Anxious about suspicious breast lump (male) (x-ray, infect, swollen, dermatologist)
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IMHO, just relax. You seem to be overreacting to something that is probably just a lipoma. While I do not recommend people taking medications that they don't need, in your situation, I would ask your doctor for some tranquilizers to help you "put your mind at ease" and/or sleeping pills for bedtime. Or yoga or meditation or counseling or starting a new hobby.
To put your reaction into perspective, when I was diagnosed with Stage IV cancer, that had spread to other parts of my body, I was far, far, far less upset than you are about the possibility of cancer. I never lost any sleep worrying about it. I just checked out several oncologists and went with the oncologist-chemotherapy and oncologist-surgeon that I felt was the best. I followed doctor's orders and it has now been several years in remission. Why worry about something that may never happen?
If it's indeed a lipoma and I need to have it removed, that's the least of my worries.
The thing is that I keep looking at the ultrasound images and it does have a bad look.
Forget the ultrasound, go get your report for it. I'll be shocked if it's not a lipoma. Go to you tube and search Dr pimple popper. Find a dermatologist and get it removed
I discovered a hard painful lump just above and behind my right nipple 3 months ago. I immediately remembered the gynecomastia I had as a teen and thought it was happening again.
However, it has never subsided since then and it's now a bit larger and more sensitive when I touch it. Even without touching it, I can easily feel a distinct sensation around the right breast. If I press directly, I have a sharp pain.
So, I went to the doctor and he agreed there was something about it. He ordered very comprehensive blood tests, including hormone panel, and an ultrasound. He said I should have them as quickly as possible.
I had both done today. The ultrasound results basically say:
1 - It's not gynecomastia. There are no signs of it.
2 - It points to a lipoma (1.3 in) but says it should be confirmed by a biopsy.
I already have another appointment scheduled with the doctor next Wednesday but how am I going to sleep, eat or function until it has all been clarified?
Breast cancer in men is relatively rare, but certainly does happen. We had a good friend many years ago that did have it. He was older than you, probably closer to 40 and surgery took care of the problem very quickly. No chemo, radiation or anything like that. Hubby had a lump that concerned all of us after his long and involvement with cancer. the doctor was so sure it was, but as it turned out, his worries were needless It was not cancer.
I wish you wouldn't let this spoil your holidays with family and friends. I don't want to say you are making too much out of this, but you do need to relax, do other things to give your brain a rest and if you are with friends you may find out your mind can turn to happy thoughts and not take on too much imagination. Even cancer, remember how many people in this world are cancer survivors Heck I had cervical cancer at 26. Ended up having surgery, no more babies and we had just one at the time, plus had 2 that had died shortly after birth. What did we do? After a few days of crying and worrying about who would help raise our daughter if I died we pulled ourselves together and ended up adopting 2 kids. Let me add, that was almost 60 years ago
Forget the ultrasound, go get your report for it. I'll be shocked if it's not a lipoma. Go to you tube and search Dr pimple popper. Find a dermatologist and get it removed
The ultrasound already comes with the report. That's why it says it should be confirmed by a biopsy.
Again, why? You know you'll have some sort of surgery; minor or not minor. Its going to come out. You don't need to tell everyone everything. For those closer people, do you want to shock them? People often claim they don't want the other person to worry. Well, worry can be replaced by hurt and resentment. Sometimes people feel hurt if you keep important things secret too long. They resent not being allowed to help; as if you don't trust them. People around you might actually appreciate a bit of advance notice. They deserve time to prepare too, whether its just scheduling time to drive you home from a day surgery or dealing with some longer more involved treatment.
They would be all over me with questions. I don't want to worry anyone so there's no point in saying anything when I don't know what it is myself.
If it turns our not to be cancer, I can have the surgery without telling anyone.
They would be all over me with questions. I don't want to worry anyone so there's no point in saying anything when I don't know what it is myself.
If it turns our not to be cancer, I can have the surgery without telling anyone.
