Decision Time -to wait or not wait to biopsy
hi everyone. I am struggling to make a decision.
History:
- Started HRT in mid 2023 due to horrific menopause affecting my home and work life.
- Have been losing weight, assumed stress related and being on Trulicity for years. (Slow weight loss over the years until this last year).
- Noticed changes in my “more innie than outie” nipple area and felt a lump. Have always had colostrum production for years since breastfeeding 14 yrs ago. Figured had some congestion there, emptied the glands, no change. Got busy and forgot about it.
- Go forward another 1-2 months, noticed dimpling in my nipple now and more lumps. Figured maybe have ductal cancer in situ. Tried to schedule mammograms, then had to change to diagnostic. So that took another 2-3 weeks.
- So fast forward. I was wrong. D mammo and ultrasound show tumor under nipple area and large with abnormal lymph node. BI-RADS Category 4C - Suspicious (moderate)
- “Left breast: Ultrasound was targeted to the central and lateral breast. Centered at the 4:00 axis, 2 cm from the nipple there is an irregular hypoechoic mass that measures 4.8 x 2.5 x 4.8 cm. There is internal vascularity. Within the axilla there is an abnormal axillary lymph nodes.”
- By the way, had a CT Angiogram of my chest in June 2024 that did not show any breast issues.
- Current symptoms may be related to other issues but maybe not: increased asthma symptoms, coughing every day, more fatigue than my normal, weight loss over the last 2 yrs (suspect stress related and meds).
- No family history of breast cancer. All mammograms normal except one that showed a benign cyst years ago. Last mammogram normal in 2022.
- Stopped estrogen 4 days ago, will stop progesterone next week.
Here’s my question.
I am the sole provider for my husband and child. I am 55 years old. I do not have back up finances due to our current economy since COVID.
I just signed up for a cancer policy to help with expenses. I will potentially lose my health insurance at the end of August. I am not officially diagnosed with cancer at this point. I need to not have a diagnosis of cancer for 30 days. If I make that 30 days, I will receive $7500 just for the diagnosis. And all treatments etc will receive extra money to help with expenses. If I have the diagnosis before 30 days, I lose that money.
please help me with decision here. Is it going to hurt anything to wait until June 2nd to obtain biopsy? Let’s assume the worst and say it’s triple negative cancer. Or is it more important to get biopsy now? As long as the diagnosis is not pre-existing, then everything else will be covered.
thanks for your help!
Comments
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Hi @kittykat55, I'm sorry you have the stress of a biopsy recommendation coupled with insurance uncertainty. Breast cancer grows relatively slowly so waiting a month until your diagnosis would be covered by the supplemental policy sounds like the strategy to take. I would check to make sure the diagnostic mammogram and US were not disqualifying. I don't know the terms of your policy but in my experience insurance companies will work very hard to avoid paying. In that case you are probably better off getting as much as possible done while you have regular insurance coverage.
In the event treatment is needed it happens much more slowly than you would expect due to scheduling. If there is the chance you might lose your current health insurance at the end of August you should investigate how you would replace that. The SHIP (state insurance health program, looks like it's called SHIBA in WA) is a good place to go for advice. They can advise you on what is available for medicaid, medicare, Obamacare and how COBRA would work as well as where else you can look whatever your situation. Even if they can't help it would be a good first contact.
I hope your biopsy is benign and all this is theoretical. Medical care is so expensive and the last thing anyone needs is the additional stress of dealing with finances. All the best.
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thank you so much
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Hi @kittykat55 and welcome to Breastcancer.org! We're so very sorry for the worries that bring you here, but we're so glad you found us and decided to post. As you can already see from @maggie15's great post, our community is full of wonderful members always willing to offer advice, information, encouragement, and support — we're all here for you as you figure out what's going on!
In addition to the excellent advice above, we want to share with you this free resource that could come in handy, should you need it:
We hope this helps. Let us know if we can do anything else to assist you as you wait for answers.
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