Well, how girlie can this be?

[mikiSJ]

5 Weeks ago I was doing a self-examination of my breast as the right side is somewhat smaller than the left and was hoping not to find anything. WRONG!

I am not taking any hormones for breast development so all I really have is fatty breasts. BUT, I felt a small lump, about the size of a pea in my right breast just above the nipple. This was on a late Friday night and I had a very sleepless night. I tried to find the lump on Saturday morning and it was difficult to find, but nevertheless still there.

I asked one of my doctors for a reference at Stanford Hospital and was scheduled to see Dr. Irene Wapnir, an associate professor in the breast cancer clinic at Stanford. It was a tad embarrassing having a 40ish professor, a really cute 27ish resident and 24ish student perform a palpation of my breasts!!! When she did the examination she was "unimpressed" (I guess that is teaching hospital speak for not finding anything!).

To rule out what couldn't be found during the initial examination, I was scheduled for a mammogram this afternoon at Stanford. While painful, the imaging is nothing as painful as for a GG. (BTW, I wasn't the only male in the clinic this afternoon!)

Fortunately, the radiologist was also "unimpressed" but suggested I should schedule an another examination with Wapnir in 12 months to be safe.

Approximately 1% of all breast cancers occur in males. So, next time you are in the shower....

Miki

[Shelly Preston]

It is good advice for everyone to check themselves at regular intervals.

Thanks Miki

[LelaK]

Read Dr. Mercola at mercola.com (http://mercola.com). We need alternative doctors for second opinions, because conventional medicine is nearly completely in the snare of the lords of greed, the big corporations. Drug companies own most medical schools, I believe. Mercola has pointed out the studies that show that mammograms do more harm than good. They actually cause cancer. Thermograms are much better and do not cause cancer themselves. Health in the U.S. has been declining for decades, because of all the corporations trying to gain monopoly control of everything.

There are lots of good alternative sources of health info on the net. It takes a lot of searching to find the best info. This site, naturalnews.com (http://naturalnews.com), has good info like Mercola does. Curezone.com (http://Curezone.com) has a lot of amateur info combined with good expert info. I found a cure for my chronic fatigue on Curezone a few years ago. It was apple cider vinegar. It worked for me just as promised.

I'm a nutritionist myself.

[JamieQ]

Yes...unimpressed=found nothing (of medical importance). Impression usually refers to the findings...

[nvlady]

I had a slice taken out of my arm today. My doctor was not unimpressed when she sent off a few samples a couple of weeks ago. Fortunatly out of the three types of skin cancer the two that I have are the least worrisome.

[GinaM]

It sounds like Gynocomastia which males get during puberty and sometimes when they take steroids.

[Beverley Sims]

Touch wood, (the top of my head) I have nothing to declare on the cancer front.
Getting regular checkups after the prostate bit 5 years ago.
I do think of those that are less fortunate.

[AmyGaleRT]

I could almost do a public service announcement...

"My name is Amy. My boobs are silicone. I don't want yours to have to be, too. Support the fight against breast cancer."

- Amy

[mikiSJ]

"My name is Amy. My boobs are silicone."- Amy

I had a bit of a chuckle when the admit form asked if I had implants...and when my last period was!

Miki

[linda allen]

One of my breasts started growing several years ago. It wasn't huge, but it was noticable (to me anyway) with my shirt off. I wouldn't have minded if it had been both, but it was just one. I went to see my doctor (at the time) and she did a breast exam, then sent me for a mamagram. Nothing was found and eventually it returned to just a little larger than the other one.

Yes, men can get breast cancer and there was a news story a while back about a man in my state who was denied financial coverage of treatment for breast cancer because he was a male. Once the story hit the news, the insurer or medicaid (I don't remember which) changed their stance and paid for the treatment.

[Laura912]

The OP story is nearly identical to mine about a year ago including the same "unimpressed" comment from a former colleague. Male breast tissue is mainly just under the nipple so if the mass is mainly away from the nipple, there is little likelihood of cancer. Usually the mass is a lymph node just doing its job. Regarding the comments about drug companies, medical schools, mammograms etc., please pass the salt. :)

[ringedjohn]

I have known two men who developed breast cancer.

One was firmly of the opinion that men do not have breasts and therefore cannot get breast cancer. He ignored the lump in his breast - and the cancer killed him.

The other found a small lump and had a radical mastectomy less than two weeks later. Some years later he is fine but has to go for regular check-ups.