Scares That Turned Out To Be Nothing
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Had neuropathy issues after last chemo round, and three Months out, most of them resolved. We did a drive to Big Bear Lake and my feet were burning when we got here. I'm like what the heck! So I looked at my feet and realized they were dried out from riding in car barefoot with the air conditioner on. Needless to say, some lotion and socks have taken care of my "neuropathy"!
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6 months after DIEP reconstruction, noticed what felt like 2 lumps on scar area. Biopsy done & it was just fat necrosis. YAY!
Two days ago noticed a pain in the very center of my back, felt around & there was a raised area. Tried to see in the mirror (impossible!) so took pic LOL & could see it looked like a mole but red around it. Just went to dermatologist today (was thinking skin cancer!) and it's just a harmless thing called "seborrheic keratosis" that got irritated. WHEW!
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Slight puffyness on left side (BC - IDC ER+ HER - neo adj. mastectomy no nodes). Some itchiness, tenderness under arm pit - doctors confirmed that can still be going on 3 years after surgery as deep muscle damage/changes will be ongoing and keep exercising. I moved up my 6 month checkup by a month over these worries. Both the fellow and Oncologist did separate physical exams and found nothing. Now to schedule my colonoscopy to check for criminals in that end LOL. One hurdle, one victory at a time...
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Thank you to everyone who has contributed to this thread. There seems to be no end to the varied types of 'scares' that have been encountered---yet so often, these scares turn out to have nothing to do with a recurrence or a new cancer. You are all undoubtedly helping countless others who may be experiencing anxiety over upcoming tests and exams. God bless you all.
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Pardon my Ambien full strength rambling reply, I had been down to a half of a 12mg pill but will be full riding the whole pony into my follow up appt on friday for ultrasound of my armpit. Achy, itchy, dull, comes goes...definitely shaped different than non cancer side. I am 44, very active in the yard, hiking and yes fishing and waterskiing. Not sure if this arm pit looks plumper (never thought I'd use that word to describe my body til I was what, 70? or if lymph system reacting to God knows what. Today I looked up and found one of Elizabeth Edwards truest and emboldening quotes that helped me set up my follow ups..."Getting screened (scanned) doesn't change your diagnosis because it's there or it isn't. It just give you knowledge. knowledge sooner gives more options. This whole pat and feel how do you feel routine has driven me mad...no markers, no scans, and the only questions i get are headaches, backaches = is it eating your body in other places yest? I swear my mind has deliberatly given me ghost pains to validate my concerns of fat replacement/regrowth near where breast tissue was. With neoadjuct chemo I lost 42 lbs...had the replacements swapped out after gaining only 10 back and went small. reaally hope this is just strange fat (no lumps or bumps)...just my last checkup the snot nosed intern told me "you worry to much". And you won't make it in this field idiot..I just hope i don't get another idiot radioligist panicking and bringing people in the room how look, these lymph nodes are llarg and reacting to someithing...I'm very very worried. Well, my surgeon wasn't and got clear margins, no cancer in 2 nodes removed. Please lord just send a veteran to do the ultrasound this friday and not some snot nosed stuck up young resident...
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zof9 hope you get a veteran u.s. tech. Let us know.
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7of9 I will be thinking of you. Here's hoping for a veteran!
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7of9 ditto hoping for a veteran tech
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Here's hoping that my sister's scare turns into nothing. She finished herceptin over the summer and had a scan last week - 4 cm mass on her ovary. US is today, we are all scared - of course - so please cross your fingers for her. thanks. Jen
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This November, a friend of mine told me that she had a CT scan, bone scan and PET scan all come back as having something on her rib. She was told that it was "worrisome for metastatic disease". She had her 7th rib surgically removed for biopsy just before Thanksgiving. There was no cancer. It turned out to be a fracture of her rib. Nothing more. She wonders if it was a radiation induced fracture---but was so relieved regardless. She was almost certain that it was metastatic or secondary cancer due to radiation. She's doing well and will return to work full-time tomorrow.
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Colt45 - so good to hear from you, we joined the Boards about the same time - I think of you and your lovely wife so often and hope she continues to do well!!! (((Hugs))) to both of you and best wishes that all our scares turn out to be nothing:)
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I recently thought I'd found a new lump. Off to the breast center I went. Mammo and ultrasound showed it to be edema of the breast. Radiation, the treatment that just keeps on giving! But I was really glad it wasn't a recurrence. Not even sure why I still check that breast since it is such a lumpy bumpy mess from treatment.
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This thread is helping me tremendously. I had a right mx in July, Chemo August thru October and had my exchange done on December 21. I'm back at work and starting arimidex this week. Last night I found a lump in my left breast. It's a thickening very similar to the malignancy in my right. I called the MO twice today and haven't gotten a call back. My breasts are very dense, so most likely it's fibrous, but I've made myself sick to my stomach with worry. I've used all of my sick time, and have only been back to work for six weeks. The thought of doing it all over again has me in freak mode.
