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Nov 11, 2019 01:39AM
Hannah1962
wrote:
Did they have any explanation for the pain? Is the enlargement something new or recent? Was there any explanation for why it is one sided?
What kind of comprehensive breast center did you visit, such as, are they affiliated with a medical or research center?
I understand your concern. I received a diagnosis of breast cancer last year and had a lumpectomy in December, then radiation in the spring. However, there were two occasions in the years before my diagnosis when I went to (perhaps) the wrong place, and (perhaps) did not get the workup I should have received. For example, a couple years ago, I felt a lump before getting my routine mammogram (but within a month after my visit with a doctor who wrote the screening mammo prescription). The person who did my mammo ignored my concern about a lump, did not try to find it (which I protested at the time), did not mark it or anything, then when my mammogram came back looking normal, I was dismissed with comments about "anxiety" (hinting I was imagining the lump). Prior to that, something did appear on a screening mammogram, but they determined in a diagnostic mammo that it dispersed so was not a lump. As it turns out, my cancer, invasive lobular carcinoma, is one that does not show up on mammograms. Also, it grows in sheets and often fails to form a lump. It is a slow growing cancer. During those years I felt exhausted and unwell and saw plenty doctors. It all makes me wonder how long the cancer was there, and might it have been caught earlier? So don't be ashamed or afraid of questioning the doctors and persisting until you are confident you have the answers you need.
My recent BC surgery was at a famous cancer center in NYC, and I am confident had I been getting my mammograms there, any relevant earlier abnormality would have been less likely to be missed (I believe that earlier lump I felt would at least have been checked and probably biopsied).
I think male breast cancer is uncommon enough, if I were you I would want to make sure to be evaluated somewhere where they are really expert. Also, if you are having pain there, maybe you need an antibiotic? I don't know much about gynecomastia, but it does seem odd to me if it is one-sided.
If you don't mind spending some money on a second opinion, if all else fails, you could try an online second opinion somewhere like Cleveland Clinic, or maybe Memorial Sloan Kettering in NYC (they might do them). Or if you are close to one of these places, you could try to be seen in person, which is actually better, and also more likely to be covered by insurance.
Good luck, and I hope you get answers soon.
Dx
12/7/2018, ILC, Left, 1cm, Stage IB, Grade 3, 0/1 nodes, ER+/PR-, HER2-