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Re: Mass under arm pit, lumps in breast, low grade temps

From: anonymous@obgyn.net
Thu, 7 Aug 2003 16:15:00 -0400 (EDT)

Dear Sunny- Any persistant mass in the breast or axilla should be biopsied. If you d not have insurance, consult someone at your local hospital for a low-cost clinic for evaluation. A needle biopsy of the masses may help answer some serious questions. The general fever and adenopathy can be due to so many things--have you seen an infectious disease specialist? He or she may be able to provide some insight. Hannah Brooks, MD, FACS

> Hi! I have been having some various problems for about a year. I have
> been running low grade temps, having swollen lymph nodes, elevated white
> blood count (12,000-15,000) for about a year. A little over a year ago,
> a doctor ended up removing a lymph node on my left neck area that kept
> growing and after extensive antibiotic treatments over a 3 month time
> period...continued to grow. It was called benign...but "reactive". I
> have been to NUMEROUS doctors, including an Oncologist. the Oncologist
> found a lump in my breast almost a year ago....he ordered a
> Mammogram...it came back "suspicous" and I had to go back for a
> sonogram. It came back "ok"...or the doctor deemed it was probably just
> fibrocystic tissue. Well, about 6 months later, the knot was still
> there and had grown some...and I was still running fevers with elevated
> white blood count. Another doctor noticed the lump and he also ordered
> ANOTHER mammogram...which ALSO came back.."abnormal". Then they sent me
> for an MRI...which came back..."inconclusive...more tests recommended".
> But my doctor called it "normal, probably fibrocystic". By that time a
> mass had begun to grow under my arm pit. The doctor just shrugged it
> off as "probably the way I was built". Believe me...this has NOT always
> been there and I had NOT gained weight..but lost! I got SICK of
> doctors....stopped going......and got off all the medicines
> (antibiotics, muscle relaxers, etc).....started eating organic and
> nutritous foods...with lots of vegetables and fruit. Taking lots of
> vitamins.,...exercising...etc! I have lost some weight doing so...but
> the mass has grown A LOT...in just 4 months time frame! Now...it has
> grown up into my upper shoulder and I have a lot of tenderness in that
> shoulder and weakness in that left arm. I am also having rib tenderness
> on that left side now. The mass is now noticeable even with my clothes
> on. =( I went for my yearly physical last week...to a DIFFERENT
> doctor...and he found not only the same lump in my breast, and noticed
> the ever growing mass...but he also found a small lump in my right
> breast as well! =( He thinks the breast lumps are probably
> fibrocystic...and that the mass under my arm has no connection to those
> lumps. He is concerned about the mass under my arm. He did take me off
> of caffeine and I am on high doses of vitamin E. He ran some blood work
> and is ordering my health records to determine what to do. He wants me
> to see a Hematalogist, and he is thinking that I need that mass taken
> off and biopsied. Right now...I am in the waiting stage! Which is about
> to drive me crazy! And to top all this off...my husband...about 2 months
> ago...had canceled our insurance!!! Anyway, my question is.........what
> COULD this all mean? breast cancer? probably not? Could fibrocystic
> spread to my arm pit and up into my shoulder? what could the mass be?
> cancer? a tumor? just a cyst of some kind? What should I do in the
> meantime? This new doctor I am going to is upset that the other doctors
> have not already done a biopsy before now. But it is not his
> field...since he doesn't think it is gynecology related. I feel I have
> been tossed to and fro and I don't know which way to go now!! I fear the
> doctors have really neglected me in all of this. Or am I over reacting?
> Should I be concerned...or not at all????? Thanks!!!!!!!!
>
> --
> Sunny Dawn
>

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