Don't mess around with strange lumps

Hi again everyone! I was here a couple months back asking if anyone
had experienced any sort of underarm lymph node swelling due to low
calorie diets and I got some really good information. I couldn't
believe this could possibly be cancer as I'm under 40 but in the
intervening time I have discovered this was metastatic breast cancer
caught at a pretty early stage. What I want to say is simply this..
don't screw around with strange lumps. My primary care doc, my surgeon
and my oncologist were all unable to detect the pea sized primary
breast tumor in their "hands on" breast exams. The mammogram showed
nothing so we were really concerned there for a while what the primary
source might be. It was me sitting in front of the TV one night
playing with my boobs that found it. So.. I suppose in addition to
saying don't screw around with strange lumps I'd like to add.. you
can't play with your boobs too much! Get out the oil and really go for
it.. your life depends on it!

On Mar 4, 1:23 am, ripp...@hotmail.com wrote:
> Hi again everyone! I was here a couple months back asking if anyone
> had experienced any sort of underarm lymph node swelling due to low
> calorie diets and I got some really good information. I couldn't
> believe this could possibly be cancer as I'm under 40 but in the
> intervening time I have discovered this was metastatic breast cancer
> caught at a pretty early stage. What I want to say is simply this..
> don't screw around with strange lumps. My primary care doc, my surgeon
> and my oncologist were all unable to detect the pea sized primary
> breast tumor in their "hands on" breast exams. The mammogram showed
> nothing so we were really concerned there for a while what the primary
> source might be. It was me sitting in front of the TV one night
> playing with my boobs that found it. So.. I suppose in addition to
> saying don't screw around with strange lumps I'd like to add.. you
> can't play with your boobs too much! Get out the oil and really go for
> it.. your life depends on it!

Breast cancer is an epidemic and there are lots of younger women with
it. Many people without obvious risk factors get it and women with
negative nodes get metastatic cancer too. Mamograms can go from
completely normal to obvious changes in less than 6 months, and
doctors are much, much better at tracking the progression of cancer
than they are at treating it. Basically, you can throw out the book
where breast cancer is concerned. That was my personal experience with
my wife. At least you found your own lump and got it diagnosed. You
would be surprised how many doctors tell women they just have lumpy
breasts and don't follow up until there is pain. Unfortunately, there
is a whole lot of information out there on breast cancer. I say
"unfortunately" because a lot of it is conflicting or doesn't apply.
It's not really bad information though. My adivce is to find some
doctor you really trust and go with his/her advice. I'm sorry you have
cancer. It is really tough. Good luck. dkw