mastectomy?

Question

how would I know what a lump feels like .No one ever show me in 47 years what to look for and how to check for a lump in my breast.

Answer 1

If you think that you have a lump, just make an appointment. No one on here is a doctor, and you will drive yourself crazy untill you know for sure. So just go to a doctor.

Answer 2

My husband had a lump removed from his right breast. He felt it as he was showering. There is a thickness or actual lump. You'll know it. Women actually have to do a monthly self exam which is a little more difficult to feel. Fortunately, my husband's lump was benign.

Answer 3

You people are going too far in the begining itself. If you are not able to check up the lump yourself please go to an Oncologist and he will check up and have a mammogram test done to detect if you have cancer or not. Masectory (Removal of Breast) comes afterward, when once it is confirmed. ASAP see the doctor for evalluation.

In the meantime I am giving below the symptoms of breast cancer for your information and checking up yourself.

Breast cancer is a cancer of breast tissue. Worldwide, it is the most common form of cancer in females, affecting, at some time in their lives, approximately one out of nine to thirteen women who reach age ninety in the Western world. It is the second most fatal cancer in women (after lung cancer), and the number of cases has significantly increased since the 1970s, a phenomenon partly blamed on modern lifestyles in the Western world.

Symptoms
Early signs of breast cancer.Early breast cancer causes no symptoms and is not painful. Usually breast cancer is discovered before any symptoms are present, either on mammography or by feeling a breast lump. A lump under the arm or above the collarbone that does not go away may be present. Other possible symptoms include breast discharge, nipple inversion and changes in the skin overlying the breast.

Screening
Due to the high incidence of breast cancer among older women, screening is now recommended in many countries. Screening methods suggested include breast self-examination and mammography. Mammography has been shown to reduce breast cancer-related mortality by 20-30%. Routine (annual) mammography of women older than 50 is encouraged as a screening method to diagnose early breast cancer and has demonstrated a protective effect in multiple clinical trials.

Normal (left) versus cancerous (right) mammography image.Mammography is still the modality of choice for screening of early breast cancer, and breast cancers detected by mammography are usually smaller than those detected clinically.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been shown to detect cancers that are not visible on mammograms, but it has several disadvantages. For example, although it is 27-36% more sensitive, it is less specific than mammography. As a result, MRI studies will have more false positives (up to 5%), which may have undesirable financial and psychological costs. It is also a relatively expensive procedure, and one which requires the intravenous injection of a chemical agent to be effective. Proposed Indications for using MRI for screening include

Answer 4

My wife had one the size of a marble. She had it removed. it was malignant. She had to have radiation and takes arimidex for five years. The radiation made her breast sore and tender .It has beena year now. It takes a long time to recover from the radiation damage. There is a divot where the surgery was. We will continue with life and see.