[Becky]

Dear Karen

I had some hard lumps near my scarline 18 months out from surgery. They seemed to come from nowhere (I had lumpectomy too) and I was seen immediately with a mammo and ultrasound. My breast surgeon who is the best said that it was scar tissue but would biopsy if I wanted. I WANTED and it was scar tissue. That area still bothers me (not the biopsy but the scar tissue). I think it is because it pulls and doesn't have the flexibility or elasticity as normal tissue. Can you insist on a biopsy? I know the EU is different than the USA in that we can insist more than where there is socialized medicine.

Also - pain - all of us are different but it can take 18 months for nerves that were cut to regenerate and that can be weird in that you might have more scar tissue in there than you think and this presses and distorts the nerves. You may also have developed a keloid that you don't even know about. Pain is a beast but it is probably from scar tissue and the way you healed. I would stay on top of it because you just never know.

I am hoping you can get a small biopsy just to put your mind at ease. If not, watch it like a hawk. Don't manually manipulate it too much. Feel it to understand it and have your husband or partner feel it and understand too. Then leave it alone so you don't inflame it and feel it (and have him feel it too) in 2 weeks. I would time it between your menses and do it about 2 weeks after. One thing about a lump is that you just can't leave it alone, eh? I know and you can actually hurt the tissue underneath a blob of scar or something so it swells. So, examine and understand it and then leave it alone for 2 weeks and examine and understand it again. If it is any different - shape, size etc then you have to be a maniac freak.

I also have Daniel Quinlan's book "Beating Cancer with Nutrition" and I am an almost 6 year survivor.

Hugs to you.