Infection/Cancer?

Doctors appointment tomorrow to get results of biopsy, I have that good feeling that everything is going to be ok. I just had this big calm come over me this morning, not sure why but I have.

runt1964 said:

I am a 51 year old female who

I am a 51 year old female who started menopause two years ago, at least I think, myonly symptoms are hot flashes/night sweats, at night only. 

Maybe I'm being over reactive but this morning taking my shower I found a lump on the side of my left breast same breast/armpit I was having pain in. It's about the size of a pea does not hurt but feels moveable and was not there before. Question is do I wait and watch or call my doctor

runt1964 said:

I have an appointment Tuesday

Thanks for the reply waiting. I did have an appointment last Wednesday but cancelled it, I don't know why but I felt a little foolish and I was thinking they would tell me that it's "just" another swollen lymph node like I have in my left armpit. I did find another lump in my breast so now I have two connected in my left armpit that hurt and two in my breast one on  the side that is movable and one on the top that does seem to move with what "I" think feels like a tip of a pencil on top of it. So I rescheduled and go on Tuesday.  

I have so many mixed emotions, I have a sister whom the doctors are pretty sure has kidney cancer but I have hesitation going because the last time one Doctor made me feel like I was being over parinoid. 

I guess I'm being over reactive and the breast doc said it in a nice but kind of condensending way. It's just another swollen lymphnode out in still having terrible ain't in my left armpit.  I have night sweats that sometimes not always aver me soaked and just so tired from not sleeping. Maybe it's just all stress because im worried about my sister and my job is so demanding and menopause, I'm just feeling very drained. 

bonbondidit said:

Hi Runt

I personally don't think you are being paranoid. You clearly have swollen lymph nodes and that would concern me. Have they agreed they are nodes and not cysts? I had very similar feelings of burning in the arm pit and sort of a sunburn feeling along the left breast that zapped through to my nipple. My lymph nodes weren't noticeably swollen but my sunburn was a feeling I had before it eventually looked like a ligh sunburn. Then my areole started to swell at the bottom area like a fat lip. I never felt any lumps! My mammo two years before showed micro calcifications ( little white dots sort of like the Milky Way. It came back benign. However my thought were ok benign by why are we watching it, it's still a tumor, take it out! I was talked out of it- moving forward two years the same breast was doing what I described earlier, sunburn feeling, zaps of burning and the swelling areola.  I had a sinking feeling ...

I went in and my biopsy was done in the same spot that showed up on mammogram - cancer!  Then it was well it surely is early stages, you look good , coloring is good, good energy. Inside I had a gut feeling like I did two years ago, urgent, get it off now. As we all know nothing is that fast, you have more tests to do and wait and then more tests. My surgeon ended up ordering me a gammalinium ( probably misspelled ) MRI mammogram that is a dye which will light up cancer.  I waited and picked up the results myself before going back to my surgeon to hear it from him. It was two pages long of findings-  I immediately called my surgeon and asked if they had my results yet. Not yet. So I conveyed that my lymph nodes were suggested to have cancer in them also under my arm. That changed everything- my surgery was bumped up by three weeks. I am Stage 3a Invasive Ductal Carcinoma  ( IDC ) and DCIS in my left breast as well as 4 positive lymph nodes. FOLLOW YOUR INSTINCTS!!! Get second opinions if need be. I've now had double mastectomy which I had to fight for the right breast taken off ( I felt my right side was very similar in behavior to the left cancerous breast ) even though there wasnt  actual cancer in it it was filled with cysts. That's it no more going against my gut feeling. I had to have 18 lymph nodes removed from my left underarm. I've undergone 16 weeks of chemo ( doable) and 4 weeks more of another chemo we had to stretch out due to reactions. 48 rounds of radiation ( totally doable) and now tamoxifen therapy ( pill) for the next 5 years. This isn't meant to freak you out and convince you that you have something you probably don't have, but you have this thing that's bugging you and you have every right to listen to your body without getting guilt tripped by anyone. 

 

Hugs and more hugs after those  

Thank you for your reply. I am sorry you have had to go through this. Hugs back at you.  I know I'm driving myself crazy and for a while there I have thought I was crazy, if it's not some kind of cancer it's something and it hurts.   the night sweats and the pain I'm exhausted. The pain isn't constant but when it shows itself it brings tears to my eyes and can buckle my knees if I'm standing but it doesn't last long. If you ever have had a tattoo it's that burning ripping feeling magnified  it will feel like my armpit is swollen even though it isn't.  The last few nights I have woken from the pain yelling out.  I know it's not a pulled muscle and I've changed my deodorant, my body so my laundry and  been taking evening primrose, I have done rounds of antibiotics nerve pain medication. The breast doctor said since I'm small its easy to feel lymph nodes, ok fine but  never did before and I didn't have this pain before either.  Yes my fnb came back negative so that's a plus but something just isnt right and the last visit to the breast Doctor has made me feel a little ashamed because she said I'm fine and it's normal and in a nice way said I'm being over reactive but wants me to go back in August for a recheck.