6 week wait for Breast Clinic. I'm slightly freaked out!

You're very welcome to the site. Sometimes I don't feel so brave but we've great support here. I'm no doctor but is imagine if they thought it was anything you'd be seen well before that date. I went to my local gp at the end of July and have found out since that she knew straight away it was something I got an appointment in Vincent's in the triple assessment on the 7th August and was told that day by the surgeon that it was 'suspicious' but that I'd come early and it hadn't spread and they could deal with it and could I come back the following Friday the 17th August and that was they day they told me I had a malignant tumour and I started chemo on 10th September, had my lumpectomy last Monday and get results tomorrow . That's how fast it happened for me and all because my gp new it was serious apparently they can tell by shape and size and feel of the lump.

Yes the not knowing is awful but I only had a week of that. Bit anxious about tomorrow but hopefully everything will be ok xxx

My mum had an egg sized tumour in her breast removed when she was around my age that was benign.
I'm sure it's nothing, but I keep having the what-ifs. About 6 years ago, I had a stint with mastitis that was so bad it put me in hospital for a week. For awhile, the docs thought it could have been IBC because my body wasn't responding to the antibiotics at all and the skin on my rugby sized breast looked like an orange peel. As it turns out, it wasn't IBC. Funnily enough, the breast that has the lump is the one that had the mastitis though.

I hope everything goes well for you tomorrow WicklowLady. My thoughts are with you.

I have to ask...

I keep reading online that cancer lumps are painless. Have you any of you found that to NOT be the case? Did you have pain with your lumps?

I don't have any pain with my lump. But I do sometimes have a slight pulling sensation under my left armpit. It's not painful. Just slightly uncomfortable at times. When it starts up, it radiates over the top of my breast.

Thanks hopefully ill be posting good news tomorrow. The women on here are fantastic. I had no pain whatsoever only found it by accident. God you've been through the mill and hopefully this'll be nothing. Can't see them leaving you that long if they thought it was malignant they like to get in their fast and get rid.

Hi RuBoJu,

For years I had breast cysts that came and went and which could be painful at times. 18 months ago I had a painful cyst in my left breast. Of the real danger - the two tumours in my right breast I was blissfully unaware. They were totally painless.

I agree with the other ladies here. If the doctors were really worried you would have got an appointment sooner. However, it's very reassuring that even though they may not be worried themselves, they are nonetheless listening to your concerns and not leaving any stone unturned. You are in good hands.

Good luck

Kath

Oh my goodness...that must have been such a shock, Kathleen.

Reading your post has brought on another newbie question from me though: When you go into the breast clinic, as a general rule, do the doctors automatically check both of your breasts? Or just the one that you have a lump in?

Hi RuBoJu,

Sorry younhave such a long wait.

Am a Beaumont girl so know ALL the ins and outs.

You probably have a six week wait as your doc does not think it urgent. Am pretty sure I had at least a three week wait as my doc thought is was post breast feeding clogged duct.

One thing you could do is chance your arm and ring the secretary to see if you can bring date forward saying you were due to be away but nothing booked, obviously don't get her to push it out further!

You will hopefully have a mammo on the day or soon after if they have concerns. They did mammo on my two boobies. You may also have an ultrasound and maybe even a biopsy. They try to do everything on the one day but is not always possible so you might have consult and then asked to return a few days later for mammo, US and biopsy (I havd all of these on one day!).

Hopefully it is absolutely nothing. Mine was not sore at all. Found it by accident.

Final suggestion to you is to stay away from Dr Google. Until you know what if anything you are dealing with, it will be no help to you, only give youbsleepless nights. I say this from experience by the way.

Best of luck, really hope it is just a little cyst.

Lindylu

I had biopsy on both boobies consequently the biopsy on the good boob as there was was no tumour just tissue the surgeon thought was unusual but didn't think it was anything but it had to be checked and it bruised dreadful ended up like an aubergine. Dreadfully painful., but it's fine now.

The only website you should be on is this one. I didn't google on advice from others. You'd have yourself dead and buried after reading some of the sites.

