Breast lumps

Hi,
I'm a 27 year old female. My mother was diagnosed with breast cancer at 44 and died at 46. My maternal grandmother had ovarian in her 50's.

Since early July, I've been in the middle of diagnostic tests for a lump in each breast. My left breast lump was diagnosed as a benign cluster of cysts by ultrasound. Shortly after that ultrasound, I noticed pain in my right breast that did not go away with cycles. The pain was pretty mild at first but I eventually noticed a mass. The mass is moveable but not free floating. It stays in one place. It's oblong and misshapen. Parts of it are smooth and other parts are textured. It hurts so bad especially when touched. I went to my PCP and she thought it was benign but ordered an ultrasound. After a painfully long two weeks, I finally had my ultrasound and they were not able to find anything. I made an immediate appointment with a breast surgeon who says that it's not uncommon to not see lumps on imaging. Awesome. She went on to tell me that she "thinks" it's benign because of its shape but that she had seen cancers like that before. I don't have insurance until September 1st and she insisted that I could wait until after then to biopsy the lump. This worried me because if she couldn't rule out cancer, isn't this urgent? My age and insurance shouldn't matter. She couldn't rule out cancer and actually stated that she had encountered cancers that felt like my lump. Needless to say, not that great of a doctor to be reassuring and not reassuring at the same time.

Also, I've stopped touching my lump and now my breast is severely painful. More so than it was at any point previously. I can't even touch it without wincing. My other breast with the cyst hurts more than usual too. What should I do? How am I supposed to wait that long for a biopsy when my doctor didn't even rule out cancer and now I'm experiencing so much pain?

Thanks!

[zouzi]

Hi there,
Please don't panic...Waiting two weeks for your biopsy won't change anything on the outcome of the findings.It's true that sometimes lumps do not show on mammography and ultrasound tests,but since the lump is palpable a biopsy should be done which is the only test that can give you a correct diagnosis.No doctor or breast specialist can tell with absolute certainty if a lump is cancerous or not just by palpation.So try not to jump to any conclusion thinking of the worst.Pain is almost never associated with breast cancer.What you have, could be a cyst,an abscess or a fibroadenoma.All three could cause quite a lot of pain.
I had a small cancerous lump 3 years ago and before my scheduled mammogram, I never had any symptoms or felt any pain whatsoever.. I waited almost 3 months to have my surgery and could have waited even longer.(I am doing very well now thank God)
Take one step at a time sweetie,and try not worry so much..things might turn up to be just fine..In the meantime,you could take some over the counter pain medication( Tylenol but nothing containing aspirin) and wear a good supportive bra to help lessen the pain.
Please let us know about your biopsy results by adding your post below the answers you have received.
Hoping that all will turn up just fine for you...
Sending you my best wishes... :)