Anyone experience bc caused from melanoma spreading?

PinkPenguin76

I have a brother who was diagnosed with stage IV rectal cancer last year and distant family who had all kinds of cancers.  Of course this puts me at some risk.  I have a mole on my shoulder that has all the characters of melanoma but it us a 6 week waiting period for my biopsy (gotta love the medical field in America).  Since all the concern began, I began to remember about a year ago I noticed large mass in my armpit that is firm/doesn't move. Ironically, I noticed that lump around the same time I noticed my mole on my shoulder was growing/changing.  The lump has been there ever since and occasionally it causes me nerve pain in armpit that often shoots into hands/shoulder and occasionally back. I had been told a year or so ago that the lump was more than likely muscle from recent activity... But I can't say they really gave me any attention. To my recollection, they didn't even "feel" me.  Since then the lump is larger but feels "clumpier" than before.  I had my first mammogram yesterday so, of course, waiting to get those results... One thing that freaked me out a little was, after the mammogram, for the rest of the day and night, I experienced a strong burning sensation in my arm and armpit that could not be "ignored." I thought that was really odd.  I've had numerous x Ray's and CT or MRI scans in my life and never did I experience a burning sensation around the problem area. Baffles me. My CBC is normal but I have read from a lot of cancer patients (all kinds of different cancers) theirs was normal the whole time -  even at stage 4; and therefore find no peace in blood tests being normal... So I won't say for sure I have cancer, but, due to other symptoms: weight loss, fatigue, difficulty breathing, now, a node in neck getting larger, horrible night sweats, itching everywhere, and in past 2 to 3 days now persistent head pain... I don't want to dismiss possibility either.  So, what brought me here today was mostly wanting to find comfort in reading other people's experience, but, also ask if anyone else experienced breast cancer in armpit as a result of melanoma spreading? Or if my symptoms are like what they experienced at all even if bc was primary cancer?  I thank you now for sympathizing with my concerns and curiosity... these sites are a blessing for people with cancer or ligitimate worries in the form of support... 

jessiesmom1

Breast cancer in armpit?

I agree that 6 weeks to biopsy a suspicious mass is unacceptable.  I have no experience with melanoma but I DO have experience with enlarged lymph nodes in the underarm area. In fact, that is how my cancer originally expressed itself. I happened to feel a lump one night while I was laying in bed. It hurt and it got larger.it was outside the field of vision of the mammogram so the next step was an ultrasound. An excision biopsy followed. Pathology showed the mass was indeed breast cancer. I never actually had a mass of any kind in my breast tissue. There are other causes of enlarged axillary lymph nodes but mine was malignant. I hope yours is not. That was 8 years ago and I am cancer free. It is easy for people to say, don't worry, think positive but when you could have cancer that is more easily said than done. 

 

I wish you only the best. Please keep us posted.

IRENE

PinkPenguin76

PinkPenguin76 said:

Thank you Irene

Yeah it does disturb me that it's taking them 6 weeks to do a biopsy and not finding another person who can do it sooner. I may just have to contact my insurance today and see what they say if they can refer me to somebody sooner? Who knows it's worth a shot. In hindsight, I wish I had said something about the lump in my arm but the doctor visit was so extensive and we were talking about so many things that it slipped my mind at the time. I personally think that the doctor might be thinking cancer because when he scheduled the biopsy, he also scheduled the mammogram, a Pap, and for me to see a gastro for a colonoscopy. I think he's just being silent about what he's looking for so that it doesn't cause me unnecessary worry if it turns out to be nothing. I'm coming to terms with the fact this could be cancer so at least I'm beyond the denial stage and accepting what could turn out to be bad news. The lump in my armpit is very big... I mean we're talking a couple inches. I am an overweight female so just by looking at the arm you can see a little bulge but it could easily be mistaken for fat to the eye alone. Because I believed the doctor before, who said it was just aggravated muscle, I put it in the back of my mind but now with all these other symptoms... It's hard for me just to dismiss it. The lump is far up in my armpit so I'm worried that the mammogram won't see it but at the same time it's so large I'm wondering how could it not? Hopefully within a day or two to three at the most I'll be getting a call with the results. In the meantime I'm just doing a lot of studying and talking to other people who experience the same thing so that it will prepare me if I have questions I need to ask that I wouldn't think of all my own. I appreciate the time you took to respond, because I know some people get aggravated when people ask questions and haven't been diagnosed. I'll definitely be keeping in touch here as this seems like a really great forum. If it is cancer I will be happy to share my story with others who are going through the same thing and provides support just as I'm being given support.  I am happy to hear that you were able to get your cancer under control and that you still continue to support others.