[quote="WicklowLady":16r73pve]
The only website you should be on is this one. I didn't google on advice from others. You'd have yourself dead and buried after reading some of the sites.[/quote:16r73pve]

Yes, I'm beginning to see just how true that is. Thank you all for your kind words and reassurance. I'm gonna do my best just to carry on as normal until I get seen properly. I will keep you all posted.
Again, thank you. xx

Hi RuboJu,

you are very welcome here & I hope we can be of some help to you. I too am a Beaumont girl but my GP referred me as urgent, turned out he knew immediately upon examination that I had something sinister even though he'd never encountered Inflammatory Breast Cancer which is what I had. Because of urgent referral I was seen by Beaumont within a week & was on chemo the following week. I too had cysts for years which I had been constantly monitored for but this just sneaked up with no signals & so rapid, unbelievable now looking back. Sounds to me that your GP thinks it's not anything sinister & that's why non urgent appointment. This is the worst time, waiting, my heart goes out to you. I can say they are fantastic in Beaumont & once you are in the system it all works. I would also say that it's worth ringing the secretary, just to let her know you'd even take a cancellatio. I have found that the secretaries are very obliging. Am in with Prof Hill on Feb15 so if you've any luck bringing it forward & happen to get it for that date let me know & we can meet up or something.

Best of luck & let us know how you get on.

Have everything crossed for you.
A

Hi RuboJu
I also am first time writing on this board but have been reading the topics and replies and they have helped me on my journey. I was diagnosed last July but was lucky I did not need chemo just surgery, radiotherapy and tamoxifen.

I found a small lump and was with my GP on a Thursday afternoon and he had me in Beaumont on Friday morning at 9.30, my GP sent a fax while I was there. I’m sure if you GP had thought it was urgent they would have given an earlier appointment. I know the waiting is hard, I only had one week of waiting, between biopsies and the results.

It’s hard to do put try to keep positive about it all

FunkyChick,

Thank you so much. I'll definitely give that a try and if I do happen to get my date moved, I'll let you know.

My GP told me she didn't want to say one way or the other what it was, and that it would take about 4-6 weeks to be seen. Given that I'd just told her about my mum's benign tumour (and family history of cysts), I reckon she probably thinks it's cyst related as well.

I think what has me so unnerved by it all is what a horribly painful ordeal the last issue I had with this particular breast 6 years ago. Because of complication stemming for what ended up being an unusually aggressive case of mastitis, I was in a lot of pain for many months afterwards. (My baby at the time, in a desperate attempt to get milk from my inflamed breast literally bit part of my nipple right off which complicated the infection further.) The doctors and nurses in Beaumont were so incredible to us both then. Since my baby was only 10 days old at the time of my admission, they allowed him to stay in the room with me for my whole stay. (Half of my stay was in a broom closet due to lack of beds/space at the time. I didn't care though.)

My poor boob never really recovered from that whole ordeal. It's a very sorry, sad looking boob, truth be told. Haha!

Poor you, you've really been through the wars already. Meant to say, bring someone with you on the day. Do not go on your own as no matter what the news is you'll be so wound up you won't take it all in. A trusted friend or family member is best. I brought my husband & he was great but some men aren't so good at taking in the situation sometimes a female is best. Take care.

Ah, I have absolutely nothing to complain about compared to the battles all of you have had to face.

My husband wants to come with me to my appointment. Initially, I told him I would go alone, but he insisted. I was actually in Beaumont yesterday for blood tests and an ECG and I had a wander around to find the Breast Clinic so I'd know where to go in March.

I can only re-iterarate what has already been said here, if they thought it was urgent you would be seen within 2 weeks. Hopefully when you are seen you will be in the majority - those who do not have cancer!

When I went to the doctor because my nipple was becoming inverted (I couldn't feel any lump!) I got an appointment the next week. I was not really concerned and actually postponed my appointment by a week as I had family staying, then I went on my own!! The consultant and nurses in Limerick were great - they even sat me down in a side room after they gave me the news and gave me tea and biscuits and made sure I was OK to drive home. The next couple of weeks were taken up with various scans and tests to determine the size and spread of the tumours (I had multi-focal cancer which means there are several lumps, which is probably why I missed it, I thought my breast was just naturally lumpy!) The consultant kept stressing that a couple of weeks deciding on the best treatment was not going to affect the outcome. I know its hard not to worry, but try not to.

I will keep you in my thoughts and prayers.

Karen

Hi RoBoJu
My lump was painful, that's how I found it. I just woke up one morning and felt really achy like PMT symptoms and I sort of rubbed my aching breast and there it was. It turned out there was a second one also which only showed up later on ultrasound.
My gp didn't think it was anything, just age-related (45) hormone changes, lumpy breasts etc post breast feeding 3 kids. So I had to wait 6 weeks for an appointment. I don't think it makes much difference though except to your head! It was still another 5 weeks post diagnosis before I had surgery.
Try not to worry too much. I'm an awful worrier as everyone prob knows with all my questions here before chemo etc. half the things I worried about never happened.
Thinking of you x x

I'm amazed at how varied everyones background stories are when it came to being diagnosed. Some with pain, some without. Some with lumps they thought were ominous, some not.

Boobies are seriously complicated!!

