scared to death

I'm 61 years old and have had an abnormal ultra sound about a week ago, showed a large mass on the right  side of the breast above the nipple. Its also about the same area that I had a benign lumpectomy 30 years ago.
I've skipped my last two mamographys and now I'm absolutely terrified at the findings. The are doing a breast aspiration tomorrow, although the radiologist has told my doctor he's almost sure its bad.
I have flu like systoms now almost all the time and some pain in the area. Can anybody give me any hope

[loridun]

Hope is what we're all about, girl!  

Even if the results are "bad," there are amazing treatments, amazing communities of support and miracles all around.  Most of us on this forum have had "bad" results at one time or another.  The sun keeps rising, and we have a choice whether to live with a disease or die with a disease.  Everyone has their burdens to bear...breast cancer is that burden for most of us here.  

I hope your results are surprisingly "good," but no matter what they are, there is hope!

Best,
Lori

[SueYoung55]

Are you having an aspiration or a biopsy? What exactly did they say to you?

[Eliza1959]

With news like this everyone is scared, and that is fine. Even if you are found to have cancer there are different types of cancer and stages or grades of cancer. A lot of your outcome will depend on the size of the tumor, whether the tumor cells are well differentiated meaning they are slow growing and almost complete in structure or poorly differentiated meaning they are not well organized and grow faster, whether you have positive lymph nodes, perineural invasion, etc. See a surgeon, have a biopsy, and wait for the pathology. I did research on the web once I knew the pathology and found lots of links about lumpectomy vs mastectomy, total hysterectomy, treatment with chemo and radiation vs radiation alone, aromatase inhibitors (antiestrogen agents) and started making a list of questions so I could make a better decision about what I WANTED. Its overwhelming I know. Just hang in there and take it day by day. If you would like to talk you can e-mail me back. There are also loads of women on here who have been where you are and perhaps can provide some comfort and encouragement. Your attitude has a huge bearing on your ability to deal with this.