Odd hard lump , fixed to inner lower quadrant

rainy100

I have not been diagnosed with cancer (yet). I have had the common benign tender breast cysts and dense breasts seen in ultrasounds before for years when younger but not now. Close to a year ago I had breast exam by an OB/GYN, but nothing was found then.
Now after menopause has began I have a new painless deep hard fixed lump in one breast more near the side of the sternum and not the usual place where I would get cysts.. perhaps it’s a lymph node. At times it felt like a rock pebble other times like a firm pea but irregular not so round. It’s very obvious to find / feel not like the softer cysts and common lumpiness .
I have to wait for appointments to further investigate. While on my back, it almost seems like it is fixed to my chest wall. I am thin and fit so not much to search through in there I’d guess. I have no pains or tenderness anywhere in breasts for a long time. I Never had surgeries or invasive procedures in breasts / chest.
My son died young from a recurrence of a rare CNS germ cell cancer From the Ongoing Complications & consequences from cancer treatments. My mother had a once easily treated resolved kidney cancer. Other than that, there is no other family cancer history whatsoever. I don’t know anyone else who has had similar to what I have right now to compare with.

exbrnxgrl

rainy100,

I’m sorry that you’re going through this worrisome time. Yes, the wait for appointments is stressful but the good news is that breast cancer, if that’s what it is, is not an emergency. Of course it has to be dealt with but waiting for appointments will not jeopardize your physical health, though the stress makes the mental health part challenging.

Family history plays a role in only a small percentage of breast cancers for the genetic mutations currently known, only about 20%. That being said, your family history should be looked at and you can request genetic testing. My family has a history of breast/uterine cancers and I belong to an ethnic group with a higher than usual occurrence of BRCA genes but my testing has all been negative.

The waiting is hard. Try not to get ahead of what you know right now (easier said than done). Take care

laughinggull

Hi rainy100,

Very sorry you are going through this scare. I found my lump myself, and I know from experience that waiting for those appointments while having that scary thing in there, that you can poke on all day, is nerve-wracking. But the numbers are with you in that most lumps turn out to be benign, and an early breast cancer is easily treatable and manageable with good prognosis in most cases.

I also want to say that I am very sorry you lost your son to cancer. That is a pain too deep for words, and I struggle to figure out what to say. As a mother of a young son, what you and your son went through sounds unimaginably unfair, f*cked and painful. I wanted to send you a big big hug, know that I am thinking of you and your beautiful son in this frigid February morning.

LaughingGull

rainy100

My GYN doctor (Who checks a lot of breasts daily) states my mass is at 9 o’clock , is firm irregular fixed nontender. And that it basically it’s very obvious not like any other of the breast tissues around in both . And it’s hard and not like cysts. And it’s gradually growing. The soonest available appointment for mammogram is 3 1/2 months away from now. I’ve had a nontender palpable lymph node in the lower portion of my neck on the same side as the lump. I’m not going to jump to conclusions yet though, but makes me wonder if related at all. I have no other symptoms other than the lump & the lymph node.
And yes, having a mass / tumor or cancer is not an “emergency”. I saw that with my son. He had mass (tumors) discovered in his frontal lobes and in corpus coliseum (brain). First discovered in ER after falling and hitting his head. He was deteriorating quickly with cognition, memory, speech, and balance And it lead up to incontinence and diabetes insipidus from brain damage - Everything from the start was scheduled as routine and it was going to be a few months before he could even get in for an initial oncology consultation. He ended up with further brain damage because of delays and the non-urgent thinking in our medical realm.
Breast lumps are said to be 80-90% benign , depends where we get information / perspective. But Delays to an initial diagnosis could mean allowing further injury or for it to spread to surrounding lymph nodes or other parts of the body, including the brain if it is a cancer. And probably depends on what cancer it is because I learned that you can get other types of cancer in your breast / chest wall so maybe some lumps are not a type of a breast cancer.

maggie15

Hi @rainy100, Medical appointments are difficult to get these days. Get on the waitlist for any cancellations. Your ob/gyn’s office might put in a word asking that you to be moved to the top of the list if they are concerned about the lump. You can also self refer for a screening mammogram if you are at least 40 and it has been more than a year since your last one. Call around locally or travel to get one sooner.

I understand your concern but breast cancer doesn’t grow that quickly. Mine was missed for two and a half years. While it probably would have been stage 0 it ended out stage 2 with one node positive. I was initially a bit upset but then accepted that it is still early stage. I’m sorry that you lost your son to cancer. That certainly intensifies your worry. It could be something else but unless your life is in immediate danger you have to go with the flow. Hopefully things will work out well. All the best.

rainy100

My OB/GYN got me in much sooner now. Mammogram + untrasound. Haven’t had a mammogram or anything in many years , 20+. The only thing found then was having dense tissue but still considered normal tissue. Had common cysts before too in past.
More than likely, this hard thing (alien in my chest, ha ha 😅) is benign according to statistics. What’s strange to me is it seems like it’s fixed onto the chest wall. A few weeks ago, it felt like small discreet very hard a rock stuck to my rib ( but bigger & changing now) So my imagination tells me maybe it has something to do with cartilage or connective tissues or related rather than breast glandular tissue. So we will see what the radiologist says.

laughinggull

Great thing to get that checked asap. I had a hard nodule attached to my chest wall a year ago and it was fat necrosis

rainy100

I’ve been wondering about that fat necrosis. Seems like it could be that in some form where it’s at. I don’t have any discomfort or change in appearances from the outside yet, if I ever will.
Never had injury or surgeries to chest. So it would be idiopathic fat necrosis (? 🤔
& Read fat necrosis can resolve itself. So hopeful I guess.

laughinggull

Mine was really hard. After I got it removed my MO told me that, in her experience, when they are rock-hard they are fat necrosis. I also have no idea how I got it, and this was like 5 years post any surgery in the area, so it wasn't caused by surgery. Surgeon said he had no idea what the cause could be.

Best of luck dear. I hope yours is also a nothingburger.

rainy100

A little more than a week ago, decided to stop taking my birth-control pills (low synthetic estrogen plus progesterone type) as my lump was growing more noticeable day by day. I think I started actual menopause months ago, but so afraid I’ll get pregnant in my older age. But now with this lump I thought what the heck ! …. see what happens when I stop them. But today and most recently coincidentally the lump has been shrinking, yay ! But still there. So I’m guessing this is hopeful. it’s probably just some harmless but annoying, mysterious hormonal change mess thing.
What do you think? Your thoughts appreciated.