Has anybody had the original lump in your breast start to ache or get sore. Also have you had any growth in that lump? This would apply to women that have not had any surgery to remove the original lump in their breast.
My breast cancer was diagnosed because of pain and loss of function of my hip. When somebody finally listened and sent me for a MRI of my hip cancer was found and then a biopsy pointed to breast cancer. From there they then had to search to find the cancer.
I ask as I have had pain, tenderness, heaviness of my right breast where my cancer is located. I talked to my oncologist about this two weeks ago and he didn’t decide on what to do. When I spoke to my nurse Monday I filled her in (she was off work) and she promised to speak to my Doc. She called and said they were sending me for an MRI.
Good for you for pushing and getting booked in for an MRI. Your doctor should have done something sooner. I think you have done the right thing. Whatever is going on (hopefully there is nothing going on) you need to have some answers. Even being told that the cancer is stable would be a relief and to know there is nothing to worry about. But if there is cause for concern then you will be able to move ahead with whatever options are available for you.
Hopefully the pain and tenderness you mentioned are nothing to worry about. Perhaps it's just down to stress. I used to get some tenderness and pain in my left breast at the beginning and at times of stress. Then when I would get the stress under control I would feel fine again. So maybe that's the same for you too.
Take care,
Sophie
• in reply to
Thanks Sophie. When it first happened I thought it was a muscle but it just seems like it aches 😞. I’m trying not to think about. Now I just have to wait for the date.
• in reply to
Please let me know what happens. I wish you all the best. Hopefully the ache is nothing to worry about.
Sophie ❤
• in reply to
I’m trying not to think about. Trying being the keyword 😉. I will email you when I find out. Have a good weekend.
it’s a fine line isn’t it? Trying not to think about it and trusting your own intuition. I mean if some of us here didn’t trust our intuition we’d not be here, because we wouldn’t have pushed for our diagnosis! So I say.... even though this is very different. Try to do both sarcie. Know what you’re feeling is your truth, and try not to worry too much at the same time!
I have never known where my initial lump was in my breast./s. But I do feel tender and heavy, and sore sometimes. In a few different spots. As I have had two lumpectomy, years ago, when they said it was not malignant, and lots of aspirations. Interesting how the doctors never listened to me when I told them that I thought I might have breast cancer!
Gosh we have all got so much going on and at a time like this it all becomes magnified!
Thank you so much. I’m trying to forget about it and just keep busy but being restricted to the house doesn’t give one much to do. I hope you have a lovely weekend
My original tumor started growing again as soon as I finished chemo. It was Her2-. When I finished taxotere I continued with herceptin and perjeta which was treating the Mets in my lungs which had mutated to her2+. I insisted on having a mastectomy of my right breast. They say it doesn’t help with survival rates but it helps my peace of mine to know I am just fighting the one kind at the moment.
I’m sorry that your tumor grew. I kind of understand why they don’t remove the tumor because it had already spread but I keep thinking it could spread to another place but if it’s not there it can’t. So confusing. Thanks for the reply and have a nice weekend.
It is my understanding that once your breast cancer has moved to a second place (or more) it is in your blood stream and removing the breast tumor would not stop it from spreading. In my case, they removed the breast because of the open sore. Now I have one less thing to cope with. The open sore was never going to heal. Just get larger and become a fungating evil smelling sore!
Never mind, sore or no sore, I am happy to be rid of that part of the disease. It seemed to be the most troublesome.
That sounds like you went through an awful lot of pain, I’m sorry you had to experience that. You are right about them it doing it. I guess it’s unnecessary surgery but with me it’s in my mind and like you say, one less thing to worry about. I hope you have a nice weekend and your weather has warmed up.
Hi Sarah, Good to get this looked after. My cancer is so similar to yours. First discovered in my Hip and then biopsied the breast lump.
