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Q: I found a small lump under my arm which is not painful unless pressed upon and pink blothces appeared around my nipple. A mamogram and ultrasound were negative. what could this be if not cancer?
Did they tell you wnat the lump under your arm might be? If not, please read our post on armpit lumps; you might find it helpful. As for the blotches on your breast, these may or may not be related to the lump. If the mammogram and ultrasound were negative, there's not much you can do other than wait and see what happens. If the blotches come and go, this might be a hormonal issue, related to your period. If they stay, and continue to worsen, you'd want to see a breast specialist. You might have a developing infection; or (MUCH less likely), they could be a sign of inflammatory breast cancer. Best of luck to you - I hope the lump and the blotches both disappear on their own. PJH
I'm sorry you've had this tough news. My fellow expert patient here, Phyllis, is a 12-year IBC survivor, so take heart - while IBC has a lower 5-year survival rate than other breast cancers, it's still possible to beat it. Best of luck as you go through treatment - and stay in touch here, if you feel you need help. We're here for you - PJH
I'm so glad that you saw the doctor and got properly diagnosed. I still remember how scared I was when I got the biopsy report in April 1998 and found out that I had inflammatory breast cancer. You have a long road of treatment ahead of you, but keep in mind that any five year stats you hear are based on treatments of at least five years ago and treatments are better today. I've been fine since finishing treatment in Jan. 1999.
Two good resources if you haven't already found them are www.ibcresearch.org and www.ibcsupport.org. The ibcsupport website has a link to a mailing list that you might be interested in. The mailing list has been an important source of information and support for me over the years.
Thank you for your reminder that women need to be assertive about getting breast changes diagnosed. I hope your treatment and recovery go well. Stay in touch and let us know how you are doing.
There are a lot of lymph nodes under the arm. Think of them as vesicles that hold substances. the lymph nodes under the arms are very open to environmental influences such as antiperspirantants. It is very possible that the chemicals that you apply to your underarms is causing a problem. However, there are many other things that can cause problems: to be really safe, call your doctor..
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Readers, I inadvertently deleted no1sales11's post of 1/22/11. I was able to recover it, and here it is below. (Very sorry, no1sales11...)
"Just wanted to let you know that I did have inflammatory breast cancer. I returned to the doctor and insisted on seeing a specialist. This is a very aggressive form a cancer with a low 5-year survival rate. My symptoms were typical, discoloration of the nipple, a lump (not always present) and not detected by a mammogram or ultrasound. It is rare and because of this, it seems doctors dismiss this diagnosis. This is the worst thing they can do because of its aggressive nature. Please stress to your writers to get this looked after immediately if they have these symptoms. The risk of having IBC is low but time is a crucial factor."