Hi there..... mine wasnt paintfull at all.

In relation to your wait this is what I would do as my head would be wrecked with it. Go back to your GP and ask him/her to call them and say its urgent? Of course hopefully it wont be anything and if it is I suppose six weeks wont make any difference but knowing what I know now six weeks is a long time. I would defo try get seen to sooner lie, lie, or whatever to get seen quicker

Best of luck

I told meself that I wouldn't tell anyone about this until I knew for sure what this lump was. So consequently the only person who knows is my Mum and husband. They both have been great, but we don't generally talk about it because to NOT talk about it means it's not real. If that makes any sense.....

But honestly, the more time goes on, the more I'm realizing that sometimes not talking about it makes it worse. Sometimes you need to just be able to say, "I'm freaking out!" to kinda feel better about it.

So thank you all for letting me do that!

I didn't tell anyone I'd seen the doctor, my hospital appointment was within 2 weeks but even then I though I was fussing over nothing.
I didn't tell anyone for a week after I was diagnosed either (not even my husband, I was 49 and I think he thought I had just gone for routine mammogram)

I felt I needed to get my head round the news and sort out my own feelings before I shared it with anyone else. I told everyone else after that and got great support through all the tests, surgery and treatment.

Good luck!

Karen

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to post a little update. I had my appointment in the breast clinic today. The whole experience was rather awful. After waiting for 2 and half hours in the waiting room to be seen, I ended up getting a really horrible doctor who made me feel like a fool for wasting his time.

After getting me to lie down, he felt around my breast and he got a bit impatient because he couldn't feel anything "ominous". He asked me to show him where I thought I felt the lump was. My left boob tends to get really dense around my period and unfortunately, because I'm on my period right now, the little lump wasn't quite as prominent as it is when I'm finished my period. (It's a hard little pea sized "nubbin" most of the time. But with my boob still slightly swollen, and its not quite as easy to feel.)

Anyway, because it took me a bit longer to find it than normal, he laughed at me and said, "So you don't even know where it is?" which flustered and embarrassed me even more. He then told me it was probably nothing.

Even though he made it clear to me that I wasted his time, he's scheduled me to come back in 8 weeks time for an ultrasound.

It's already been such a very long and anxiety ridden 6 week wait only to be laughed at at the end of it. There really wasn't any need to treat me the way he did. I was so embarrassed and near tears by the time the whole 5 minute ordeal was over, my mind went completely blank and I couldn't remember the things I wanted to ask him about (the discharge I occasionally get, and the pulling sensation under my armpit.)

So I left, and made my appointment for 8 weeks from now. And I'm none the wiser for it.

I know this isn't a patch on all the pain and trauma that all of you brave women have had to go through. But I just wanted to let you know how I got on.

x

Oh RuboJo, sorry you had such a crappy experience, honestly I don't think it is good enough. I am going to pm the direct line number of one of the breast care nurses in baeumont. Phone her on Monday (not Tuesday as there is a clinic on Tues!) and tell her your experience and ask her if she can arrange to bring forward the date of the ultrasound that you are not sleeping etc. Write down the other things you intended to tell the doc and explain these to the nurse. Am really sure it is nothing but all this waiting will do you no good.

Take care Hun,

Lindylu

Thank you Lindylu. To be honest, after today, I don't even want to go back there ever again. I was very tempted to not even bother telling the receptionist on my way out to put my name down for the ultrasound.
But I'll try and phone them on Monday.

Rubuju so sorry to hear about your experience today. He sounds like a complete prat.

If you are not happy that you didn't get to give all the information get back on to the breast care team. I got sent away in Jan 11 with a "clear" mamogram, ultrasound and physical check only to have a return in Jan 12 with advanced mamogram occult cancer!!!! They nearly missed me this time too except for a small bruise like thing on my skin which I was told was a patch of dry skin..... lol. Only after insisting that I didn't feel right did they do a punch biopsy of the skin ... not so lol it was a late stage inflammatory and IDC cancer. Had I left it any longer it would have been untreatable and I would be in a different position. Better to have a false alarm than be the newest corpse in the graveyard. Courage you have waited since January for this appointment and you are no wiser now than before!

That's absolutely appalling. I wouldn't stand for that. I had mammogram ultrasound and biopsy all in the one afternoon and saw the surgeon at the end who old me the lump was suspicious. I've been treated so well from the very beginning, can't imagine what it must ave been like for you, you poor thing xxx

What a complete xxxxxx how dare he!! Cheek of him.... so angry at that. If I was you would get back on to the BC nurses and explain what happened and that you will like to be seen to again ASAP and NOT by that doctor? So you didnt get a mamogram or anything? Can you go to a different hospital - ask your GP to refer you to Vincents you the the triple assesment there the Mammo, Ulstrasound and Docs decision after.