I'm trying to not worry, and keep telling myself that it won't change the outcome and only spoils today. Reading your stories helps tremendously. I'll have it checked, and hopefully this will be a concerned for nothing tale
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Since my last post here, I was Dx with brain mets. So one of my scares did turn out to be bad.
But on the other hand, I spent over a year worried about aches in my R hip/groin (a different member here had similar pains and mets...I spent a lot of time convinced I had mets there). I also had a few tender spots on my non cancer ribs, as well as RUQ twinges, so I bounced between being sure I had rib mets and liver mets.
Well, the brain mets Dx got me my first full body scans since initial Dx. And...hips, ribs and liver all clean as a whistle. NED except for da head. So while my instincts that led me to get the brain scan were spot on, my instincts on the rest of my body were way off
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I had a small lump within a few months of my bmx about 1/2" from the scar. Totally freaked.
Had it surgically removed....fat.
I've had many scares on and off and I guess many of those never go away. Had some horrible hip pain on the cancer side. I tolerate a lot of pain (no pain meds after my bmx) well, and this had me limping. My onco tells me to give it the "2 week rule" and if things don't improve, she is happy to order any scan or test I want. Sure enough, 2 weeks to the DAY, the pain disappeared. I'd been doing a new walking routine with sprints and must have inflammed something.
Funnily enough, before breast cancer, I had a cough that lasted over a year (I'm a former smoker) and the thought of lung cancer never even entered my mind. The idiot doc I went to never ordered a chest xray and he claimed I had "reactive airways." Nothing was ever done for it and one day I just realized the cough had gone away. (We had traveled to a few Asian countries and who knows what bug I may have picked up there!)
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I've discussed my "scare" on a few other boards but will leave it here as well in the hope it may help calm some fears for others.
Prior to BC diagnosis I had elevated liver enzymes; they went up and down over the years and when they spiked I had an ultrasound (x 2) and every test under the sun for any kind of hepatitis, any kind of auto-immune disease, and any other liver related disease. All negative, the primary care physician and specialist were stumped. The specialist told me that most likely I was part of the small percentage of the population that walks around with elevate liver enzymes...something the other Docs had never heard of.
Fast forward to a little over 2 years after original BC diagnosis and my liver enzymes are elevated again, my PCP suggests another liver ultrasound and my Onc suggests a CT scan. Both scared the heck out of me...the idea of mets to the liver (or any where) is so scary for anyone! I put off both Docs because I had a feeling that this was an anomaly related to my earlier experience with this issue. I knew the right thing to do was to get the test and rule out any serious problems but it was so stressful to think about let alone plan for a test. We waited 30 days re-tested the enzymes and they stayed even but both Docs still wanted me to move forward...I finally got the CT scan about 2 -1/2 months after the initial test that showed elevations. Thankfully it was nothing more than a "fatty liver" (I am an active person, have had some weight gain due to treatment and an AI but not too much of a weight issue). We re-tested again at my regularly schedule Onc appointment and the liver enzymes were back down to normal range....odd. If the liver enzymes are normal again do I still have a "fatty liver"? I had no other symptoms that would lead me or the Docs to think there was anything wrong but better safe than sorry especially with the added BC diagnosis.
At any rate, the point is that a blood test isn't always the only indicator of anything being wrong, that your own history and experience will sometimes lead you down the right path. In this case I felt that I should have followed my instincts and done the test again at 60 days and shown the Docs that the liver enzymes always settle down (these numbers are fairly low increases). I put myself through some unnecessary anxiety while wringing my hands over what to do.
I am trying to get better at not going to a dark place with every single ache or pain. And balance that with cautious optimism that I will survive this beast and live to at least 84 (my Mothers age today)...and yet still monitor my health and rely on my Docs for best treatment and care. It's a juggling act we all perform every day.
Here's to peace and health to all.
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Bump
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Adding my story from this week--- had a bunch of scans so MO could clear the path for potentially starting a family (so if I did have aches and pains she could rule out that it was cancer related). Well of course ultrasound picked up a suspicious axillary node on my cancer side. Radiologist looked concerned and wanted a biopsy ASAP, MO canceled follow up until biopsy was done, and even my uber positive BS was not his usually self and told me why it looked suspicious on ultrasound. I went to Dr. Google like a bug flying to a bug zapper light and added to it seriously messing with my head. After a few agonizing days, found out it was a benign lymph node!
Cancer PTSD is always there, and it's amazing how quickly you can get sucked back in even though you thought you finally started putting your life back together Thanks Colt45 for having this thread so folks can see many of the "scares that turned out to be nothing"!
