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Would you share the story for how it was discovered you had breast cancer?
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member8122 (Survivor (2 - 5 years)) - 01 / 18 / 2012
At the time I was breast feeding my 8 month old daughter and I had just started to wean her from breast milk. I believe since I wasn't producing as much breast milk I was able to feel the tumor in my breast. It wasn't during a self exam, it was just simply handling my breast for nursing. The tumor was very close to the skin and could not be missed. Thankfully, I didn't chalk up the lump to "lumpy breasts" which is very common during nursing. I called my OB immediately and was examined two days later where it was confirmed with a mammo, ultrasound, and needle biopsy that it was indeed cancer.
member2249 (Survivor (1 year)) - 01 / 18 / 2012
I just had a complete physical a month before with no lumps whatsoever, when I felt the lump. I was scheduled for a business trip in the following week and decided to check in when I would be back. Took me 2 weeks to have a dr appt. By then, my lump was the size of a golf ball and my breast was very tender. A week later, I had a mammo, a breast scan, immediately followed by a needle biopsy that confirmed I had breast cancer. It was 4 tumors glued together that formed the lump. I also found out at the same time my lymph nodes were already infected.
Scared doesn't even begin to describe how I felt. Since I was so small breasted that I barely filled A cups, I somehow always believed I was less likely to get such disease... after all I had less breast to attack, right? WRONG!!!
I wasn't a big fan of self exam and usually did it once every few months. Lucky for me I just had physical that confirmed there wasn't anything, otherwise I would have felt even more guilty that I hadn't caught it earlier. That way, I know there wasn't anything I could have done differently. But it hammered home that at any other time of the year, my lack of self exam might have meant a metastatic cancer (Stage 4) instead of the stage 3 cancer I had with the speed it was developing.
Scared doesn't even begin to describe how I felt. Since I was so small breasted that I barely filled A cups, I somehow always believed I was less likely to get such disease... after all I had less breast to attack, right? WRONG!!!
I wasn't a big fan of self exam and usually did it once every few months. Lucky for me I just had physical that confirmed there wasn't anything, otherwise I would have felt even more guilty that I hadn't caught it earlier. That way, I know there wasn't anything I could have done differently. But it hammered home that at any other time of the year, my lack of self exam might have meant a metastatic cancer (Stage 4) instead of the stage 3 cancer I had with the speed it was developing.
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