Stayed quiet for five years and then started to get intermittent pain in the breast lump and then the lump started pressing on the skin and broke through after radiation. Happily on Jan. 3rd had the breast lump removed. The surgery went very well. Had bone scan and cat scan end of February. Apart from two small nodules the scans were clear. One was behind the liver and had increased slightly. Next scans are May 1st. Hoping for the best. Hip tumor is inoperable but thankfully stays dormant.
Thinking about you and so glad you are getting looked after.
Wow. So much like my diagnosis. I have Mets to numerous bones - skull, spine, hips, pelvis, ribs. I’m worried my lump may be heading to the same as yours.
Hi Sarah. Yes our disease is similar. The only bone progression for me is to the left hip and to my spine . But see my answer to Ann Marie below for the whole picture. All the best to you. Have a nice weekend.
Cheers, June S.
Coincidence? I still have my original tumor in my breast which is fairly huge and my breast has dimpling. The odd thing though for me was that the pain was not in the actual tumor but up farther near the beginning of my chest, and where the tumor appeared to begin.
It was odd...different types of pain. Sometimes it was sharp and concentrated at the edge of my tumor in my chest up towards my neck, other times it felt like somebody was hitting me with a handful of needles, sometimes it was just a throbbing pain, while other times just very sore and heavy like you mentioned. She said it was probably because the tumor was pressing on my nerves.
So it's been just about two months now that I have not getting my injections (falsodex and xceva(?) injection), even with the percocet, I notice that my tumor seems to have gotten slightly bigger (could be my imagination) but that the pain had returned. Even with the percocets though, I can still feel the tumor pain which is odd. But it is not a constant pain and comes and goes.
She had me do another CT scan before the virus hit and apparently it still is the same size. Now that I have missed two months of injections, I feel like it has gotten slightly bigger, not by much, but it feels like it has grown a bit. My onco said as long as the tumor is not breaking through the skin, that I am okay then.
Oh Lordy! Don't wait for it to break through the skin! That is a not a good thing at all. See someone right away and see a surgeon and radiologist to see what can be done. At first they didn't know what to do with this tumour pressing on the skin from inside!! It was quite visible at that point. Had grown from 2cm to 5cm. So 2 months went by and then when it pinched the skin they took action! Almost too late for surgical intervention. I have written about this before on this site.
My pain in the breast started slowly and increased. Like you I could feel even with Percocet and another pain med. It continued to grow and pinched the skin so they decided to do radiation. That burnt the skin and the tumour broke through. It would not heal over. We tried for weeks but finally the doctors decided to do surgery and remove the tumour. The surgery was very successful. I had a terrific surgeon thankfully. She removed the breast and the diseased lymph nodes under the arm. So far so good. She believes she got all the disease in that location. Great.
Not to say, I am in the clear. I have small spots on my spine and in one lung besides a large tumor in my left hip which is inoperable. And now two very small nodules which are not worrisome.
Also, four unsubstantiated fractures in my pelvis. The pelvis is tilted up to the left. I also have severe osteoarthritis in the hip and in my right knee down to my foot! Starting in the left knee also.
Sounds awful, I know, but by and large I get around with just a cane and my walker for longer distances. And I can still drive! My pain is manageable right now.
Please let us know how you make out. Wishing you a good holiday weekend.
I’m waiting for my MRI appointment. With the coronavirus things are slower in the health field as they aren’t doing routine scans but I’m hoping my oncologist get a quick date. Thanks for your support. ❤️
It does not even appear to be breaking through the skin. It just seemed to get a tiny bit wider. My onco would always check it and tell me to let her know if it appears to break through. Like I mentioned, the pain comes and goes and when it goes, the pain or rather discomfort lasts for several minutes and then stops.
But when I was going for SSDI, they send you to a doctor of their own. He had mentioned to me that he had a woman come in once to see him. He said that the woman worked outside on a ferry boat and continued to work.
Apparently, she had decided no treatment at all. He said when she came into his office, he said the smell was unbearable. He said he almost got sick and when he looked at it, she had a large open wound where the tumor was but that she had refused all treatment. He said he could not understand how she could not smell the awful smell that she walked around with. But sometimes the mind is very strong and if she refused to get any treatment (chemo), she was not even stage iv then, so maybe in her mind, she really could not smell how awful it was because she was so determined that she was not getting chemo.
