I received a diagnosis of non-invasive DCIS in June 2004. In July I had a lumpectomy and the two sentinal nodes removed neither of which had any signs of cancer. Raidation (IMRT) began in August and lasted six weeks (until 10/8/04). One week following radiation I developed a fever of 102 degrees with the typical alternating hot flashes and chills. I also noticed a marked increase in pain in my breast. A call to schedule an appt with my rad onc found that he was not in that day, so I met with his associate (who had never seen me before). He told me that I was probably just trying to fight off catching a cold or something since my immune system was basically non-existent after the radiation. The fever jumped most every night (102 or so) for the next three weeks, along with increased pain in my breast, until early one Saturday morning the previously healed incision popped like a pimple and a large volume of very smelly fluid began gushing out. A phone call to the on-call surgeon was followed by a quick trip to the emergency room and then admittance for yet another surgery to re-open the wound and clean out the infection.
Now, some 10 weeks later I'm still dealing with what's left of my open and very hard-to-heal wound (residual effects of radiation). I recently met with a specialist who told me that the radiation caused the abscess.
At this point, I am eager to chat with anyone who has also experienced a similar situation---abscess of lumpectomy, etc.
Thanks...Liz