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hi Allison,

I'm a new comer to the group as well and they are a wealth of knowledge
here.

Melissa

Welcome to the group.

Firstly, don't panic.

Benign lumps are much more likely to change rapidly or come and go than
cancers.  The typical aspect of cancer is very slow inexorable growth.

Benign lumps are much more likely to be free to move around because they
are inevitably encapsulated.  Cancers tend to spread through the
adjoining tissue, and so become attached to it. In an early stage
("in-situ") cancers may be free to move, but at that stage they are
easily removed and most likely not yet a serious threat to health.

At your age benign lumps are very common and cancer is very rare.

There are, and you will no doubt read about, rare forms of cancer that
do grow quickly, but that is rare squared in your case.  They tend to be
associated with inflammation, so you would expect other symptoms as well
 as a lump in that case.

For references, there is a list of links on our FAQ website, which is at
www.cancersupporters.com.  Just about everyone recommends "The Breast
Book" by Susan Love MD as a very useful resource.

Tim Jackson

Thanks everyone, I appreciate the feedback and will post after I get the
results. I am optimistic but you just never know. It doesn't hurt anymore,
it was just a little tender the day I noticed it. I'm just surprised at how
big it is and imagine it grew quite quickly as I would have noticed it
sooner. This might sound like a bad question but I keep wondering just what
is it about Breast Cancer that kills? Like when I hear the phrase "died of
breast cancer" I always wonder how they died (was it heart or liver failure
or something else?).

Thanks again,
Allison