Please dont despair that your own boobs in your own hand its so important to go with gut feeling you seem worried about it so go to the ends of the earth to get it checked in any hospital.

I would write a formal letter of complaint about that doctor as well.... why are we always subject to doctors like that every now and again like being back in school making you feel knee high......

xxxxx chin up girl.... xxxx

Totally agree with deefed and like her I'm mad. I'd go to the ends of the earth to be seen next week. Write a letter of complaint to the hospital about him. It certainly wouldn't happen in Vincent's. you feel vulnerable enough without this horrible man coming along and making you feel bad. SHAME ON HIM!!!

Hi

Im with the girls hes a disgrace!!Get a referral to vincents they are fab in there.
If your not happy i would pursue it,i was told after 2 mammos and ultrasound i was fine.It didnt sit with me at all although i left it a while and 6 months later i had 2 tumors unfotunately.Spent most of the time after diagnoses driving myself mad for not going back earlier.
Happy to say though am out the other side and doing great.

Let us know how you get on
xx

Thank you all so much for your replies. At first I thought maybe I was being too emotional about the whole thing. But at the end of the day, it doesn't cost the doctor anything to be nice to his patients. He didn't have to be so patronizing, even if there isn't cause for alarm.

I'm defo gonna see if I can chase this up, and I'll let yez all know how I get on.

I have to ask: To the lady who has the "occult" cancer....how did you get them to properly diagnose you when everything came up clean in your tests?

Hey there

The small bit of "dry skin" was punch biopsied as I said I didn't suffer from dry skin and it came back as breast cancer. Once they knew that they did an MRI and it showed up big time there the whole lower side of the right breast. The MRI also found it in the lymph nodes so despite nothing been "seen" or "felt" I had a diagnosis. Immediate chemo to shrink it followed ... unfortunately it had no effect, radical mastectomy and auxiliary clearance of lymph nodes, more chemo (a different type) then RT. Finished everything in January and being re MRI'd to see what is going on with the other side. Incidentally if you have dense breasts ultrasound not particularly a useful tool in my case.

Best of luck!

I haven't got overly dense breasts. At least I don't think so...they are more like two fried eggs sittin on my chest after having had my kids. haha!

But I'll see what happens when I get the ultrasound. I got through to the Breast Clinic nurse today. She said they would get me a sooner appointment - no more than 4 weeks wait. At least that's better than 8 weeks.

I'll keep you all posted.

Hello - just a quick update for you all:

I had my ultrasound today. (It was just an ultrasound...no mammo or anything else.) And they only checked the one breast, not both. I was in and out in less than half an hour. The technician said I had quite a few cysts, which I myself could see on the monitor but she didn't say much else except that she would pass on the report to my doctor who would decide if I need any further tests.

I was actually surprised to see so many dark spots (about 5 or 6) on the ultrasound (the tech took pictures of them, for the report I presume) because I'm at the end of my period, and I would have thought any cysts would have kinda gone down at this point in my cycle. But maybe I'm wrong?

Either way, I'm not sure what happens next. I'm so bad at all this. I freeze right up anytime I get near any doctors or anything. My mind goes blank and I become dumb...I seem to be incapable of remembering any questions I wanted to ask them until after I leave.

It could just be because I've had so much time to sit and stew about all this, but for some reason this isn't sitting right with me. I'm not sure why. And I'm not sure what to do now.

Anyway, I said I'd let you know how I got on. Thanks for listening to my big long silly saga.

Glad you had ultrasound today. For what it is worth, ultrasound fella did a biopsy on my lump there and then however I had absolutely no indication from him whether lump and biopsy was cancerous. I had previously had a mammo and it did show a lump so I guess they knew there was something amiss.

With regard to asking questions, please consider bringing a pen and a paper with you. I used to go to all my appointments with lists of questions. I'd think of things to ask at the most inopportune times eg brushing teeth! but generally managed to scribble question on my question pad and would then shortlist the questions to ask before going to any appointments.

Your results will most likely go back to your GP. We can't speculate as to what they might be but if you are concerned that something is not right and they are telling you all is clear, then push for a thorough check/triple assessment. Another option, if you could afford it, would be a private referral to another medical centre.

Good luck!

L

Like Lindylu I too had a biopsy there & then once the radiologist looked at my ultrasound so the fact that u didn't is prob a good sign.
But trust your gut and if you're not happy speak to your GP & tell him ur concerns. At the end of the day we're our own best advocate & u have the right to seek further opinions.
Take care x