Awaiting Biopsy Results

Hello DeeDee24817d6f84 and welcome to a place you’d much rather not know about. Don’t worry about joining and posting your concerns, the regular folks would much rather see folks come and go when they get a ‘non-cancer’ diagnosis, than worry on their own. (A worry shared is a worry halved, as the saying goes) 

I guess they are being cautious but suspicious. It sounds like the standard procedure for a good breast care clinic. The helpline gives you a chance to speak to specialist nurses who again can reassure you; but the worst time ever is this waiting period for initial results.

I guess the only advice I can give is to stay busy but try and ‘park’ those worries till the results come back. Plus the second bit of advice is to reassure you that breast cancer treatment now is getting excellent results even from a few years back. So IF (and note that IF is in capital letters!) your tests come back positive, then you’ll get a course of treatment specific to your actual type of cancer. 

Sending hugs xxx

Hi Moomy

Thank you so much for taking the time to respond. The waiting is awful and its only been 3 days lol - I never have been very patient, its going to be a long 3 weeks! thanks for the advice x

Hi DeeDee24817d6f84 

I had my first mammogram and was sent to the breast cancer clinic - didn't think anything of it at the time! It wasn't until they started taking biopsies that I knew something was up, the nurse said "we are concerned" and I knew at that point it was cancer.   I was right, despite waiting for the biopsy results, they know what they are looking at - breast tissue with DCIS (pre cancerous areas) or cancer looks completely different to normal breast tissue. Prepare yourself mentally for it being cancer as I found it so much easier to accept when they actually told me it was cancer.

Having said that, breast cancer isn't the end of everything.  There have been so many advances in treatment that it is so treatable.  I had 80mm removed from my breast - 5.5cm of DCIS, pre cancer and 1.5cm of a cancerous tumor, plus the 1cm margin that they do to be safe it's all gone, 15 sessions of radiotherapy and then 5 years of tablets to reduce my oestrogen.  I was diagnosed at 51 and I'm 60 next month and only checked every 3 years now, same as everyone else who's never been diagnosed with cancer.  Some treatments ladies are receiving now (e.g. onco type DX test) wasn't available to me when I was diagnosed (It's for ER+- oestrogen positive cancer).  They also often do 5 session of stronger radiotherapy now instead of 15 sessions, spread over 3 weeks.

The worry of the treatment was far worse for me than the actual treatment, so one piece of advice I would suggest is try not to second guess what's ahead but just take each step at a time - just as moomy has suggested.

When you get your formal diagnosis, don't forget that IF, as you suspect it is cancer, there's a wealth of knowledge and support on this forum to help you mentally and physically through everything.  Fingers crossed it isn't cancer though, obviously!!!

Kindest wishes, Lesley

Thank you so much for replying and for the great advice. I'm pleased you are doing well in your journey. I woke up with a different mindset today as in fuck it I can't change the results what will be will be! This is definitely a journey of emotions! I appreciate the words of support and encouraging advice x

Hi DeeDee24817d6f84

Sorry to hear you are feeling anxious waiting for your results. I felt exactly the same and it consumed every minute of every day.

After a week of trying to figure out what it was myself (turns out Googling it won't give you the answer!) I actually phoned the Macmillan helpline and offloaded all my fears to a wonderful nurse who was absolutely amazing. Talking to someone who understood and I had no personal connection to really helped so I think posting here for support when you need it during this time is a great idea.

I eventually found that just allowing the anxiety to be there and living alongside it made things more manageable for me as there was realistically no way I wasn't going to worry about it. 

I hope you find something that works for you to get you through the next few weeks and I have everything crossed for you for a good result.

Thank you so much for taking the time to respond.. Almost 1 week down and I've managed to keep myself busy. I actually had a phone call with one of the Macmillan Breast Care Nurses who rang to check my biopsy site was healing well and to answer any questions I had. We had a good chat and she confirmed that my Bi-Rad score was M5 and U5 which is looking very likely it's Breast Cancer. I'm just taking it day by day, and strangely enough just want to head them say It so I can move on and stop the second guessing and deal with whatever is coming. Thanks again for the kind words I appreciate it x

Yes, I know exactly what you mean. Although I didn't get the result I wanted, finding out certainly did give me back a sense of control because now I can actually do something instead of feeling so powerless.