I'm currently trying a wait and see approach with 4 large breast cysts. Large as in walnut, grape, grape and Almond Joy. Really. Found the lump, ignored it for a month or two then when it didn't go away I went for the mamogram, and found out the lump was just one of several lumps.
Went for the ultrasound: ("Hmm? Lump? No, It's big - Let's call it a mass!" said the wayyy tooo cheerful ultrasound tech)
I got the written ultrasound report ("no abnormal findings" - WTF????? I have a lump the size of a candy bar in my breast and you're telling me this isn't abnormal???)
I went to the doctor/nurse practitioner. The Nurse Practitioner was way too casual for my internal state of total anxiety: "Yes you have 4 cysts. What should I do? Well....Have you thought about losing weight?"
Uh - excuse me? could you just chop my bewbs off NOW with a chainsaw, dammit! Really. Now. My nurse practitioner smiled her vacant Stepford Wives smile and calmly suggested Weight Watchers instead. I didn't hurt her, as tempting as it was. I just asked for a consult with my favorite surgeon: a great doctor who also has TWO sets of twins.
Anyhow. For several weeks I tried wrapping my mind around all the possibilites. Last week I FINALLY went to see my favorite surgeon. She did my two prior surgeries for breast lump removals in 2008 and 2009. Love her. Trust her. She explained that cysts are rarely cancerous, come and go and being overweight can contribute. So, although my Nurse practitioner's message delivery was abominable - her content was spot on. Vitamins have been useful for some folks in shrinking some cysts some of the time...Draining sometimes helps - but sometimes they come back. Surgery is an option - but the cysts are big and I don't relish the idea of my breasts looking like swiss cheese.
The doc says the cysts are in deep and difficult to feel (What do you mean you can't feel them? WTF???? : walnut, grape, grape Almond Joy. I mean, Really? Is Jimmy Hoffa hiding in my right bewb, too??????) The doctor can't feel them because I am well endowed and if she can't feel them to hold them she can't do the aspiration in her office. I'd have to have an ultrasound guided aspiration (translated it means some radiology geek who works in a dark room and reads xrays all day and has no people skills will be the lucky guy to simultaneously rub an ultrasound wand on my well endowed Teamster-hiding breast and poke me with an needle.
Good times.
Which is why I am trying vitamins (E, B6, Evening Primrose and B1) and waiting another month to see what happens. The cysts recently have begun to hurt and I have been binding my chest as certain movements feels like ripping/tearing/burning. OUCH. I am so not loving being a girl right now.
In the mean time I still have this on my Christmas wish list:
have polycystic ovaries and fibrocystic breasts. for the most part, cysts are benign. in fact, people that have a proclivity to make cysts are also the least likely to end up with cancerous tumors.
ReplyDeleteE works great. Also warm compresses. Also cabbage wraps. Also no caffeine. not even chocolate.
DD gal here. Have endured fibrocystic breasts for my entire life. Doc says I'm the only one that will know if I have a legitimate mass versus a cyst because he only mauls the gurls once a year. The "plus" is I get to maul my gurls often in search or rogue lumps I've never encountered. Lots of standing in front of a mirror looking for pitting, puckering, and lopsidedness. lots of groping, squeezing and poking looking for strange stuff that wasn't there YESTERDAY.
yes, I'm a big gurl too but thin, I still had fibrocystic breasts and polycystic ovaries and thyroid issues and ...
NPs are not all they're cracked up to be.
nuff said
Oh yuck! I hope they shrink fast for you. I have not had that problem but have other friends who do also. I am not well endowed and luckily have never had issues--other than serious flatness whe I was a teen! LOL
ReplyDeleteOh I am sure that is not the Christmas gift you were hoping for. Hope they go away and I totally hear you on the lurking, I have been doing the same
ReplyDeleteNO FUN!
ReplyDeleteI hear hot tubbing helps. I wonder where you could do that.
Well that all sounds horrible and scary and I'm so sorry you are having this going on!
ReplyDeleteI have to say though, I would never have this problem. If I were to get a pebble sized bump in a boob it would be immediately noticeable and I would probably walk crooked because of it.
OMG...you are too funny. And the whole Jimmy Hoffa thing. I didn't know anyone outside Detroit knew the whole saga. But glad to know they are cysts. They do come and go. The comments about weight...like it is just oh, so easy. If it were, I would already be a 100 pounds lighter! Take care, -Z
ReplyDeleteOOOOWWWWWWWW!
ReplyDeleteSorry about the Teamster in your breast...I dont think I would care much for the delivery of the Nurse Practioner either, as I would be freaking out too. The whole thing sounds like anything but fun, and I am sorry. Hang in there....
ReplyDeleteno advice, but wanted to let you know I'm thinking of you.
ReplyDeleteForget Jimmy Hoffa, maybe we now know where Bin Ladin has been hiding out! Sorry you're girls are giving you grief and hope that the B1 and all else works quickly so you can get back to normal...although I hear normal is only a setting on a washing machine.
ReplyDelete