I’m so nervous and scared
Hello
I am 49 years old. My maternal grandmother had breast cancer and my mother had breast cancer twice (a reoccurrence). Both had treatment and responded well. My mom refused genetic testing but I tested in 2010 and was negative for Brca1 and 2. I have very dense breasts and go to an imaging center for my care. I had a mammogram and ultrasound in October 2019. At that time, the MD said I was no longer eligible to receive my annual MRI because I have an IUD. He said the recommended guidelines had changed. My GYN told me to keep my IUD and go to another center. I tried to do that but it closed down due to poor practices. (The dr was missing cases of women with actual breast cancer.)
Then COVID-19 hit and we all went into lockdown. I am an elementary special education teacher and my school decided to go face to face 4 days a week and virtual for one day. It was triple the work and so stressful as I had a covid case in my classroom. So my breast health got put to the back burner.
This past January 2021 I started to have gastro issues consistent with ovarian cancer symptoms. In Feb, I went to my walk in clinic and they gave me antibiotics for a possible diverticulitis infection. They did no tests and I’ve never been diagnosed with that before. That didn’t help so in March, I went to my GYN who eventually had a transvaginal ultrasound done this past week. It showed something on my left ovary so we did ca125 tests which were normal. I am scheduled to come back in 6 weeks. I continued to have left sided pain including my rib, fatigue and stomach issues. So I finally got a referral to a gastroenterologist who said she thought my pain was from constipation. She recommended miralax and scheduled me for a colonoscopy. I was scheduled to have my annual mammogram this past Wednesday but the imaging center closed for 14 days due to a covid outbreak. I can’t even call until Wednesday, 14th to make an appointment.
I was so fatigued last night and felt pain under my bra line. When I felt around the spot, I felt a lump. I then felt another large hard lump in my left breast and a small pea sized lump in my right. I completely panicked and haven’t been able to sleep at all. I plan to call my GYN first thing tomorrow to see if their office can do a mammogram tomorrow and get the ball rolling on figuring out what these lumps are. My husband is not supportive at all and I’m feeling very alone and very scared. (My children are adults but I don’t want to worry them.)I just wanted to reach out to other people who would know how I’m feeling and could supply some words of support. Thank you.
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Lovemydoxies, Have you tried your hospital mammogram breast center? Our breast center never closed, but they did limit the number of appointments per day. My MO said a lot of her patients just refused to go during Covid. Have you received the Covid vaccine recently? It is hard not to worry and the unknown is scary. You won't have an answer until you have a 3D mammogram. Hopefully your Gyn can help you on Monday. Stop trying to do an examination and stay off Dr. Google. Let us know how you are doing.
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Flashlight,
Thank you for your response. My GYN is linked to a hospital so they do the 3D mammograms in conjunction with them. If I can’t get in with my GYN, I will call my local hospital (in my rural town) and see what they can do. I have not had the covid vaccine. I could have received it because I’m a teacher but chose not to during this first round. A lot of our teachers got sick after getting their 2nd dose and I didn’t want to feel even worse.
I’ve had many biopsies in the past and they have always been negative. But this time is so different because I’vebeen feeling so bad overall. I used to be a very strong woman but this past year has really brought on issues with anxiety. I have a low dose med that I take when needed but I think I’m going to need something stronger. I will keep everyone posted on how it goes. Thanks again.
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I'm sorry you are going through this!
Just randomly, for about two years before I was diagnosed, I had a pain under my right ribcage. When I was diagnosed, they did a CT, MRI, and a colonoscopy. All of them were clear other than BC in my breasts.
So I guess the moral of the story is that you can have random, unrelated pains, and they aren't always cancer. I think mine is somehow linked to my weight. When I gain weight, it aches a bit.
Good luck!
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I hope you were able to get an appointment? Please let us know once you're seen and how that goes - either gyn appointment or actual mammogram.... Sorry you don't really have support at home.... There is a lot of support here!
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I was able to get an appointment for a diagnostic mammogram for this Wednesday. I ended up going to the ER last night because I was worried I had a fever and maybe had diverticulitis after all. They did a CT scan which showed no diverticulitis but it did show micro-lesions on my liver. They want me to follow up with an MRI. I’m hoping I can coordinate one MRI that covers both breasts and liver. I’m claustrophobic and I’m feeling very poor. I can’t imagine even doing an MRI feeling like this. I am having a difficult time eating much. I’m very worried. Thank you to each of you for your responses.
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Lovemydoxies, in your pocket for your tests and hoping for good results that can be treated to help you feel better. BTW, I love my doxies too!
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ugh sorry you have all this going on. It’s really sucks that they couldn’t just do the chest CT while you were getting on in the ER -
Big hugs
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So sorry to hear about ER test results!!! Hopefully you get these MRI results back soon so you know what you're dealing with! I imagine you are sick to your stomach - all this is a worry! Take the best care of you that you can while waiting for tests and results - as difficult as that is.... Gentle hugs.....
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Update to my original post (sorry for the delay! It's been a stressful time.)
I went to my imaging center on 4/14. I had a 3D mammogram and ultrasound. I had to go back into the mammogram machine 3 times. My left breast leaked white fluid during the mammogram which has never happened before. Dr said I have extremely dense breasts and a large amount of cysts. I am scheduled to return Wednesday, 5/5 for cyst aspirations. He's slightly concerned about one of them. He said if he aspirates one of the cysts and sees a solid mass behind it, he will do a biopsy right away. He kinda chastised me for not getting my IUD taken out earlier as he feels strongly that it is causing all of my cysts. I told him I would definitely do it but not until after my follow up transvaginal ultrasound is completed on 5/19for the mass on my ovary. I'm a hot mess but will be glad to get some answers as I just feel so unwell. Thank you for taking the time to read this and I appreciate any advice or words of encouragement.
Also, breast imaging dr said he cannot do the MRI for both the breasts and liver at the same time. I remembered that I had a liver ultrasound done in the past that showed liver cysts. So it was recommended to me to have another ultrasound done of my liver to see if it is the same cysts that were seen in the past. So I'm going to try to go that route before trying to do 2 MRIs.0 -
Since breast MRIs are done in the prone position, and the machine is set up specifically for breasts, they can't do another kind of MRI at the same time. Good luck with all those pesky scans!
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Thanks for the update Lovemy... and best with the upcoming scans. You certainly do have a lot going on. Update us as you can... wishing you well....
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