If I ever even saw a possibility of it opening, I would decide them. But it does not even appear to have a slit or slight opening. It does not hurt enough for me to be worried about it, just occasionally now and then.
Sounds ridiculous, but I would prefer to keep my breast with the tumor then have the breast removed. It is itchy sometimes also but that is about it. If, of course, I could see it was tearing or starting to open up, that would be a different story. But it is almost feels like it is getting a bit wider, not that the lump itself is getting bigger.
But it does only hurt not even in the tumor but around the top edge near my lower shoulder so I too feel like it is pressing on some nerves.
I do not want surgery and since no splitting or tear, I am okay with it just occasionally feeling some pain, but not the type to make me cry and not for long periods.
My onco once told me it could be the medication working and thus I feel activity. But they did do a scan and she told me according to the scan, it actually had gotten a little bit smaller, just a tiny bit.
I had a friend who had stage ii in her right breast. She so freaked out that she demanded he removed both her breasts. He tried to talk her out of it saying that was unnecessary and overkill but she insisted so he did it.
So for now, I can deal with it and I do not want radiation. I take verzenio .50 mgs. twice per day. The ibrance I only lasted three months. I hated it. My week off I was so so sick.
This will be my second month not getting my injections bc I live in NY and due to the having the highest number of people die and getting infected from the flu, they pulled most of the medical personnel from there and sent them to work in the affiliated hospital and they pulled patients from the hospital who did NOT have the virus, and made a makeshift hospital in the cancer center. So the only cancer patients they were allowing into the cancer center where those who were getting intravenous chemo. My onco was even working from home.
She made a tentative date at end of April for me to see how things stand with this virus and with the hopeful possibility of me being able to maybe come in for injections.
Right now, I am more terrified of me catching this virus. You walk outside and the very few people you see all have gloves and masks on. It is hard to even buy food. They are rationing toilet paper and even meat and milk and eggs to two per person.
It is insane here. In NY alone, we lost 7,000 souls. That is just the people who passed so right now I am more concerned about that since my b. cancer is in my lungs. I live alone so that makes it easier but none of my friends live in Brooklyn and I don't drive and food is getting harder and harder to come by. All the online services are booked through the end of May and even if you can find a store that is still open, I would need to take car service there and possibly wait an hour or longer on a line to be able to get in, then have a limited amount of time to do shopping.
I hate this. I keep an eye on the tumor but it is itchier than usual but I have missed two months of injections and my onco said that it not too big of a deal, but what is she going to tell me anyway? No stage iv are getting injections.
Can only worry about one thing at a time and right now its that virus. I do not want to catch that bc I feel if I wind up in a hospital, I won't be coming home
Things will never be the same. Dr. Faruchi said in the future, people will remember this, and that you will see a different kind of approach. That people will no longer be shaking hands to greet each other.
We have been self-quaranting, for me over a month with two very very short trips out with my mask and gloves to get my meds from pharmacy (small family owned) plus I needed to get out bc I was going crazy in my small Brooklyn apt. I just sat on a bench outside where nobody else was to get some air and clean my mind.
I am feeling so sorry for your situation. Things are getting desperate in NY. We have been hearing about the problems down there. I don't understand why you can't get your injections. They are simple enough to administer and we need them!
I sure understand the feeling of only wanting to deal with one problem at a time. I have had that happen more often as I have a husband who is not well and also a son who needs a lot of help but he can be helpful at times. Thank heavens I also have two very good daughters who help all they can. They live a 2 hr. drive away.
Regarding your breast tumor, I can only say again, do not wait until it breaks through the skin. It is much easier to deal with now.
Mine was a small break but it would not heal and I was told it never would. I knew and was worried sick that it would eventually start to smell. Like that lady who refused treatment. Mine was growing even with treatment! I had radiation and it didn't stop it.
