Signs of Breast Cancer
- After a 25-weeks pregnant Nancie Allen felt a burning sensation in her breast, she went to see her doctor where she was eventually told she had triple-negative breast cancer.
- Most of the time, breast pain is attributed to a noncancerous (benign) breast condition and rarely indicates breast cancer. Even still, it can be a sign of breast cancer and a burning sensation, specifically, can be a sign of a rare type of breast cancer called inflammatory breast cancer.
- A new lump or mass in the breast is the most common symptom of breast cancer, but there are other signs to look out for. Overall, the most important thing is to know what your breasts are likely normally and to report any changes to your doctor.
Allen, 32, of Australia, is a newlywed excited about the upcoming arrival of her baby. She’d been having a “dream run” of a pregnancy up until her third trimester when she started feeling a burning sensation deep in her right breast. She was 25-weeks pregnant at the time and immediately went to see her doctor.
Read MoreThree biopsies confirmed her suspicion: she’d developed triple-negative breast cancer that had already spread to her lymph nodes.
“I was devastated, this year wasn’t supposed to be like this, this year was supposed to be about having my baby,” she said. “I am so happy because I am pregnant and we are having a son and I am scared because of this cancer.”
Allen’s grandmother had died of breast cancer at age 47, so she had always been good about watching for potential signs of the disease. That being said, pain is a less common one, though she’s glad she had the symptom.
“Breast cancer isn’t supposed to hurt, that’s what they always say,” she said. “But I am so lucky that it did because there were no other symptoms and I wouldn’t have found it so early.’
She’ll undergo four rounds of chemotherapy before the baby is born followed by harsher chemotherapy and surgery. Now she’s taking time away from work to prioritize rest. Allen and her husband have started a GoFundMe page with a goal of $80,000 Australian dollars to raise money for “covering time off work whilst Nancie goes through treatment, hospital parking and costs associated with raising a new born baby.”
“We want the baby to come as close to full term as possible, that means past 37 weeks, so I have to take it easy,” she said. “It isn’t recommended that women work if they are having chemo while pregnant.”
And in the end, Allen wants to share her story to encourage others to always see their doctors when something is off with their health.
“I am so grateful I took the burning feeling seriously and that my doctor did too,” she said. “Women need to make sure if they are in doubt they see a doctor.”
Understanding Breast Cancer
Breast cancer is a common cancer that has been the subject of much research. Many women develop breast cancer every year, but men can develop this cancer too though it is more rare, in part, due to the simple fact that they have less breast tissue.
Screening for breast cancer is typically done via mammogram, which looks for lumps in the breast tissue and signs of cancer. And while mammograms aren't perfect, they are still a great way to begin annual screening. The American Cancer Society (ACS) recommends women begin mammogram screening for breast cancer at age 45. Even still, we know that a breast cancer diagnosis can come at any age.
When Should I Get a Mammogram?
It's also important to be on top of self breast exams. If you ever feel a lump in your breast, it's important to be vigilant and speak with your doctor. Voicing your concerns as soon as you have them can lead to earlier cancer detection which, in turn, can lead to better outcomes.
There are many treatment options for people with breast cancer, but treatment depends greatly on the specifics of each case. Identifying these specifics means looking into whether the cancerous cells have certain receptors. These receptors the estrogen receptor, the progesterone receptor and the HER2 receptor can help identify the unique features of the cancer and help personalize treatment.
"These receptors, I like to imagine them like little hands on the outside of the cell, they can grab hold of what we call ligands, and these ligands are essentially the hormones that may be circulating in the bloodstream that can then be pulled into this cancer cell and used as a fertilizer, as growth support for the cells," Dr. Elizabeth Comen, a medical oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, told SurvivorNet in a previous interview.
One example of a type of ligand that can stimulate a cancer cell is the hormone estrogen, hence why an estrogen receptor positive breast cancer will grow when stimulated by estrogen. For these cases, your doctor may offer treatment that specifically targets the estrogen receptor. But for HER2 positive breast cancers, therapies that uniquely target the HER2 receptor may be the most beneficial.
Allen’s type of breast cancer, triple-negative, means that her tumor doesn’t have the estrogen and progesterone receptors and doesn’t make any or much of the HER2 protein. It accounts for only about 10-15 percent of all breast cancers and is considered an aggressive form since it grows quickly, is more likely to have spread at the time it's found and is more likely to come back after treatment than other types of breast cancer.
Signs of Breast Cancer
Symptoms of breast cancer are not exclusive to new lumps or masses in the breast, though these are the most common signs. Other possible signs can include:
- Swelling of all or part of a breast (even if no lump is felt)
- Skin dimpling (sometimes looking like an orange peel)
- Breast or nipple pain
- Nipple retraction (turning inward)
- Nipple or breast skin that is red, dry, flaking, or thickened
- Nipple discharge (other than breast milk)
- Swollen lymph nodes under the arm or near the collar bone (Sometimes this can be a sign of breast cancer spread even before the original tumor in the breast is large enough to be felt.)
For Allen’s case, the main symptom she noticed was the burning sensation in her breast. Most of the time, breast pain is attributed to a noncancerous (benign) breast condition and rarely indicates breast cancer. Even still, a burning sensation can be a sign of breast cancer inflammatory breast cancer, in particular, though this cancer is type of breast cancer is rare and Allen did not specify if this was the type she had.
RELATED: You Should Be Aware of These Signs of Breast Cancer
The Mayo Clinic advises people to have any unexplained breast pain evaluated by a medical professional if it doesn’t go away after one or two menstrual cycles, persists after menopause or doesn’t seem to be related to hormone changes.
Overall, the biggest thing to remember when considering signs of breast cancer is to know what your breasts are like normally and to report any changes to your doctor.
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