Happy and Healthy New Year to us all!

 

I have been reading your various posts for sometime, since last March when I had a left breast lumpectomy done for TNBC Stage 2 grade 3, with 2 positive l/nodes removed. I completed the standard chemo treatment by end of August and started 33 radiation treatments on 9/26/11. During radiation therapy, a lump or bump started forming gradually on the left upper chest area and an ultrasound was done with normal results. They said the lump is benign - that it is body tissue being hardened by radiation (side effect) and it may or may not go away after treatment is completed. I had radiations to my left axillary nodes, breast and supra nodes, which were completed on 11/14/11. Since I continued to fret about this lump as it didn't go away, I had a biopsy done in Dec., with no evidence of neoplasm - benign lump area. But I'm still worried and my surgeon now wants to operate to remove the hardened tissue from my chest this month, though he is "95% sure it is not cancerous" and trusts the pathology report.

 

I'm constantly touching the lump and wondering if everyone (my treatment team) is wrong. What if it is cancerous or later becomes cancerous? Noone can give me 100% assurance that it is benign! They only say, "don't worry about it". BUT I DO WORRY...on top of my minor lymphedema side effect!!

 

Did anyone have a similar lump or bump forming during or after radiation treatment and what did you and your doctors do about it? Thanks a lot in anticipation of your thoughtful responses.

 

Vikkie

New Jersey

 

 

I'm so sorry you are dealing with all these worries.  It's something that this disease seems to lead us with.  I have a friend who was Stage 0 TNBC.  She had a mastectomy and no chemo or radiation.  About a year after the surgery, she felt a lump in her chest above the implant area.  She went to several oncologists, surgeons, plastic surgeons who all said not to worry.  She still continued to worry so she had it biopsied and then had it removed.  I think they called it a stroma or something like that. 

Wishing you the best,

Donna

Happy New Year! I can understand your feelings of worry about the lump as I too have a lump like the one you mentioned and was also told it is scar tissue. You are braver than I am to have gone the extra step of having it biopsied. Sometimes I still wonder if I should have been more assertive, but my radiologist emphatically assured me it was only scar tissue and I guess I want to believe that it is, though it sometimes still worries me and I check to make sure it has not gotten bigger.  

Hoping you are only dealing with scar tissue too and that you find the answers here to bring you some comfort. 

Love and Peace, 

Sue

 

Vikkie

 

You have received some very valuable knowledge here and I agree.  We do have to be careful but if you had a biopsy with this confirmation that it is scar tissue, then let it be.  Keep a watch that there is no change in the size of it and continue on your "New Normal".... We all have those worries but we must trust that there is a higher power that lets us know what is real and what is not and if we follow our gut feelings we will be fine.

Keep us posted and be well...

Hugs, Helen in NS

 

Thanks for your anticipated responses.

 

Vikkie

 

 

 

Vikkie

 

 

Vikkie

Wishing you the best!  

Donna

Dear GratefulforToday,

 

Thanks for asking after my health Judy. Dr. Domchek diagnosed me with breast lymphedema on 2/27. She asked me to get a breast MRI done to confirm same and also ordered physical therapy (breast massages) for me. I held off on the MRI test this month as I just got tired of doing diagnostic imaging tests. I had done a lot of different imaging tests in the past 12 months since TNBC diagnosis, and I wanted to give my body (or breast) a break. I'm however scheduling the MRI for next week (April). My next apptmt. with Dr. Domchek is in August, assuming that the MRI results come back ok and nothing bad develops before then.

 

I hope you're enjoying good health and best wishes for the holiday season - Easter!

 

Vikkie

Vikkie 

Yes, I have the same lymphadema in my left breast.  I have had it since they removed the drains almost a year ago.  I have been to physical therapy two different times but it doesn't go away.  I have to do massage on it one or twice a day.  My oncologist said it probably wouldn't go away.  Its not painful or noticible so I'm just living with it.  I think it would be worse if it was my arm.  The OT said it was because they took all of the lymph nodes, there is no place for the fluid to drain to.  When I massage, I try to direct the fluid into my abdomen or mediastienal area but I don't think that really does anything.  I usually don't know that its there.  My onc said the problem is if you just let the fluid sit, it might become infected.  I said maybe it would have been better to have had a mastectomy but she said that the same thing can actually happen with a mastectomy.  I can live with this.  Hope it helps to know that the same thing has happened to someone else. 

Take care,

Nita