7 years ago, i found a very tiny lump in my then partners breast. It was so small and deep inside that even she wasn't aware of it. It was about half the size of a pea. I rang my sister who's a nurse and she said don't worry, women have lumps come and go like that all the time and they're nearly always benign. Get it checked when she next has a dr's appointment.
This was in 3 weeks and my wife wasn't worried. However the next morning while she was at work I went to the dr's and insisted on an appointment the same day. The receptionist said there was nothing for six weeks, then i started describing my wifes' lump and women that were waiting over heard and volunteered their appointments, I was feeling pretty emotional and really thankful of their support.
The receptionist suddenly found a vacancy the following day. To cut a long story short, her doctor had her in for a biopsy the following day, the specialist discovered that it was the worst form of the breast cancer types - Stave IV and had metastasised and had her in for immediate surgery. Well we discussed the options but a full mastectomy was the only really safe option given that the cancer had spread to her lymph nodes under one arm. It took 10 days before she was in having surgery and within that time the lump had grown to the size of a gold ball and an irregular breast shape was visible at this point.
She had a full mastectomy then 1 year of chemotherapy followed by some radiotherapy then 7 years of Tamoxifen tablets. The chemo was tough, just for me as her partner to sit with her and watch her going throught it. I also met many others in the chemo ward who over the year I got to know, and some got better while others suddenly stopped coming and never returned.
We have sadly been divorced for 3 years but she's finally off all medication and has been given the all-clear. Her Oncologist told me that if she had have waited even three weeks given the type of cancer involved and it's rate of growth, that the outcome could have been quite different. What my ex had was the worst case scenario which thankfully was caught quickly. However most women find that their lumps are Benign. Still, it's definitely worth checking out if you notice anything at all. Never feel embarrassed that your wasting the doctors time. They don't think so and it's way better for them to say, there's nothing there, than to say, if only you came to see us when you first noticed something?
