Lump in Arm - cancer? HELP PLEASE...

06-22-2005, 11:13 AM

HI everyone,

I didn't know where else to turn so I am hoping you guys can shed some light and calm me down a bit?

I don't know when this started and it may have been there for years so I can't pinpoint this. I would think I would have noticed though. But I am not sure. I never paid attention really. But I would say about 2 years ago on my right arm - sort of where the bend of your arm is from the upper part - what do they call that mid section anyway? haha. Ok to give you an exact area - if you put your arm out and palm up - past the crease of the arm - the upper portion right past the crease - my one arm is lumpy looking vs. the other. I don't get a distinct hardened ball shape but anyone I show it too sees that it is swollen looking. I would say it's the size of a golf ball but again it's not a distinct hard ball shape. It's swollen and when I pull the skin around it to get a distinct feel of this hardness it's huge compared to my other arm. I keep thinking it's a fatty tissue but it's been hurting me the past week.

To give you a history - last year when I got concerned, the dr. did a sonogram and thought he saw something but then said his machine is good but older and sent me to an MRI AND an MRA (which checks blood flow). Both came back great. Nothing wrong. My primary then told me that alls fine but I should look out to see if it's gotten bigger or redness or something like that (I guess redness is a sign of cancer?) Well this week it's been hurting a lot - not the lumpy part but the surrounding areas I would say. I don't know if it's bigger but it appears that way to me. I am at a point where i don't know if I am imaginging things or it's there.

I wanted to know if you guys thought this is serious enough for me to check again or would you stick to the one MRI you did last year and think it's all ok? Have you heard of a lump on an arm before? I am getting so scared. I guess part of it is also that I am feeling this pain in my left breast too but I feel absolutely no lump or anything but real pain.

PLEASE any advice I'd appreciate.

Thanks for letting me vent.

06-22-2005, 12:04 PM

BeingThin,
Nothing that is said here can reassure you like a doctor can. Go ahead and make a new appointment. If they kept images from the sonogram or MRI - they could do measurements to see if it has in fact grown since then. And redness around it would indicate an infection - hope that helps calm you down some.
Are you at the age where you can get a mammogram yet? If so, get one scheduled. Any breast pain should be brought to a doctor's attention. And a mammogram is a very simple procedure that is very reassuring.
I'm over on the bone board alot if you need me.

06-27-2005, 12:21 PM

Dear Being Thin,
I really think you should make an appointment and get this checked again. If you think it has grown the doctor should do more scans and these can be compared to the ones that were done before. You are not being paranoid about this. It just pays to be watchful and have things checked on. It may in fact be nothing to worry about, but it is better to be safe than sorry.

On an X-ray of my 17 year old son's knee, the radiologist saw a type of tumor. We went to see an expert (orthopedic oncologist) who says that it is a non-ossifying fibroma (a benign tumor that should cause no problems). Even with that she did another X-ray with a marker and told us to come back in 6 weeks for another X-ray to check and see if it is growing. I will feel much better about it when we get an X-ray showing no growth. So you see, even if the doctor thought your lump was nothing to be concerned about last year--it wouldn't hurt to go back and have it checked again. I know that sometimes it is hard to talk to doctors and voice your concerns. If you have trouble like that--telling the doctor how much this concerns you, please just write down or type on the computer and print out your concerns and questions. It often seems like doctors are in such a hurry that they don't take the time to really hear us. Hope that you will get this checked on soon.

Best wishes.

Lump in Arm - cancer? HELP PLEASE...

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