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I just had a cardiac ct scan to do a calcium score on my heart as a baseline since I am now osteopenia in my left hip due to Femara. The calcium score came back at zero. Great news!!
A 4mm nodule was noted on lower lobe of my left lung - bc side. Not great news! Now I am in a total panic and can't even function. I spoke to my oncologist in New York (I now live in Florida) and she said she is not concerned. It could be something I was born with and that lung nodules are very common.
I went back and brought up a chest ct scan report I had done in 2012 just over a year prior to my diagnosis - there were no nodules noted on m lungs at that time. It is not something I was born with! I want to get a PET scan but it sounds like she is reluctant to do this and wants to follow up in 6 months. I am unwilling to do this. Why would I wait 6 months with a history of stage 2 breast cancer? It makes no sense to me whatsoever? Why would I wait six months when I could then be dealing with several nodules as opposed to one.
My oncologist in Florida hasn't even called me back from 2 messages I've left since Thursday. Four days ago...wow....unreal.
Has anyone had lung nodules turn out to be nothing? Could it be from radiation? I have never had pneumonia and dont get bronchitis or respiratory infections at all.
What testing has everyone had for lung nodules? I am assuming I need at least a PET scan if not a biopsy. How do I get one if my doctor won't order it? I guess I may have to get a third oncologist. Or should I see a pulmonologist?
I am terrified and at a loss as to my doctors lack of concern.....
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Hi Kath,
More times than not a lung nodule turns out to be nothing. My sister - also a stage II survivor- has one they are watching. My mom too, though she's not a bc survivor. Stinks that your new onc hasn't called you back yet. At least you spoke with your original onc....if she's not worried I would try to trust her.
Big hugs!
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I have brain mets and I always have some lung funkiness that shows up on my CTs. No one has ever been concerned that it's lung mets and stuff as either resolved or stayed the same. I am also one that had a completely clear PET at initial dx, but rads scars up the lungs good.
After a few panicked phone calls to my team, I've stopped freaking out and decided lung crap is benign until proven otherwise..
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I was at a routine onc appointment and she found a swollen node. Ultrasound showed suspicious node. By the time I got to my breast surgeon at another hospital they were now seeing two suspicious nodes. The radiologist was not encouraging. Being a two timer, I thought wow I can't stop this cancer. Well, I got my negative results today!!!!! woo-hoo. No cancer.
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wow!! such great news.!! celebrate your health.
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Teo Hobbies, I am so very, very relieved for you. Doing the happy dance!!!
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this is not a scare about me, by about my 16 year old son who had had swollen lymph nodes for a couple months and just told us 2 weeks ago. Family doc drew blood and had us return in a week. No bloodwork issues pointing to cause and no rashes, infections, etc. ultrasound followed and showed multiple pretty big nodes but with benign characteristics. Referral to surgeon the next day. I was not freaked out until that nurse told me it was marked urgent. I wanted to watch and wait longer, but surgeon was not comfortable with that and wanted to do excisional biopsy the next day. I was officially svared out of my mind... A thousand times more scared than my own biopsies. Found out yesterday it is benign.
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whew. So just over-active lymph nodes because he's still actively growing?
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new mass in middle of DIEP reconstruction 5 years later. Looks like fat necrosis I'm praying it is.
I'll know next week.
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tree lilac, they have no idea why. They will still follow him closely.
Meow, hoping for fat necrosis!!!
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I agree these posts are good reminders that we are not alone, many of us have had something that caused us great concern of a recurrence, mets, etc. It also reminds us to live life and TRY not to focus on things we have no control over. I am 4 yrs out and though I don't worry every day, all day long, I don't often forget either.
I have a spot on my left breast near where I had my first stage 1 cancer, but also in the exact area where the port was for my expander injections. No lumps or bumps though. It looks like a dermatitis and my GP is having me treat it with a strong cortisone cream. It is drying up but I have been sick about it for a month now. Seeing my new oncologist tomorrow to have him look at it. I don't want to waste any more time obsessing over it and wondering.
After reading through some of these posts, it was another good reminder to live in the moment, and if I have to go home and meditate tonight so I can eat and sleep, that is what I need to do to get me through to face my appointment tomorrow.
Thank you all for the important reminders!!
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Several weeks ago I had found a lump above my right collarbone (BC side). I decided not to call up my doctor and went through with my TE exchange surgery. The lump remained the same but was on my mind a lot. Then I had to have a endometrial biopsy because of abnormal bleeding. That biopsy was normal!! Yahoo! But I also notified my MO about the lump, she felt it and sent me for a CT scan this last Monday. She just called and said everything is normal!! Such a relief. Doctor said sometime lymph nodes enlarge for no reason and stay that way. We will keep an eye on it for changes but she sounded very positive. Another great story of a concern that turned out to be nothing!
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