Update

I contacted my insurance company and they told me that the only way for me to be seen by a different doctor for the biopsy would be to either change doctors or if the person doing the biopsy is a dermatologist I could get a referral for another dermatologist... But then she said that if I had to get a new dermatologist or doctor that I would probably have to establish myself as a patient first which means a consult visit and then a scheduled appointment for procedure..   which means I might as well just wait the three weeks I have left because that's about how long if not longer it would take to establish as a new patient anyways. So pretty much the medical system has screwed me there. LOL not much I can do but wait. In the meantime if something shows up on the mammogram then something might get moved quicker, who knows? I give it to God.

PinkPenguin76

jessiesmom1 said:

Breast cancer in armpit?

I agree that 6 weeks to biopsy a suspicious mass is unacceptable.  I have no experience with melanoma but I DO have experience with enlarged lymph nodes in the underarm area. In fact, that is how my cancer originally expressed itself. I happened to feel a lump one night while I was laying in bed. It hurt and it got larger.it was outside the field of vision of the mammogram so the next step was an ultrasound. An excision biopsy followed. Pathology showed the mass was indeed breast cancer. I never actually had a mass of any kind in my breast tissue. There are other causes of enlarged axillary lymph nodes but mine was malignant. I hope yours is not. That was 8 years ago and I am cancer free. It is easy for people to say, don't worry, think positive but when you could have cancer that is more easily said than done. 

 

I wish you only the best. Please keep us posted.

IRENE

Thank you Irene

Yeah it does disturb me that it's taking them 6 weeks to do a biopsy and not finding another person who can do it sooner. I may just have to contact my insurance today and see what they say if they can refer me to somebody sooner? Who knows it's worth a shot. In hindsight, I wish I had said something about the lump in my arm but the doctor visit was so extensive and we were talking about so many things that it slipped my mind at the time. I personally think that the doctor might be thinking cancer because when he scheduled the biopsy, he also scheduled the mammogram, a Pap, and for me to see a gastro for a colonoscopy. I think he's just being silent about what he's looking for so that it doesn't cause me unnecessary worry if it turns out to be nothing. I'm coming to terms with the fact this could be cancer so at least I'm beyond the denial stage and accepting what could turn out to be bad news. The lump in my armpit is very big... I mean we're talking a couple inches. I am an overweight female so just by looking at the arm you can see a little bulge but it could easily be mistaken for fat to the eye alone. Because I believed the doctor before, who said it was just aggravated muscle, I put it in the back of my mind but now with all these other symptoms... It's hard for me just to dismiss it. The lump is far up in my armpit so I'm worried that the mammogram won't see it but at the same time it's so large I'm wondering how could it not? Hopefully within a day or two to three at the most I'll be getting a call with the results. In the meantime I'm just doing a lot of studying and talking to other people who experience the same thing so that it will prepare me if I have questions I need to ask that I wouldn't think of all my own. I appreciate the time you took to respond, because I know some people get aggravated when people ask questions and haven't been diagnosed. I'll definitely be keeping in touch here as this seems like a really great forum. If it is cancer I will be happy to share my story with others who are going through the same thing and provides support just as I'm being given support.  I am happy to hear that you were able to get your cancer under control and that you still continue to support others.

Apaugh

Pink

I would go to a woman's clinic.   better safe than sorry.

PinkPenguin76

Apaugh said:

Pink

I would go to a woman's clinic.   better safe than sorry.