As I said, go to you tube to see Dr pimple popper lipoma then do Dr pimple popper cancer. They know it's a lipoma because it moves like a pea under the skin. If it was cancer it wouldn't move.
Honestly, I think you're worrying over nothing. I'll be shocked if it is breast cancer. Has your doctor done a blood screen for cancer?
Maybe you should also go to 23 and me while their health DNA test is $99 this weekend, normally it's $200 on sale $150; $99 is a great price, ends December 2nd. They tell you if you test positive for the breast cancer gene. You may luck out and get the results quicker.
As I also said, find a dermatologist to see. They will tell you what they think it is. I bet they're gonna be right too. They can remove it and send it out at the same time. You'd only have to wait for results if they thought it wasn't a lipoma which they will know as soon as they cut into it.
IMHO, just relax. You seem to be overreacting to something that is probably just a lipoma. While I do not recommend people taking medications that they don't need, in your situation, I would ask your doctor for some tranquilizers to help you "put your mind at ease" and/or sleeping pills for bedtime. Or yoga or meditation or counseling or starting a new hobby.
To put your reaction into perspective, when I was diagnosed with Stage IV cancer, that had spread to other parts of my body, I was far, far, far less upset than you are about the possibility of cancer. I never lost any sleep worrying about it. I just checked out several oncologists and went with the oncologist-chemotherapy and oncologist-surgeon that I felt was the best. I followed doctor's orders and it has now been several years in remission. Why worry about something that may never happen?
Good luck.
Not only do I have a feeling this is cancer, I feel like it has already spread to other parts. I have been having this strange sensation in my armpit as well.
Not only do I have a feeling this is cancer, I feel like it has already spread to other parts. I have been having this strange sensation in my armpit as well.
Now you are catastrophizing. Its not helping anything. Consider that if you happened to have an abscess/infection in the breast (another possible reason why you have a painful lump that shows up on an ultrasound) swollen lymph nodes located under the arm on that side could swell and feel strange. It's your immune system doing its job. Recalling Dr. Pimple Popper again, some of the lumps patients walked in with did turn out to be abscesses, not lipomas. It didn't always turn out to be what was expected.
Look, people who have gone through what you are facing have attempted to help but you are not listening. Assuming the worst, that you have some raging cancer, does not make it true. Ever heard of the principle called Occam's Razor? Look it up. You are standing right on top of it.
Recently, there have been several very young new CD members (and they also seem to be men) who start threads about some serious disease diagnosis, usually treatable. They are refusing to do anything to make their difficult roads a little less difficult. They are refusing treatment, help, or kindness from families or friends, even rejecting them and causing them unnecessary hurt in the process. But, they feel compelled to post here instead, though heaven knows why because they don't accept the only thing members might be able to offer: advice. Some of us suspect they are trolls or one in the same person with pertinent details changed. Just to get helpful members riled up and waste their time. Endlessly arguing about why they must remain helpless martyrs.
Oh heck. On second thought, decided to do the work for you, even though doing the reading yourself would provide a much needed distraction from assuming the worst. Here's a link to a simple explanation of Occam's Razor:
They would be all over me with questions. I don't want to worry anyone so there's no point in saying anything when I don't know what it is myself.
If it turns our not to be cancer, I can have the surgery without telling anyone.
If they have questions, tell them what you know. If you don't know the answer, tell them that. What is so difficult? Keeping secrets can backfire big time.
Good luck OP, I hope your biopsy turns out to be negative.
Done with this.
Last edited by Parnassia; 11-30-2019 at 03:48 PM..
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Now you are catastrophizing. Its not helping anything. Consider that if you happened to have an abscess/infection in the breast (another possible reason why you have a painful lump that shows up on an ultrasound) swollen lymph nodes located under the arm on that side could swell and feel strange. It's your immune system doing its job. Recalling Dr. Pimple Popper again, some of the lumps patients walked in with did turn out to be abscesses, not lipomas. It didn't always turn out to be what was expected.
