Christmas, where (I've read your previous thread too, cyst/s and lumpy breast tissue?) two specialist doctors 'thought it was nothing' but did say that they'd book in a mammogram/ultrasound some time in the new year. They didn't know when it would be, due to COVID, but you are in the system for those checks. By going to your GP now, it won't make any difference - you have already been seen by a specialist and are awaiting the extra checks. What would the GP visit gain ? possibly another specialist appointment made, but you've only just seen them a few short weeks ago and as you rightly say if you think something has changed that quickly, then it certainly isn't anything sinister. My advice would be that now just have to wait the time required to be fitted in for the mammo/ultrasound - and by the fact that they most definitely have you on a non-urgent appointment request, I would say that it shows they aren't expecting anything untoward.
Your query about 'how do I know what is normal when things are changing' are something you could put to the clinic specialists, it is a valid point. Maybe they need to explain more clearly what the differences would be like, and how they would present IF there was something to really show concern about. There is a definite difference in the feel of cysts to the feel of cancerous lumps, this is demonstrated by the fact that doctors have felt cysts and diagnosed you correctly with them before. I know you can't expect to become an expert in manual examinations, as they are, but certainly you can learn to feel those cysts you currently have and mentally noted down the feeling of them, and the tissues around them. Maybe also you need to actually give things more time, as if changes are coming and going regularly, cysts-wise, then if you waited a few more weeks it would probably be gone and a new one somewhere else. Dashing off for the many clinic appointments you've had, and various mammograms, would probably be invalid if you had just given things a bit more time.
You are at least aware of what you doing here, and awareness is a good step towards taking further action. You know that any check or test provides only short-term relief from the fear, and you can't keep going as you are running for testing and checking every single time you feel concern. After this Mammo/ultrasound, when all is well again, you need to work on your own reassurance based on knowledge of the feeling of what you have felt this time, and how similar other 'lumps' are.