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I'm a 38 year old woman with a strong family history of cancer. My mom and first cousin both had breast cancer which spread. My brother- leukemia and a first cousin-lupus. I have a positive AnA and a mass in my right breast with an enlarged lymph node. My mammogram and ultra sounds shows nothing because of dense tissue. But my breast ache like a toothache sometimes. My breast has drawn up so my right breast is shorter then my left significantly. Should I be worried?
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Hello Anonymous,
Welcome to the EmpowHER community and thank you for coming to us with your concerns. You are not "crazy" to be concerned considering your strong family history for breast cancer, a detected mass in the right breast and enlarged lymph node in the right breast.
When you mention the positive AnA, are you referring to the ANA or antinuclear antibody test?
For all our readers, the antinuclear antibody (ANA) test is used as a primary test to help evaluate a person for autoimmune disorders that affect many tissues and organs throughout the body (systemic) and is most often used as one of the tests to help diagnose systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).
Anonymous, was a MRI of the breast suggested?
MRI, used with mammography and breast ultrasound, can be a useful diagnostic tool.
Recent research has found that MRI can locate some small breast lesions sometimes missed by mammography. It can also help detect breast cancer in women with breast implants and in younger women who tend to have dense breast tissue. Mammography may not be as effective in these cases.
Since MRIs do not use radiation, they may be used to screen women younger than 40 and to increase the number of screenings per year for women at high risk for breast cancer.
As someone who has been diagnosed and battled both brain and breast cancer, I urge you to pursue further testing.
Please let us know if we can be of any further help.
Regards,
January 16, 2015 - 9:43amMaryann
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Thank so much for your quick response. And yes i test ppositive for lupus. However, my sedrate levels arent high enough. But they havent been tested in over 3 years. I get the MRI on the 21st of this month. I do have dense tissue thats whats making this so hard. Im super nervous about this and what it could possibly mean.
January 16, 2015 - 10:25amThis Comment
Hello Anonymous,
I can appreciate your anxiety. From my own experience with breast cancer, the final determining test would be a biopsy of the mass and enlarged lymph node.
Hang in there:)
January 16, 2015 - 10:48amMaryann
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Thank you...
January 17, 2015 - 1:24amThis Comment