Awaiting biopsy results for lump found 6 months after mammogram
Hello - I found a lump - actually my hubby found it - I dismissed it initially but had a routine appt and pointed it out. Fast forward to a mammogram a week later. The something is concerning BIRADS 5. Awaiting biopsy results. My doc said he will be surprised if it is not cancer. Anyone have experience with aggressive tumors showing up between mammograms?
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Hi Wolfgang,
I had a negative mammogram 10 months before my husband accidentally swiped the lump. I had it checked. I received a birads-4C. I did get a cancer dx. Cancer can be found and diagnosed between mammograms. The good thing is that it does not necessarily mean it is aggressive. If your results are positive you could have several different findings which may show it is not aggressive. Also, not all birads-5 come back positive for cancer.
I hope your results are benign. Waiting is the hardest part. Try to find things to occupy your time. Dr. Google is one thing you want to stay away from while you wait. Sending warm thoughts your way while you wait for results.
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thanks for your reply wondering44. The whole process so far has been surreal. My doctor used the word aggressive. He is not sugarcoating or giving me hope at all. He said he should have results next week.
How are your treatments going?
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Wolfgang,
Doctors are great when they try to prepare you mentally ahead of time. Pathology determines “aggressiveness” for cancer. I’m not sure there is any other way to determine it. Others on boards may have better insight than I do on it.
I’m at MD Anderson and doing well. :-)
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Unless your doctor is also a psychic, he has no way of knowing if a cancer is aggressive without a biopsy result - or even knowing if it's cancer!
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Even if it IS cancer, there's still plenty of hope! Breast cancer is very treatable.0
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thank you all for responding and helping me level set. The doctor is not a psychic and breast cancer IS treatable. I know this because my aunt is going on her 13th year of remission and my cousin is on year 6. It’s so hard to control the worry so thank you thank you. I needed to be brought back to reality.
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Some of us specialize in smacking new members as needed! 😅
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I agree with all. I am at City of Hope in Duarte California. My friend is at MD Anderson in Texas. Doctors know what they have seen before. Lumps and their feel and size and all that. Even then the biopsy will show under the slide and in all the test done. I left with the PA saying do not worry. Most come back benign. Mine did not, but i never thought i would have breast cancer!!
I also agree that breast cancer treatment is super focused. I have the aggressive BRCA2 gene and my HER2 went from - to a + as the tumor was HER2+. Stage 2 no metastasis. Our diagnosis are different but feelings are often shared.
I hope you have benign results. Thanks to your husband for finding it.
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@alicebastable smack appreciated lol
@katg thank you for sharing. Imagine my husband’s when he offered to help me with my monthly exams because I wasn’t keeping up with them. He was being funny but I’m so grateful.
I have a busy day at work to keep me distracted and my sister is flying in from Cali to hang out this weekend.
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not long after I posted this morning the radiologist called. Invasive ductal carcinoma. I am scheduling an appt with the breast consultant for next week and they said by then my receptor info will be in. I am taking it all in. Knowing so far has been less scary than the wait.
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wolfgang,
I hope you a smooth journey. I am just reading this post, and want to share mine at the end, but got this update. Sorry for that.
Yeah, I also found a tiny lump between my routines, I am a patient with oncologist, so he scheduled earlier routine, it turned out the one I found is benigh and already there at least 2 years 9 months, but they found another one which needs biopsy, the one I cannot feel myself. My biopsy is scheduled next week. It is just 4 months from last routine, and not shown on mammogram. So whatever the result is, once find and book an appt, it is lucky finding.
Enjoy the weekend.
Cathy
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Wolfgang, I’m so sorry your biopsy turned out to show cancer. I also found a lump about 6 months after an “all clear” mammogram and ultrasound,which turned out to be IDC. These can be fast growing, but also mammograms aren’t perfect at finding small lumps especially with dense breasts (I.e., maybe it really wasn’t there at your last screening, or maybe it was there but too small to see). I found these message boards to be an invaluable source of info and support throughout treatment, please don’t hesitate to reach out for anything you need!
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Wolfgang,
I am sorry to read your results. The hardest part is the wait, and it should get easier once you meet with the surgeon and get additional results for the hr/pr/her2 to get your plan in place.
As the others posted here, the mammograms are not full proof for finding areas of concern to address before someone finds that lump. I wish the mammograms were better. MD Anderson is currently doing a clinical trail to improve that. It sound really interesting and the results may end up giving close to the same results as an MRI.
Remember to take care of yourself right now. It is totally okay to have a freak-out moment, meltdown, talk to a therapist, etc.
I wish you the best during your treatments moving. There is a lot of great information and women on these boards to guide you throughout your plan.
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wolfgang, it's amazing how actually knowing frequently has an almost calming effect. I think some people have a harder time with the unknown.
I kept planning fun outings all through testing, appointments, surgeries, and treatment - anything from walking through a local park to picnics to short mini-vacation s. I call them pre-planned memories. And sure enough, those are what I remember more than the dreary medical stuff from that year.
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I wanted to post that last night I read a very interesting article that had radiology images that demonstrated some impressive differentiation between different types of BC tumors. Even to my uneducated eye, I was amazed at what can be seen in certain tumors. The photo arrays showed Mammography, ultrasound, and MRI.
I think in many BiRads 5 cases they can tell a lot more than I realized. Given that there are either 4-5 different basic molecular types of tumors and many more subtypes, they are nowhere near replacing pathology. However, it seems clear that a palpable, highly differentiated tumor is going to be distinct from a fibroid or calcification, or other benign finding. For a smaller low grade finding, there is likely a lot more uncertainty.
Here is a link to the article
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We're so sorry to hear, wolfgang, but as alicebastable said, sometimes the knowing is better than the unknown. We know this is a lot to process and the coming days and weeks will feel very overwhelming, but we're here for you every step of the way.
The Mods
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And wolfgang, I want to let you know that I’m sorry that you had to join our club, but I’m glad you found us. I was also BIRADS 5 and decithat the first wait for diagnosis was the worst. Knowing was a lot better than wondering.
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sarahmaude,
Thanks for the article, I read it through, especially part III. Yeah, BC nowadays is not emergency and treatment is much more doable than 10 years ago, what we are scared of, is actually the type. I was perfect luminal A last time, I am very scared of the type (in case it is) this time, I am taking hormone therapy all the time, I just wonder if it will be luminal A again cause hormone therapy is supposed to ban luminal A, and I cannot find any related document for this.
I read through part III, my ultrasound report does not look like TN, totally opposite to TN except for one item..I know this is not accurate, but at least give me very comfortable feeling, at this moment.
Thanks, sarahmaude.
Cathy
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@cathy67 praying for a benign diagnosis for you
@alicebastable I love the idea of pre-planned memories
@sarahmaude thanks did sharing the article.
Already this community has been a saving grace. I am looking forward to appt Wednesday so I have a plan.
I am in Maryland btw if anyone has any good doc of hospital recom
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Wolfgang sorry to hear of your diagnosis but at least now you know and will begin moving forward. As to finding the lump after a "clean" mammogram well that isn't unusual. All imaging has its limitations. That is why routine imagining with self exam is the best protocol, with more intensive imaging with MRI if you have dense breast tissue.
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