New Lump
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I am 56 years old and was diagnosed with IDC, grade 3, tumour 3.8 cm, hormone positive and ER-, oncotype 23, 1 lymph node positive. I had a mastectomy on November 25. Yesterday I noticed a solid 2 c.m. lump had appeared on the surgical site. I went to my doctor who thought it was just a bone but they told me I could get an ultrasound for peace of mind. Today I went for my ultrasound scan and they did not know what it was and said it needed to be biopsied. I am freaking out!! Has anyone else been in this situation.
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Hi. I saw your post and wanted to respond. I had a lumpectomy on Dec. 23 and I also have a hardness, what you could say feels like a lump on my surgical site. More so than the original lump. I am told that was pretty normal and has to do with the surgery and healing. It would seem odd to have a lump that would be positive to grow that fast after surgery. It could be scar tissue forming too. Because you have had cancer, they are going to probably tell you to get everything done to be sure it's not. They won't guess. They also found another lump on my other breast once I had my MRI and that turned out negative. But believe me when I say how hard it was to wait for results. So I do understand.
I don't want to give you false hope, but it just seems unlikely it would be. Your surgeon indicated that it seems. For peace of mind, I would get it biopsied, but I would ask my surgeon again.
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worried, I totally get your upset and concern. But remember, it's much more likely to be benign than to be more cancer. Scar tissue can be very hard. It's good that you're getting a biopsy, but that is because they don't know what it is, not because they do know.
Best wishes to you. Please let us know what you find out.
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I agree with Mountain Mia. Scar tissue can get very hard and almost appear that way seemingly overnite, at least mine did. And it wasn't tiny little spots of it, more like a long ridge of tissue. Of course you should have it thoroughly checked out and I am sorry you are having to go through this but I am very hopeful that it is just scarring. If this gets confirmed to be benign, request access to medical massage to reduce the scarring and any discomfort it is causing. Your Plastic Surgeon (if you had reconstruction) or your breast surgeon will let you know if you can begin that type of treatment yet.
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I'm so sorry to hear this Worried! Thinking of you!
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worried - I responded on another post you started.
I had a local recurrence that looked like an ingrown suture about 4 months after my BMX, but was not dx'd because the MO and the surgeons brushed it off as a blemish. I was devastated! It's very possible that there was some lingering cells left behind during your mastectomy.
I had to do radiation and am currently taking Xeloda for precautionary measures.
Hoping everything goes well for you.
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The surgeon re-excisded to ensure clear margins and then I moved on to radiation
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Ah worried I am so sorry to hear this. I was so hopeful it was something else. Sorry you are having to deal with this but thank you for sharing your experience with this forum. You never know when you will make a difference for the next person. Bless you.
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worried,
I am going to put my thoughts down here since this thread seems to be the most active. You have started 6 threads in the last day all on the same topic, most with the same questions. To get the best answers for yourself, and to help out those of us who are responding, it's really best if you stick to one discussion thread. That way, people get the benefit of seeing previous answers and can add to, or even disagree with, those comments. I would suggest that you delete the other threads so that you can get a good discussion going in this one place and so that other's don't spend their time responding elsewhere, not realizing that you already have a discussion going here.
First off, I am so sorry that you've had this recurrence. Having it this soon after the surgery is unusual. That leads me to a question: Do you have the pathology report from the mastectomy? Were the surgical margins clear? Also, based on the imaging reports prior to your surgery, where was your tumor located? Was it towards the back of the breast? I'm wondering if this is just part of the original cancer that was not fully removed during the mastectomy. Alternately, this could be a completely separate cancer - some people do have two completely separate areas of cancer in their breasts. A recurrence usually means that a few undetectable cancer cells were left behind and then grew to develop into a cancerous mass. With your surgery having been less than 2 months ago, there would be no time for that to have happened. So I think this is more likely to be part of the original cancer that was not fully removed, or a totally separate cancer that was not originally detected.
To your questions in the other threads:
Staging: I'm wondering if my cancer is now a new stage and if anyone can comment on how a recurrence after a mastectomy changed their staging? I was diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma, stage 2b (age 56, 3.8 cm tumour, one positive lymph node, grade 3, er+,pr+, Hr2-,).
- It might or might not, so what happened to someone else who had a recurrence after a MX wouldn't necessarily apply in your case. Each case needs to be assessed individually. If this tumor is a separate cancer - it could even have a different hormone status - it would be staged separately. If it's part of the original cancer, normally only the largest tumor is counted in the staging, so the question would be whether this was part of the original tumor (which would indicate that you didn't have clear surgical margins) or whether this is a second tumor. In either case, the extent to which the tumor is involved with the chest muscle/chest wall is important because that could result in restaging.
Chemotherapy or Surgery for Recurrence? Found a new lump woven in with muscle on the site of my mastectomy. My surgeon initially said he could just remove it if it was only in the muscle, but now suggests we shrink the tumour first and track it with a clip. Wondering if anyone has had any experience with a recurrence in this area and what your treatment was. I'm confused as to why I would not get the surgery first.
- With a 23 Oncotype but a large, grade 3 tumor, you were already asking whether chemo should be done. With this new tumor, and with it being right at the chest wall, I'd quess that there is no question now that chemo is required. So it's just a question of chemo first or chemo after surgery. If the tumor is right up against the muscle and in fact somewhat embedded into the muscle, I would think that it would be prudent to do chemo first to try to shrink the tumor. The surgery will be difficult and this could make it somewhat easier to remove all of the remaining cancer.
Have you talked to your Medical Oncologist? I think a discussion with the MO is absolutely in order before you do anything.
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Ugh so sorry to hear. Hang in there! You are strong
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My wife had something similar happen. 6 months after her mastectomy she had a “new” tumor. I say “new” bc the MO is almost certainly sure it is residual disease not a new tumor. That’s the good news, it likely isn’t new cancer that just exploded in growth. The other good news is that hopefully your PET scan/MRI is clear and that it’s still early stage and treatable with curative intent. The bad news is that you probably need additional treatment :
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