lynnmoon

Hi again ladies, back to give an "Interim" update, but first...

Bonnie, I don't have an inverted nipples, but I do have flat nipples...but that's not a new symptom, they've been that way forever.  Had a heck of a time breastfeeding because of it.  But I do have very dry skin on my nipple areas and sometimes I scratch and they get a little scab.  Oh and as for the periods, I do have periods BUT that's because I started taking BC pills to induce them.  ON my own, I don't have periods.  I have PCOS which does explain some of my creepy body issues (like the lack of period) but that's about all I've ever been offered as an explaination of my issues.

I'll certainly check back after my next Dr. visit and willl pass on anything that we find. 

Now for the update, I did get checked out again.  My doc said he still isn't concerned about the lump being anything aside from maybe a cyst, but he is going to remove it soon and then we can know for sure.  So...that's pretty much my update.

They still think it's nothing, but at least they are gonna take it out and hopefully will check for anything abnormal.

Hi ladies,

I have a strange problem I imagine.  I've got a doctor's appointment and my biggest fear is not that my doctor will tell me that I have cancer, but that they'll tell me that I don't...but be wrong!!!!!!!!!!!   I've read so many horror stories of people that went back and forth to the doctors office for months on end only to FINALLY find out that they have stage IV cancer that they have little chance of surviving.  I just don't want to be that person, so I'm hoping that someone here can give me some advice on how to avoid that.

Here is my issue: 

I KNOW that something is going on with me, I just can't figure out what it is and my symptoms could be related or they could just be coincidentally happening at the same time. 

For starters, in Feb. I developed a small lump under my armpit.  It was so small, I thought little of it. Then I joined Weight Watchers and it went REALLY WELL.  So well that several people questioned me about starving myself or joking that I MUST be sick or something because the weight has just dropped off.  Again, I thought little of it.

A couple of more months passed and the lump became more pronounced.  I wasn't worried because the odds of it getting bigger weren't really any better than the odds of me just getting smaller...but still I wanted to do the responsible thing and get it checked out.

I went to my GYN's office and the nurse practitioner felt it and immediately referred me to a surgeon's office who specializes in breast care.  Not to worry she says, we always refer women anytime there is anything that could possibly be questionable.  Visit surgeon's office, they do a quick check and say it's pretty close to the surface to be a lymph node and since there aren't any feelable lumps anywhere else, not to worry it's probably not.  So, they even do a quick ultrasound and show me that it's a cyst and not a solid mass...so we all go home happy with a follow up visit for 6 weeks.  That's tomorrow.

In the meantime, my list of oddities is growing.

My energy level is painfully low.  Three days out of the week I have to go home and go right to bed. This isn't really normal, but is even more abnormal because everyone else on WW talks about all this extra energy.  I've lost 35 pounds and have NO extra energy.

They told me to use hot compresses on the lump to help it drain if it's from an infected hair follicle.  I do that with no results.

Likewise, I have this crazy backache in my upper back on the lump side.  Sometimes it aches, but other times it feels numb.

A few weeks ago, my breasts became really irritated and started itching like crazy.  It wasn't around period time or anything, and I don't usually have that kind of problem.  But it went away after about a week so I don't know if it qualifies as a problem or not.  It was replaced with very sore nipples and areolas for another several days, which could have been from my scratching the itch.  Then that went away on it's own after a while as well.  Then Saturday I woke up with a very sore left breast....it felt more like the muscle above the breast and not actually the breast tissue...but still it hurt all day long and for absolutely no reason at all.  I didn't do anything the day before to cause it.  It just so happens that this pain is on the opposite side of the underarm lump so if it's a single breast issue those 2 things don't really point to a cancer issue (I would assume) however....it's too late.  The paranoia has set in!!!!

Since Saturday I've been pushing, massaging and poking at my breasts obsessively to see if I can feel anything abnormal.  Now, I do breast self exams so I know what they ought to feel like...but at this point, I've messed with them so much and I'm so paranoid I don't know what I'm feeling.  

Now, if you read all of that rambling mess, God bless you!!!

But my question here is, I don't know what to ask my doctor to do to tell me if I really do have breast cancer or not.  I don't want them to keep telling me "you are probably fine" until it's so obvious that I'm sick that there isn't anything that can help it. 

What are the rightt questions to ask?  And what are the right tests to request that will give definitive answers?