Monika, 32 years

I discovered the lump by chance. It was in 2009, I was lying in bed at night and turned onto my side. I put my hand on the side of my breast and suddenly felt it. I was really afraid. I knew that it could be cancer and that I needed to have it examined.
Initially my gynecologist did an ultrasound scan and after that she said that she was quite sure that there was nothing to worry about. But I was so afraid that I had a biopsy done anyway.

When it was clear that it was a fibroadenoma, my gynecologist told me that it could be removed but she also thought that during pregnancy that would change because of the hormones. I was sure that I wanted a child and thought that I would wait and the lump would probably shrink. I am so afraid of operations that I would do anything to avoid surgery! I couldn’t help but checking the lump the whole time to see if it was changing. I was very scared.

Then my son was born and for a long time I didn’t notice any change in the lump. I didn’t breast feed, it just didn’t happen. Some time after the birth I started to take the pill for the first time in my life. This was actually just because I had skin problems. It worked great for that but the fibroadenoma suddenly appeared to have grown a lot. During a routine examination my gynaecologist told me that it had become much bigger. I think it was 3.6 cm. And then she really pushed me to have it removed. I didn’t want this at any cost. Apart from the fact that I was so afraid of the operation, my son was now there and I was afraid that I wouldn’t be fit after the operation and couldn’t be there for him. He loves to have a cuddle and to play; I wouldn’t have been able to do that. So I tried to delay the operation but it became clear that it needed to be done. I had already made an appointment for the operation. At the time I almost went mad and thought I wouldn’t be able to go through with it.
I had already been looking for other treatment options. On the internet I saw something about echotherapy – I was really thrilled. I understood that this was not an operation and I felt able to go through with it. I called my echotherapy center, cancelled the operation and took an appointment for echotherapy treatment.

Just before the treatment I wondered whether it would really work that well and on the day I was very nervous. Then I thought: what would it have been like with an operation if I was so afraid as I was? I had to lie on my side and the machine was placed on the outside of my breast, on the skin. From time to time I felt a prick, that was all. It was all over in about an hour. My breast was a little swollen and when the anesthetic wore off I had a burning sensation. But I experienced no pain at all. I was able to play with my son again as usual straight after the treatment and hold him in my arms. That was very important for me. I was thrilled that I hadn’t needed an operation.

Within a month or so, I felt that the fibroadenoma had decreased in size. And after four months I was with my gynaecologist and she said that it was now only 1.1 cm, smaller than a pea! The gynaecologist was delighted with the result and I was totally satisfied: the fibroadenoma really had shrunk much more quickly than I had expected. I would choose this option again without hesitation.