Woman's clinic

I was just at my gynecologist for a Pap two days ago .. and I mentioned I have a lump in my armpit. She didn't even look. She just did the pap smear and sent me on my way. I told her I was concerned about my period happening twice in a month so she referred me to someone who'll do a scrape.  But I seriously feel like I'm being dismissed. I even went to the ER the other day because I am having trouble breathing along with all those other symptoms and they did a chest x-ray and studied my heart and sent me on my way. Should for some reason I have cancer and it's already spread, even to the lungs, the X-ray was only examined by an ER doctor and therefore I have no confidence in his ability because he's no specialist. Even they didn't check out this lump I kept talking about. I feel like I'm being dismissed left and right and it's such a lonely feeling. I think I may end up going to the ER today and demanding that this thing in my arm be looked at because now it's starting to cause pain that goes into the elbow and my hand on the same arm as the lump. It's so frustrating because all you ever read about is early detection is the best bet but I've been trying to talk to them about this lump for a year now and I completely am dismissed by every single person I've told it to. It appears that early detection is a joke. Especially if you're on government assisted medical care where you're literally just a guinea pig in the number. I've been having pain in my groin and pelvic region for a while now and last night I think I felt a lump in the groin. I was trying not to worry but I think my frustration with the medical system is causing me anxiety to where I feel like literally my heart is stopping and I stop breathing. I'll keep you posted. Hopefully it's just my mind going crazy. if not, then it is what it is.

PinkPenguin76

Called back....

Well... I just received the postcard from Radiology Less Than 3 days from my mammogram. It specifically says they need me to come back for evaluation of my right breast. Not ironically, the lump in my armpit is on the right side. When the lady was looking at my results over the phone while scheduling me she was kind of reading the information to herself and I heard her say something about a one centimeter mass in the right breast.... Based on the way the letter was written and what she was saying to herself, and the fact that they're calling me back in less than 3 days, it doesn't sound like this is just a routine follow-up for first-time mammogram patients (because this was my first mamogram).  So they scheduled an appointment for me to come back for more mammogram pictures of the right breast plus an ultrasound. However because this pain is getting into my neck and arms and shoulder... I am still going to go to urgent care today and see if we can't get something done sooner. Otherwise I have to be seen exactly a week from today. There's a huge chance that Urgent Care will not send me to the hospital for more testing and I'll have to wait but I figure it's worth a shot because this discomfort is getting hard to ignore to the point where it's almost hard to hold my neck up today cuz of the pain shooting up into the back of my ear. And my hand/elbow is starting to go numb. Of course, at this point I know it doesn't mean it's malignant ... But Because of all my other symptoms I'm not going to dismiss that.

PinkPenguin76

Two different masses now....

Okay so when they told me that there was a 1cm mass in my right breast I mentioned if it was in my armpit and they said that there's a chance that depending on how my arm is, the mass **could** move between my armpit and breast. Little did I know when they told me there was a mass in the breast that they meant literally my lower right breast. Which in no way could be connected to the same lump in my armpit. When I touch the lump in my armpit it feels like it's a couple inches wide and so I was surprised when they said a one centimeter mass in breast itself. However, when I couldn't take the pain shooting into my arm and shoulder anymore I went over to urgent care just now where he confirmed there was a 1cm mass but asked again where this problem area was in my armpit and I showed him... Turns out we're talking about two completely different masses here. Therefore he now is doing an urgent request for another ultrasound for the armpit. He poked around at that one a lot and when that one gets messed with it pushes on my nerves and really sends pain and tingly throughout my right arm and shoulder... So now I have no idea what's going on LOL it's a guessing game. He said nothing about what this armpit mass could be he just put in for an urgent ultrasound request which means I still could be waiting a couple weeks before I actually get an ultrasound for the armpit. Meanwhile I still have more mammogram images and an ultrasound to be done on the breast itself next Thursday which is literally a week from today. But at least people are starting to take me serious and send me the further testing whereas before I was constantly just dismissed. Thanks again for the folks who took the time to support me... and I will definitely stay in touch and keep you guys notified and case somebody else comes along this post and they have the same concerns they can see what I'm going through from first step to diagnosis.... And so on.

Apaugh

prayers going up

Well, I hope you get an answer.  Unfortuanatly, what we see as pain and an emergency we have to wait in line.  From the time I found my mass until I got into the doctor was 2 wks.  Then it was another two weeks until I could see the onocologist.  And then they sent me to the breast surgeon a week later.  then the surgery was 2 wks later.  It was not that they did not care, it was that I was not the only person dealing with cancer. 

It sounds like they are listening to you now.  Give them time to look at and come up with a plan.  It sure is a path I wish you were not on.

