Second lump found at first annual mammogram following treatment - absolutely terrified

Hi Nemo08

Welcome to the forum and sorry to hear that there found another lump. I know it’s easy for me to say but try not to stress about, it sounds like it was caught early. To take your mind off it try to do the things that you love doing.

Wishing you the best of luck with your scan.

Best wishes

Daisy53

Thanks for replying Daisy53, I've been trying to take my mind off it by teaching myself to crochet which is going surprisingly well, someone said to me last time round that the week between the biopsy being taken and getting the results is one of the longest weeks of your life and I didnt really feel that last time, but I really am this time round!

My anxiety is ramping everything up and I've convinced myself that if its in the lymph node they biopsied it's going to have spread elsewhere too and I'm going to die, typing that now it seems silly, but that's how I'm feeling right now. Last time round there was nothing in my lymph nodes, so the thought of lymph node inclusion is really frightening me

Nemo08 xx

Hi , So sorry that you find yourself again waiting on results, I can only imagine how worried you are. The waiting is the worst and you already know as you’ve been through it already. Hoping that it’s been caught early as it’s small and your oncologist and care team will be looking so closely at your scans and results. Try and keep busy, crocheting is amazing my mum is super at it I am hopeless, don’t have the patience… 

please don’t feel alone, always here if you want a chat xx

thinking if you and good luck for Friday 

Thanks for replying. The waiting is awful, imagination running wild about how it's going to be so much worse than last time xx

it's honestly not the end of the world if it has spread to nodes, which it prob hasn't, but in my case they just take the lot out. it's a bit more of an operation but nothing you can't heal from. x

Hi Nemo08,

I have had a similar story. My first cancer was a low grade estrogen positive .. low growing... nearly three years ago. I had a lumpectomy and radiotherapy as apparently it was so small and had not impacted my lymph nodes and then they put me on Tamoxifen. In my September checks there was an area they in the other breast couldn't decipher and after many checks (I won't bother you with the details) they finally found it was another cancer exactly the same as the first one!! So I had a mastectomy and in fact they found a third stage 1 cancer in there too that had gone completely undetected. So now even though they are both stage 1 and not lymph nodes were affected given the fact they grew on Tamoxifen I am having chemotherapy .. so you are not alone!! It's rare but it can happen.

I had a PET CT scan too and the wait for it and the results were the worst week of my life so far so I completely understand what you're going through right now. But some good news is that a new primary cancer is not the same as a secondary cancer. You will just have to go through the same treatment all over again I guess. Maybe speak to them about the potential benefits of a double mastectomy compared to a lumpectomy? I was dreading it but it wasn't so bad.. 

Lots of love

Thanks for your reply, I have it in my head that lymph nodes means its definitely spread elsewhere and that's what was terrifying me. Its good to speak to someone who's been there  thank you xx

Thanks for replying Annalisa, it's good to speak to someone who's been there, I know it's not the case, but I felt that I was the only one. Felt that I'd done something wrong or done something that had caused it and thats why it was only me out of all the ladies I know that have been there. Its a lonely journey, no matter how many people are around you if they've not been there themselves. Xx

I thought the same.. it's completely normal. I think now we just have to focus on defeating and dealing with it .. one step at a time.. 

hope you are doing well

Don’t worry lymph nodes are safety nets so even if it’s in one or two it doesn’t mean it’s spread. Xx