Lumpectomy Abscess After Radiation Treatment???

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Liz p Message: be Patient... Survivor Liz p Recommend this Message Report Abuse Email a Friend Track this Message [Remove] Subject: be Patient... Date: 04/23/2006 Hi Teresa, Yes, pain continues...and it varies in it's intensity for no apparent reason. Sometimes I would go for days or weeks with no pain, then would experience several days with pain. I just figured it was the breast tissue continuing to "wake up" and heal after having been fried by radiation. I've spoken with many others who also have had varied but ongoing experiences with pain. It does diminish over time...be patient. Perhaps a heating pad or soft massage would help. Private Reply Quote Reply to This Message Liz p Message: i Completely Agree Survivor Liz p Recommend this Message Report Abuse Email a Friend Track this Message [Remove] Subject: i Completely Agree Date: 04/23/2006 Catherine, I love your story! I left town about after my radiation as well. It was about a week after radiation had ended, and I was going to spend some time with my parents as a "reward" for all the fun and games with medical stuff during the previous months. In fact it was the day I was to leave town that I began experiencing the pain of what would become the abscess. Yes, I am very aware that the majority of women make it through surgery and radiation treatment without this kind of added complication. In fact, at first, I thought that the abscess I experienced was something that almost never happened. And that's when I began to explore the web even more to discover that it wasn't as uncommon as people want to believe. In addition, as you mentioned, the "cancerhead" part of my experience caused me great anger and frustration in so many ways, particularly with the added complications. My life basically fell apart--but that was because of my specific set of circumstances. I guess the bottom line is figuring out if there's any way my experience can help others in similar situations by either being forewarned, or having increased information to perhaps avoid the complications altogether. Now, one year after "graduating" from wound care, while I find myself in physical therapy to attempt to loosen the severly scarred tissue, I'm happy to say I'm in a different place emotionally. Sure, there are still those occasional days when I wish it had all just been a bad dream, but the reality isn't as stark anymore and life does move on. Hope you're doing wonderfully! Liz Private Reply Quote Reply to This Message Goeken Message: Thanks For The Great Information Patient Goeken Recommend this Message Report Abuse Email a Friend Track this Message [Remove] Subject: Thanks For The Great Information Date: 04/23/2006 Hello Liz p, Thank you so much for the great information about your breast abscess. Mine has been draining since April 5, 2006 and I am having home health care come in to repack and redress my wound each day. You said that at first you had a surgery to clean out the infection. I never had that. My surgeon came to the emergency room and did a minor surgery there - cut open the break through more so he could remove a lot of the infection, then he left it open, packed it with packing gauze, covered it with a gauze pad, and sent me home. I am also intrigued about your "VAC". My wound is still draining, but not as much as before. They are now placing some ointment in my wound to help dry up the secretions, so the good breast tissue can come through. I have an appointment with my radiologist in May,but he is aware of what happened because I called and told him. I was never told that radiation could have caused this. If you don't mind, I would like to keep in contact with you about this. It just makes me feel so much better to know that I have a friend that understands what I am going through. Thank you so much!! Love ya Goeken Private Reply Quote Reply to This Message Liz p Message: Yes, Please Keep me Posted! Survivor Liz p Recommend this Message Report Abuse Email a Friend Track this Message [Remove] Subject: Yes, Please Keep me Posted! Date: 04/23/2006 Hi there, Yes, please keep in touch. You can find me at: --- Message edited by CancerCompass staff: for personal protection, email address removed. Please review CancerCompass Member Guidelines at http://www.cancercompass.com/common/guidelines.html ----. I went to the emergency room the morning the wound "popped" but the surgeon said that he had hoped he could clean it there, but found once he saw me that he really needed to go ahead and admit me so he could have full access to an operating room. My wound was pretty large, so I think that's what he was thinking. According to the specialist, the radiation basically "cooked" the infection and caused the abscess. For the week between my abscess surgery and when the VAC arrived, they were packing my wound twice a day. It took an entire roll of 4-inch wide gauze to fill my wound each time. It was actually kind of funny when we would pull it out to clean the wound and re-pack. It just kept coming and coming as we pulled. My rad onc guy was amazed the day I was in his office for a re-check (after the abscess had happened), and the surgical nurse wasn't there yet to do the wound un-pack/re-pack. I just went ahead and started pulling out all the gauze. He stood there and just stared as I kept pulling out thing very long piece of fabric. The wound was up high on the right--it was kind of like having a very strange pocket right there attached to my body. I survived a lot of green salve that was very expensive as wound care progressed, plus they had to keep using a little knife to scrape away icky stuff that kept growing inside the wound between changes.....ouch! Hang in there....you'll be just fine! Private Reply Quote Reply to This Message Cajun Message: RE: Side Effects Patient Cajun Recommend this Message Report Abuse Email a Friend Track this Message [Remove] Subject: RE: Side Effects Date: 01/20/2008 On 6/19/2005 Cathrun04 wrote: I was so glad to read your message before I had radiation, and now that I'm done with it I must tell you that I had no side effects either. A little bit of a sore nipple for a while but used Aquafor and a no-stick gauze pad I picked up at the drugstore and it quickly healed. I feel very sorry for the women who have horrible experiences, what a nightmare on top of a DCIS diagnosis, but for those who may be reading this and are frightened, I'll say it again...it all went very smoothly for me. In fact, I had my last radiation treatment at 7:45 am and flew to Disney World at 10:50 am that same day. Although I will admit to asking for a doctor's note that indicated I couldn't stand in the sun for very long...alleviated some of the wait for the rides. I must tell you I have no guilt about that at all!! What the hell, I had been through 7 weeks of radiation treatment and a lumpectomy, dammit! I deserved a break!! But I had no fatigue (thank God) and in fact I started a rigorous exercise program of walking or biking 10 miles three times a week when I started the treatments. I never really exercised before this. My doctor told me it would help alleviate some of that "cancerhead" and just general depression that I had following my diagnosis. And she was right. I have heard that several large breasted and heavy women tend to have horrible experiences with skin reactions but my oncologist told me only 10% of all patients receiving radiation for breast cancer experience side effects. Regardless, if someone does have side effects she told me they can be quite debilitating...but for anyone reading this who may be nervous (and you must be crazy if you aren't nervous!!) just know that many women get through this okay. I am responding to your message that is almost two years old. I think I have been diagnosed with something either identical or similar to your cancer. I m 65 years old and my breast are still large (38DD). I had a milk duct removed from the left breast 4 years ago, no bad cells. I had a milk duct removed a few days ago from my right breast and was diagnosed with Stage 0 "in-situ" milk duct carcinoma. The doctor has suggested a lumpectomy and 5-6 weeks of radiation. No lymph nodes will be removed and no chemo will be done. I was told that the radiation treatment takes about 10 minutes and the worst sympton would be fatigue and a bad sunburn appearance that may peel since I have fair sensitive skin. Are you familiar with anti-fungal treatments and do you beleive that cancer is a fungus? I do. I am willing to following an anti-fungal diet the rest of my life but I don't think I should just assume that I can afford to ignore the fact that I may be currently growing a deadly fungus in my milk ducts that may not stay contained until all the fungus is dead with just diet alone. Any opinions? Thanks for your input. Have you have any recurrence of your problem? If so what are you doing about it? Private Reply Quote Reply to This Message
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