Terrified. Found a breast lump

Jennifer said:

Twice.
My father in law had a biopsy come back breast cancer from a small lump on his chest. (We didn't even know this could happen) final pathology was benign.

My son, (God, I struggle just typing this because it was the horror of my life)
Lump under his jaw, initial pathology was cancer, final pathology was benign. Praise God.

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blueberries said:

Hi there, I'm so sorry to read about everything you've been going through. I know what a terrifying time this can be, so many unknowns. I think you said you had a u/s guided biopsy and that came back positive. I know the biopsy only removes a tiny piece so will you be scheduled to have a biopsy/lumpectomy to remove the entire area of concern? "As close to stage 0 as you can get" - Did your doctor say it is stage 0 or that it can't be determined for sure until a lumpectomy?

Sorry for the questions I'm asking, just trying to get a clear picture of where you are right now. I was diagnosed with bc 19 years ago, DCIS stage 0, so I understand the fears you are having and the things that are going through your mind. It was one of the most upsetting times of my life and I was sure I had metastatic breast cancer despite doctors telling me I didn't. I went into a severe depression, doctors couldn't believe I was feeling this way.

I had my yearly mammogram last week and am still waiting to hear if I "passed." So I'm kind of in limbo land right now, not knowing if I'm okay or not.

We're all here for you. I know how scary things are right now but believe it or not things will fall into place and you will feel better at some point. Sending you hugs.

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blueberries said:

Right, stage 0 is still in the duct. Stage 1a is very early and very treatable and hormone receptive is also good, there are more treatments for this. It sounds like you have good doctors and that is one of the most important things in this whole mess. Breast cancer is one of the most widely studied cancers and so much more is known about it than 15-20 years ago.

Of course you are scared, and having health anxiety makes it so much worse You've been given a shock, okay more like an earthquake, but everything will work out as time moves along. Just because your mind goes to the worst case scenario doesn't mean that is where things are headed. The prognosis for your stage is excellent. Just take one step at time (easier said than done) or you will overwhelm yourself with worries. Things will fall into place as they should.

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blueberries said:

Hi - Though nothing is definite until you have a lumpectomy, just coming out of the duct is very early and easy to treat. Sounds like you will just need radiation and possibly tamoxifen. Of course you are feeling overwhelmed. You had other plans in your life for right now and then this nasty surprise came along. I know I was totally terrified when I was told I had bc, I sobbed for days/weeks. It wasn't until I finally found a decent oncologist that could and would answer my questions that I started to feel better about everything. That along with a prescription for Lexarpro as I went into a very deep, crippling depression.

Initially every doctor I saw told me something different, mastectomy, radiation, tamoxifen, no further treatment, all of the above, none of the above. It was very confusing to me. They all told me it was up to me but they didn't give me any guidance. I felt very alone. Like I said I finally hooked up to a good oncologist, her specialty was breast cancer, and she helped immensely. If you have good doctors that is a blessing right there.

Have you been to breastcancer dot org? I haven't been there for quite a while but I just checked in to see if it's still around. It is and they have made a lot of changes since last time I was there. Looks like they are trying to get away from the message boards and trying to be a more medically informative type of site which is too bad because the message boards are great and were so helpful to me when initially diagnosed. They have a board for every stage of cancer and so many more, everything you can think of related to bc. The boards are still there and still very active though, it's just that I think they will be doing away with them at some point.

One thing I wanted to check on was to see if "Bessie" was still there. She was diagnosed at about the same stage as you (it had just broken out of the duct) and she was extremely informative. She posted many, many posts helping and explaining things especially to new people. It looks like she hasn't posted for a couple months though.

You will get through this, it's not easy when you first hear the news. Remember, despite what your health anxiety filled mind tells you, you have not been given a death sentence, what you have is treatable. You will somehow get through this even though it seems like very deep waters right now.

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