I am 79 yrs. old so losing a breast was "small potatoes" to me.
I think you are younger so I can understand your feelings about losing a breast. My youngest daughter was more concerned about it then I was. To her it was upsetting.
She was asking the surgeon if I could get some phycological help after the surgery. So thoughtful but I was thinking, hell no, I want a party! Different strokes as they say.
And for getting groceries, can you phone your American Cancer Group and see if they can offer some help? Maybe ask your family doctor if there is some help available. Is there no help line set up for people who are alone?
Wishing you all the best, and some solutions soon. Take care,
Cheers, June S.
• in reply to
That is exactly what I’m experiencing. I get ct scans from neck to pelvis every three months but they never mention the original cancer. When I asked the ct technician she said the ct wouldn’t show the breast cancer ?? If that is true then it hasn’t been checked in two years. That really bothered me.
I don't understand the answer you got. It certainly was a Cat Scan that showed the progression in my breast tumour over time. Talk to your oncologist and get a copy of the doctor's report on your scan. The doctor that reads the scan tells you what he sees, not the technician.
Can you get a second opinion? The wrinkling is the precursor to pinching the skin. And my understanding is that if it breaks through and the open sore gets to large then they can do nothing. I was fortunate. It was caught just in time for surgical intervention.
I’m in a smaller area and not a lot of options. He is sending me for the MRI so that will show everything. Thanks.
I do wear a sports bra so I don’t have to change my clothes. I guess with dense breasts it doesn’t pick it up. When I had the MRI on my hip in the beginning and the report said cancer the first thing my doctor did was send me for a CT scan. It came back all clear. No sign of cancer. It was a month before I had a biopsy due to a secretary forgetting to send the requisition 😞. When the biopsy results for my hip came back breast cancer not only was I shocked but so was my family doctor. She could not feel anything there. The ct scan didn’t pick it up and neither did the mammogram. They used a different mammogram machine ( stronger maybe ) and it found a small lump. It was all so very confusing and scary. Everyone was shaking their heads.
Yes. Looking to see if it has grown.
Hi there
I get intermittent pain in my left breast at the site of my original cancer.
I had a mastectomy 12 years ago, followed by a reconstruction 8 years ago.
As far as I know I have no remaining lump in my breast, but mets to lungs and spine.
Hopefully your pain is one of those random ones that means nothing and is just there to send us into a tizzy!!
Clare x
• in reply to
I hope you are right. We automatically think cancer with every twinge. I’ve had a lot of tightness in my rib cage which seems like my lungs are too big, if that makes any sense. I just had a ct scan and my lungs were clear. I do have scar tissue at the bottom of my right lung from a car accident where my lung collapsed but it doesn’t show anything else. Maybe it is phantom pain like you mention. I wish they had removed the lump but they don’t seem to do that once it has spread. Thanks for the reply.
• in reply to
It’s horrible having something remaining in your body that you don’t want. Perhaps you could find a new way of thinking of the lump. Goodness knows what!! Maybe a control centre thats keeping everything else in check and contained.
I think I’ve had too much sun - I will shut up now
Clare x
• in reply to
I like your idea 😀. I guess with my lump I will never truly be alone. Me and my sidekick the lump 😜. Enjoy the sun our sun is peaking through the clouds but is really cold here today.
• in reply to
You could give your sidekick a name!!
Where do you live? Not normal for us to have hot sunshine in north Wales, and others not!!
Clare x
• in reply to
I’m in Nova Scotia, Canada. We usually have mild weather by now but it’s been windy and cold for the past couple of days.
Content on HealthUnlocked does not replace the relationship between you and doctors or other healthcare professionals nor the advice you receive from them.
Never delay seeking advice or dialling emergency services because of something that you have read on HealthUnlocked.
How did you find out your breast cancer had metastasized?
Was anyone on this list “cancer free” until her initial diagnosis at stage IV? Also do you feel worse on the 7 days off?
N. E. D. on Ibrance 
Good News I am in remission!
Looking for trials to live longer