Prayers,

Annie

PinkPenguin76

Thank you Annie

My doctor is definitely taking me serious and that is a blessing.  I just found out speaking to the radiologist the other day that they did intend to look at my upper armpit with ultrasound so I guess before I just didn't understand. The diagnostic mam and ultrasound are being done on Thanksgiving. However I was already warned nobody would see it until Saturday at the earliest due to the holiday.  Meanwhile I went ahead and scheduled an appointment with my doctor for the following Tuesday figuring results will be ready by then. Meanwhile I called my doctor because my breathing difficulty and fatigue have got more severe and now added symptoms getting worse by the day such as:

Shoulder pain, neck pain, headache, spine pain, arm pain and weakness (like opening jars or bottles was a challenge out of nowhere).  Doctor said to go to ER so that they could do a CT scan...

 

Went to ER and, of course, CT scan of lungs and liver were "normal.". While I don't argue the liver scan, as I have no symptoms of Mets to liver, I do highly question their "competency" of reading the CT scan of the lungs. I am not ignorant to the fact that even radiologists suggest a specialist fir the area to do the screening because just "any ol" radiologist is not specially trained to pinpoint early signs... In other words I don't trust an ER doctors "diagnosis" to save my life... Literally.  They are bandaid doctors and nothing more.  In fact lung cancer isn't seen because of operator error in anywhere from 20-50% based on studies and clinical research I've read... And the scary part being that tumors larger than half an inch were being missed by untrained eyes!  Those are scary statistics.  But honestly I think primary is going to be melanoma that was found after spreading to the breast. I just can't shake that feeling.  Interesting Lee enough I was examining my breast today and I noticed three small moles on my breast that didn't used to be there but that I see now since they've already found a malignant tumor in that same breast. One of the two moles is red like a sore. And that worries me. But I can't shake this feeling that this is breast cancer from melanoma spreading and not primary breast cancer. Once I get more information and facts I'll probably start a new thread so that people in my situation can also go there for information. In the meantime everything is a waiting game. You deal with good doctors and back doctors. You get taken seriously and dismissed. It's like you have to seriously keep pushing. However the nurse at the ER knew I kept asking questions and I think she was generally concerned because at one point she stopped when the doctor left and offered to go personally go get the records of my CT scan put on a disc for me so she could hand them to me to give to my doctor. I think she's trying to help me. So I figure at least when I go see my doctor in a couple days for follow up for this emergency visit, I can hand him that disc and who knows? Maybe he'll know a friend and radiology and forward him the information for more info?  

 

One thing that seriously disturbs me about my ER visit though? Is that it was the second time I had to go to the ER because of this breathing and fatigue. The first time they did an x-ray and the second time they try to do another X-ray and I refused and said that I wanted to CT scan So eventually the doctor agreed even though he tried to push an x-ray on me again. I said I'm not going to let you double charge my insurance for an x-ray when you literally have one that's less than 2 weeks old. So then they did the CT scan with contrast and came back saying that my lungs were clear with no problems. But what bothers me about their diagnosis is that I have all these symptoms that they're ignoring and wouldn't even put on paper when I was explaining to them what my symptoms were and then they tell me my lungs are clear but in the same breath tell me that there's nothing else wrong. So if I was a doctor then that would be a red flag to me that if you can't find viral infection, bacterial infection, fluid Etc or all the other things like bronchitis or pneumonia,,, it would make sense that they need to do further testing to figure out what the problem is. They didn't even suggest I get a PET or MRI. Absolutely nothing. Because I admitted that I had smoked on and off for 20 years they instantly just told me it was because I was a smoker so my breathing problem just started out of nowhere because I've smoked a few cigarettes here and there in my life. Ignorance. They really think I'm stupid. Even if it was smoking they would be able to see signs of smoking and they'd be diagnosing me with some kind of smoking condition yet I walked out of there with nothing. NOT EVEN CONCERNS ABOUT COPD ABSOLUTELY NOTHING... Not even asthma but I already told them that when they gave me steroids and an inhaler the last time I visited him that it had absolutely zero effect on my breathing and fatigue. They gave me nothing though. They literally told me they had no clue why I couldn't breathe. And left it at that. No antibiotics. No proof that smoking was a condition. No hints or suggestions of a viral infection. Nothing. They literally just wanted me out of the emergency room and sent me on my way.

