My Journey

I was 26 when I found my first lump. My family doctor, who treated my grandmother who passed away from breast cancer, dismissed it and told me to go back to him every 3 months to monitor it. I wasn't happy with this, so I went to a breast clinic. They sent me to a specialist that day and I had the lump removed 2 days later. It was a fibroadenoma, but it was quite large. Since then, I've had yearly appointments with my specialist, as well as scans, mammograms and biopsies, when needed.

To date, I've had another 3 operations to remove 8 more lumps. My most recent operation was last week, where I had a fibroadenoma and phyllodes tumor removed. I have 2 fibroadenomas being monitored in my other breast. I requested to also have these removed, but my specialist advised against it. She is happy to monitor them for now. I trust her, so I am ok to go with what she suggests.

I hadn't heard of phyllodes tumors prior to seeing my specialist today for my post-op review. I'm lucky my results are benign, but it worries me that now I'm at risk of developing these type of lumps as well.