FallGirl

I always had "clean" mammograms until 2 years ago. I was asked to come back because of something suspicious. Like you, I was terrified. I did not tell my kids, only my husband and also confided in a close friend who is a mammography tech of several years(now a stay at home mom). My friend was very reassuring and offered to go with me, which meant the world to me.
Happily it turned out to be benign.
I am sending good thoughts your way.

Mrs Weasley

I had a needle biopsy many years ago, when I was temporarily living in a new city. I chose a doctor who was written up in the newspaper for a long history of working with breast cancer patients as an expert in the field.

During my appointment, when he was about to stick me, he uttered a mild exclamation and I asked what was wrong. He said he'd pricked himself with the needle. Not wanting to sound like I was telling him the appropriate procedures, I did not sit up and say "don't stick me with that needle, get a clean one." Instead, I lay there on the exam table, trustingly and said only, "that's bad," figuring he knew what his job required of him. As he stuck the dirty needle in me, he said, "No, not really. I hadn't used it on anyone yet." This _doctor_ was only concerned about his own well-being, not mine. And because I wanted to be polite rather than speak up for myself, I was left worrying about my biopsy result and the possibility of disease from a careless health-care worker.

So my message is that you should always make your doctor respond to your concerns and not pussyfoot around questions of importance to you. Don't hesitate to speak up for yourself.

Best wishes, big hugs and lots of cyber-support!!

ellebud

I am a breast cancer survivor. The call is terrifying. The stuff you are going through now is a blur. But a few things: when there is a need for a needle biopsy and the spot is tiny the results can be inconclusive. DON'T PANIC! It can be very difficult to get to the spot. (Mine was not tiny, but very deep and the needle simply couldn't reach the spot.) I can tell you that an experience radiologist (We are affiliated with Cedars/Sinai, one of the best hospitols in the U.S.) can tell you what they think it is. But do not get ahead of yourself. Just take it one step at a time. Do not take any diagnosis (positive or negative) without a second opinion. Do not bury yourself....I've been in the chemo room. I have had radiation. It isn't pretty but I'm still here. But you are not there. You are just in the informational segment. And most women have changes in their breast tissue as they get older. Follow up, do what you have to do. And when this incident is over reward yourself.

cronie

I'm also a breast cancer survivor. When the radiologist at my diagnostic center did my biopsy she knew right away that it was cancer. Her comment was, "Unfortunately, this looks like it is cancer, but I want you to know that you will be fine. We can take care of this." her reassuring words stayed with me, helped me get through the various procedures without panicking, and proved to be true.
When a cancer is found on a routine mammogram, the outcome is almost always good these days because it is found early. I had my surgery and now take a pill daily on the advice of my oncologist, and that's it. If anything, the cancer changed my life for the better, in that I am much more conscious and careful of my health, and my doctor will not let anything slip by. I now have to go in for complete blood tests every six months, (and my insurance has to cover it) but what a great way to catch anything that may crop up in the future unrelated to BC!

When people talk about the rate of "false positives" from mammograms, I think this give them a bad rap. Mammograms are not intended to diagnose cancer- but just to find abnormalites for further exploration. Looked at this way, the are very accurate. They'll find the mass. It's up to the doctor to look further to figure out what it is with biopsy or ultrasound.
Be glad your doc is recommending a biopsy. This is the only true way of getting an accurate diagnosis. When these results come back benign, you can be sure they are right. Good luck, and know that you will be fine.

ellebud

Dear Cronie: My radiologist said the exact same words, including you will be fine.

To all: It is terrifying hearing that ANYTHING needs a further look see. But to ignore a possible problem because of fear is just plain wrong. On the other hand I must say that if you think that something isn't right (and you are young) many times a doctor will ignore you. I met more women during treatment (one as young as 29) who had (past tense had) doctors that said to them that they were too young to have breast cancer. These bright young women perservered and got treatment.

vulture3

One more consideration. Somehow the results have to be reported and with a core biopsy there is probably going to be a lag of a day or two between procedure and initial pathology report. Do you want to hear results from your doctor in the office? Or do you want the doctor to phone you at home? You are probably going to want to know the news ASAP, so if you want to meet face to face with your doctor, coordinate that ASAP as well. Make your preference known.

I received results of biopsies by phone at home. That was best for me and quite honestly, how my doctors did it. There is much discussion about what is the better method and I think it really depends on the individual. Good news is sort of a no brainer - it doesn't matter. But a person does need to consider that there is a chance it might not be good news.

Fingers continue to be crossed that you fall in the majority.