 

One thing I'm very disturbed about right now though is that about a year ago when I noticed a mole was changing on my arm, I was also told I had a cyst on my spleen. Because they were doing a search because I was considering gastro surgery for weight loss. I decided not to do it and forgot all about that cyst that I was told instantly was benign and nothing to worry about. However in the ER last night they told me there was a cyst on my spleen and said based on past records it had grown bigger ... I can't remember how much bigger but it had gotten about another centimeter bigger or so within a year's time. So that's slow it doesn't sound bacterial to me... they're insisting it's benign still and I'm sitting here wondering how do you know? Nobody's questioning it? Nobody's testing it and now it's getting bigger? It doesn't sound like nothing to worry about to me but what do I know... It's just my body, right?

 

It's all frustrating indeed when you feel like you're you're only advocate. But I'm hoping this new doctor that I just started seeing is my ticket to the path of Truth... I'm definitely going to bring up to him these moles on my breast when I see him in just a couple days on the 22nd.... I figure perhaps he can send me to a dermatologist where I can have all of my moles examined? Cuz right now the only thing I have looking at my moles is one biopsy for a mole that has been spreading and changing on my shoulder.

As far as my breasts goes I'm guessing that a while ago I started noticing clear discharge but it would only happen occasionally here and there... Now if I actually squeeze the nipple I get little droplets of a straw colored discharge. It's not a whole lot but it's there. Ironically the moles, the discharge, and the malignant tumor found are all in the right breast and it's my right armpit that's been driving me crazy like it's getting into my nerves or something. For a while I've had crusting on my nipples as if something was losing very slowly and drying up to where it look like scabs... So part of me wonders if they're going to start investigating Paget's.

 

Time will tell.

PinkPenguin76

Update

update: I have been to the ER twice now for my difficulty breathing and fatigue. The ER did an x-ray on one visit and a CT scan on the next visit of my lungs and stay at this time that my lungs are clear AKA no fluid. I don't take this to mean that there can't be any cancer or anything because up to 50% of lung Cancers get missed in the first screenings because untrained eyes look at the results. And coming from the ER I have little faith. They're just Band-Aid doctors and like to get you out of there as fast as you get in. However during the scan of my lungs they did notice that I had a very large cyst on my spleen. This large cyst has gone from 3.1 cm to 7.4 CM so it's grown pretty big. When I told my doctor about this cyst he seemed very concerned especially since I'm having pain. I also informed him that below my spleen area I can feel a hard lump. It feels just like the one in my breast but bigger. I had a mammogram and it came back incomplete and they asked me to come back for Diagnostic testing. I went back on Thanksgiving for Diagnostic testing and they did more mammogram pictures and an ultrasound of my breast as well as an ultrasound of my armpit. Right away they confirmed that the lump in my armpit is fat deposits and that it was normal and that my nodes looked okay. However they're keeping from me the results of my breast mammogram and ultrasound. I can go online and see the results to the armpit now but they're not giving me access to the other one yet. Which I find very odd. I did notice on my online medical records that they listed for insurance purposes that it is incomplete. So I have a feeling I'm going to hear from my doctor that I need to schedule either an MRI or biopsy. As of this moment I still have no clue what's going on with the lump in my breast. And I still have 10 days until the biopsy of this mole. since all of this is been going on I've been doing examinations all over my abdominal area and I have found several very hard lumps. I can find them in both of my arms. I can find them below my spleen and not far from my belly button and down in my pelvic area. And one just popped up under my liver. All of these lumps are hard just like the one in my breast. I have no clue what's going on. When I told my doctor about the 7.4 centimeter Mass and gave him the diagnostic workup from the ER he immediately scheduled for me to have a referral for an MRI of my spleen and a referral for a blood specialist. It's just a waiting game but I wanted to give you guys a heads up since you were concerned enough to respond.

jessiesmom1

Lumps and Bumps

Perhaps you might inquire if a PET/CT scan would be an appropriate diagnostic tool instead of or perhaps in addition to an MRI. Just a thought. . .

 

IRENE

PinkPenguin76

B9 for breast lump. BI-RADS 2

Just got a call back from my doctor's office that the result of breast mass is B9.  Now just have to wait for biopsy of the mole on the 7th and the check into what's going on with my spleen.... Thank you so much everyone for all the positive comments and insights!  One down! 

Apaugh

yippie

Wonderful news, I pray you get more. 

Hugs,

Annie