Worried About My Partner

They say 80%of lumps in breast  aren’t cancer. So hopefully this will be the outcome 

if it is there is counselling available so perhaps you both go together 

remember there are so many more treatments for breast cancer now. 

Hi  MervBoy

Welcome to the forum and sorry to hear that your wife may have breast cancer. As Dc6 says most lumps ate benign but if it is breast cancer it’s very treatable and they come up with new treatments all the time.

Wishing your wife the best of luck with her mammogram tomorrow.

Best wishes

Daisy53

Thanks, both. The mammogram's scheduled for this afternoon. Fingers crossed. When I went for my ultrasound, I was given the results there and then; I was lucky, though, in that it was a specialist that did it rather than an ultrasound technician. I imagine my partner will have to wait for the results — waiting is the worst thing of all.

Hi MervBoy , sorry you’re both going through this but hopefully some answers this afternoon. Clinics may differ but in my case, when I had my appointment after finding a lump and being referred by my GP, I had the following at the breast clinic - initial consult and examination by a doctor, then mammogram, then ultrasound and biopsies, then another session with the doctor, all on the same day. She told me there and then that it looked like cancer, but the biopsies would confirm this (or not of course). She said it appeared small and early stage which was all positive. But of course a shock to learn it was probably cancer. And it was. However many years ago I found a lump which turned out to be benign, and later cysts in the other breast. As someone has said, most lumps and bumps are not cancer. But if it is, treatments these days have advanced and are advancing all the time. 
Will be thinking of you both this afternoon, hope you have at the very least a better idea of what you’re dealing with. And the biggest hope of course is that it turns out to be benign. Do come back to let us know. Love and hugs, HFxx 

Thanks for the kind words. Still no news yet - the scan was scheduled for around 15:20. My stomach is in knots. Trying to carry on with my job (I'm at work). I'll definately post an update as soon as I hear anything.

Hi. All done. No real news as such. We just have to wait for an appointment, now, to see 'the consultant.' The person that did the scan advised everyone has to see them, weather anything suspicious is found or not - I've no idea if this is true, or weather something is suspected and we were told this just to make us feel better. So just more waiting and now even more worrying.

Hi MervBoy , gosh so still in limbo. Sorry no answers today. Things do vary from area to area, I think I’d assumed that everywhere now had the ‘one stop shop’ approach where all the initial scans and consultations happen in one place on the same day. But when my benign lump was investigated many years ago, it was similar to what your partner is going through, with each stage happening on a different day. Sorry you both have more waiting, I hope the next appointment comes very soon xxx

HI MervBoy 

When I had my first follow up mammogram, I was told by the scanner that everything was fine.  I think then, policy changed as every year after that (for the next 5 years), I've had to wait for a letter with the results / see the consultant, so yes, this does appear to be quite normal in some hospitals.

I do wonder if they worry that if a scanner has missed something, told someone it is ok and then they get the news that actually it isn't or vice versa - and run the fear of being sued! Hence wanting everyone to look at them before giving the patient the results.

Hopefully, everything will turn out ok for your partner.  However, IF it isn't, can I just reassure you that the treatments for breast cancer seem to develop year on year.  I was diagnosed 6 years ago and there are several more advanced treatments that have come about just in these last 6 years!  It actually is the most prevalent cancer (hence this group being the busiest) and I was stunned at how many ladies I met in real life who'd had breast cancer years ago and recovered and I would never have known, had I not been diagnosed. 

The survival rate for breast cancer is a huge %, so please don't panic until you know what you are dealing with.  There is also a form of pre-cancer (DCIS) which is found in the breast which is often found and hasn't turned into cancer yet.  The 3 yearly mammograms are truly life savers now and this is why so many women are diagnosed and survive.

The waiting, I found, was actually the worst part.  Once I knew what was happening and dealt with it, I felt a lot better.  Huge fingers crossed that it's benign, but if not - just remember there are a lot of us who've had it and survived  - and are living our lives quite normally now.

Do let us know how she gets on and hopefully that will be the last time you need to post on here

Kindest wishes, Lesley

Hi, Lesley, and thank you for such a great reply - you've no idea how much it has helped. I remember when I had a scan for testicular cancer - all the guys told me "don't expect them to tell you anything there and then because they can't; you'll be told the results in due course, and that's completely normal procedure." And then, blow me down with a feather, as I was having it done, the lady doing the scan said "Ah! There it is! A cyst! Nothing to worry about!" right then and there! It turned out that the person who was suposed to do my scan called in sick with Covid, so the consultant herself had to do it instead. Anyhow, I'm just babbling on a tagent, now. Hopefully, all will be ok - and, if not, at least we went and had things checked out as soon as we could, so we're in the best of hands.

Just dropping in to say I haven't forgot to post an update — it's just that we still haven't heard anything back just yet. We've been told to expect something within a week, so still well within that.