Hey everyone,
I'm new to the site and have to say I've found it really helpful. I'm 33, female, and not diagnosed with anything but just starting out with some tests to see what's going on. The internet is great for information, but I'm starting to freak myself out more than I already was.
About 3 months ago I noticed a hard lump on my upper-mid thigh (right leg). I noticed it while rubbing lotion on my skin. It is deep down IN my thigh, not up top on the skin's surface and isn't a dome above my skin or anything visible to the naked eye. I have to press down to feel it. It's hard like a marble and doesn't move around when I touch it. I know my body well and this was definitely very new. I decided to wait and see if it would go away, but it didn't. Then, I started having a dull aching pain in that part of my thigh that comes and goes. In the last week it is happening more and now my right knee feels achy too which is odd because I'm not doing anything out of the ordinary. I finally made an appointment with my PCP (who is also an internist) and saw her last Friday. On top of the lump, I have been feeling really off the last 2 weeks as well. She examined me and flat out said she doesn't think it is a lipoma and asked me a lot of questions about the pain that started to occur and whether I thought the lump grew in size. I have tried to keep track of whether it grew, but definitely know it isn't get smaller. It MAY have gotten slightly larger, but not anything astronomical. It's the size of 1 or 2 peas. All one solid mass.
She is having me get an ultrasound (happening this Thursday) and she also did some blood tests. I'm meeting with her next Wednesday to go over the ultrasound and stuff since she will have the report them. She said the ultrasound will let us know if its a cyst or hard mass, and then we will go from there. She said it is "probably nothing" but needs to take a better look.
My father died of colon cancer a few years ago and my mother was diagnosed with thyroid cancer just this last Christmas. Naturally, I am worried about this being cancerous. I am getting married in 3 months and it is all a little nerve-racking. I know there are lots of benign tumors and cysts out there, but I can't help but be really anxious.
Should I be worried? Or am I getting anxious for no reason?
Hi , welcome to the community though sorry you have this worry. Glad you managed to find the site, Macmillan deliberately keep it open to the search engines for exactly this kind of reason.
Google is a wonderful tool but definitely needs to be used with a filter, people do have a habit of sharing their horror stories rather than good news and google is not very selective - as a doctor it's bedside manner is dreadful - mind you some doctors I have met - well that's another story.
Well done for getting the lump checked out - I know I have a wide selection of lumps and bumps but none of them are harmful and unless they sit on a nerve are no problem at all. Sarcoma's on the other hand are very rare, so much so that there are only 6 specialist centres in the whole of the UK - and we are lucky to be only 8 miles from our nearest - my wife has Leiomyosarcoma but she has had it now for some years and currently her cancer is really stable.
Good luck for Wednesday, we all know the pain of waiting and sometimes that seems to be all we ever do. Do you have any idea how long you will have to wait to get a result?
<<hugs>>
Steve