HImom

I had my doc feel a lump in my breast during a regular physical. He ordered follow up with a surgeon whom I STRONGLY disliked (he was very condescending and wouldn't discuss my anesthesia concerns, just literally patted me on the head & told me not to worry) & I went instead to a surgeon recommended by someone who has sat beside us at the opera for over a decade & recovering from breast cancer treatment. The 2nd surgeon was wonderful--she did an inconclusive needle biopsy & then scheduled an exploratory lump biopsy, allowing me to have the lightest possible conscious sedation, at my request. It went very smoothly and fortunately was benign. The stitches totally disappeared & you honestly can't even tell where the biopsy occurred!

Take it one day at a time and don't be surprised if the needle biopsy isn't conclusive and requires a further surgical biopsy. Good luck & take care. We're all thinking of you and know you'll be just fine!

HeartArt

Thank you everyone for taking the time to write. There is a great deal of wisdom and encouragement here. Perhaps this thread will also help someone else down the road. It is amazing how common this is but somehow we don't talk about it. So many of us are just too scared or else we don't want to frighten or upset our friends and family. I do not have a sister or a daughter and my mother is no longer living. As far as I know, none of my female friends have gone through this (or at least shared it with me). I can't express how comforting these posts have been.

Today, the needle biopsy should be scheduled and I am looking forward to getting on with it. Thanks again everyone for the reassurance and I will keep you updated.

atomom

Hoping to hear good news from you, HA.
My sister just had breast cancer treatment. She had annual mammograms and the cancer was caught very early. She had a lumpectomy and radiation treatment and was back to work quickly.
She was also told when she had her biopsy that "85% of these are NOT cancer."
(She was not pleased with the treatment of most of the doctors/nurses--she said they acted like it was no more than "a toothache and a root canal"--which in a way is understandable since these procedures are their everyday routine).

Bromfield

I had a surgical biopsy ten years ago. I felt better sharing with my H and two Ds and two friends. Somehow talking about what was going to happen made me feel less anxious. I had to wait a few days for the results, which was worse than the actual biopsy. Results were fine and the experience made me realize that having support in times of crisis is important for me. Good wishes, HA. I hope you get a clean bill of health!

CountingDown

HeartArt,
We are all here, supporting you. You are not alone. We will all pray that the results are negative, but know that we will be here wherever this journey leads you.

Pathfinder317

I am really glad to have found this forum as I too have just discovered a lump in my breast. I am terrified. I have my first mammogram ever booked for this Friday & always fear the worst. I have no family history of breast cancer but still realize that it can happen to anyone. I am real worrier so this is totally freaking me out. I will be 40 this summer. Thank you Heartart for starting this thread. I wish you well too & appreciate everyone that has taken the time to write their stories. They are very encouraging.

MyLB

HA--best not to worry unless you know you have something to worry about. I had the needle biopsy last October. Found cells that were not normal but were not cancer, so had an excisional biopsy in December. I wasn't tremendously worried because I sort of expected this to happen at some time. I don't know--my mother had breast cancer, although at 63. She had a mastectomy (which would have been a lumpectomy these days) and is fine 17 years later. I just had a sense from the first "we need to take a closer look" call that they would find something (I mean--there was stuff in there this year that wasn't there last year, so *something* had changed), but that it wouldn't be too bad. (In fact--just had my follow-up mammo this morning. No bad news.)

Re: who/when to tell, I decided only to share the information with my husband and sister as I was going through it. My mom is a worrier, and I didn't want the kids to know until I knew where it would end. I told them before the excisional biopsy that I was going to have a little breast tissue taken out and that it was nothing. I told my mom everything after it was all done (= after the results of the eb). And then I sent an e-mail to every woman I know to keep up with those screening mammos.

I am oh-so-happy to do some e-hand holding if you want to PM me. In fact, I created this login for myself when I was going through it (can you guess what it stands for??), and two CC'ers with good information/valuable experience kind of held my hand last fall. It really does help to be in contact with people who have gone through it.

Try not to worry. Go with the probabilities. Let us know how the results turn out. (And spend a bit of time thinking about when this will all be a fairly distant memory.)

my3girls

A year ago I was in the midst of chemotherapy for breast cancer. I have to say that I hate the word "doable" now, because I heard it so many times during treatment, but as I gain perspective, ok, it was.

My experience was one of being told "the odds are good that ..... it's benign, it's very small, it's low grade, it hasn't spread to the lymph nodes. . ." and every single time, they were wrong. So I don't take a lot of comfort in statistics anymore. But I did discover that I could do things I never imagined and really hated, by taking one step at a time and forcing my mind not to think ahead to the next step until I got there. It was also true that in many ways the time of waiting and not knowing prior to the surgery was the most anxious. Once you know, one way or the other, you can start making plans.

Karen Colleges

Heart-- hope you can get the biopsy over soon, and that your results are good.

MyLB-- Happy to see that things worked out for you!