How to spot signs and symptoms of Breast Cancer
Reblog to literally save a life
whish they told us this in school, all they did was say “feel for lumps, you will know when you feel it”
This is important, even if it doesn’t work with your blog theme REBLOG IT!!!!
Women need to know this, not all of us have ever been told what we need to look out for!
yeah reblogging especially for my transmasc fellows who (like me) might be real uncomfortable with their chests and not know what to watch out for because we try to avoid this kind of thing (just me? okay)
I read all the health pamphlets as a child.
“Look for lumps,” they said, “watch out for unusual lumps and discharge.”
They did NOT say, “By the way, some areolas have little bumps on them. And some get pimple-ish things around the edges. Or on the nipples. These are not the lumps we are talking about, and that is not the discharge we are talking about.”
I spent years worrying about whether I had breast cancer. (I got exams, every year or two, and those were always fine and I stopped worrying. Mostly. But then a new tiny bump would show up on the edges and I would wonder IS THIS IT? …but not ask to see a doctor because 14-year-old girls worry about everything, all the time, and six months ago the doctor poked at my breasts and didn’t say anything alarming, so this is… probably fine? Like last time?)
I had a slightly more present and caring doctor tell me what I need to be looking for specifically are lumps that feel like peas or grains of rice.
That distinction cleared so much up for me, like, breast tissue is all lumps and bumps normally (which is what mamories feel like to me). What the hell do they mean by lumps????
Now I know.
[waves] Got diagnosed with breast cancer at 28. Still going through radiation and fun times rn. I was diagnosed because I went in after feeling a lump.
I’m not going to act like my experience is universal. I don’t want you to treat it as universal. But maybe my experience of what I physically felt will help someone.
When I caught that lump, it felt like something foreign in my breast. It was on the underside and not near the areola. It felt like someone had inserted some hard, rock-esque (not as hard as a rock, but you know, harder than human fat and meat and such should be) substance beneath the surface. The rest of my boob squished as boobs should squish, but that part did not. If I pulled hard across my boob to stretch the skin out, I could see the outline of the lump bulging beneath the surface. It was semi-movable but of course you couldn’t like, move it around willy nilly. One time when I lay down on it, I felt discomfort because the rest of my body was squishing and that part was not (that’s how I learned I had a lump in the first place). But every other point in time, it didn’t hurt.
Even without the education that is wonderfully shown up here, I KNEW. Immediately. Because it felt like nothing that should ever have been in my body. It did not feel like it was some functional thing in my body. I don’t like that they say without explaining, “You’ll know it when you’ll feel it,” but thankfully, blessedly, in my case, it was so.
My dad and sister also got breast cancer. I think my sister found out via a regularly scheduled mammogram. Not everyone feels a lump. My dad, he was exercising and it chafed against his shirt and he noticed his nipple bleeding.
This leads me to something I wanna encourage in y’all. If you’re not sure, ask. Ask, ask, ask, ask. The good-quality docs are here to answer your questions, all questions. That’s why they’re there. And if the doctor isn’t 100% sure with what they see, play it on the safe side and get tested. I’ve had a real good primary doctor who listens and takes precautions. When she saw it, she informed me this lump was probably benign. “But because of your family history” [I’m not even telling you all my family history] “let’s get you tested.” A conversation of “this might be because of your period” turned into “this is abnormal but not breast cancer” turned into “this is a precancer” turned into “well, it’s metastatic breast cancer. it hopped into your lymph node, too.” Boy oh boy am I glad we didn’t stop at “Well, it’s probably caused from your period.” That caution, plus me going in to ask what I thought might be a stupid question, saved my life, y’all.
I’m not an anxious person. So I’m not speaking out of paranoia and projecting my unusual incident onto you all. But it is pragmatic to ask, which is why I encourage you to take an active role in reassuring yourself if something is / isn’t benign.
Most of y’all will get the benign results. Please don’t immediately jump to the conclusion every lump is breast cancer. But checking “just in case” is how my sister, my dad, and I got caught early. As much as you can (I know we all have varying means and resources), be proactive. If you have a family history, get your genes tested for the relevant mutations, health conditions, yada yada. Know if you have something that makes cancer more likely in you specifically. Do regularly scheduled check-ups. Even in this hellhole USA healthcare system that costs out the wazoo, my crappy poor person health insurance covered preventative cancer screenings for free. That meant mammograms, that meant ultrasounds, that meant MRIs. Hella lot cheaper to be safe than sorry. Please go in if you notice something you consider abnormal. And ask.
