Post mastectomy swelling or seroma?
How did you guys tell the difference between post surgery swelling & seroma? I’m 3 weeks post mastectomy and have swelling well beneath my incision, it kind of looks like my boob is trying to grow back. I saw surgeon last Friday & he said it was potentially some fatty tissue that may have been left behind. My chest also feels quite tight, but I also have some cording. I’m not sure if the tightness/swelling is just normal for this stage of recovery or if I need any treatment to drain potential seroma. Should I contact BC nurse or see my GP or wait & see in coming days??
Seroma post-op
Hi there, I went to my Surgeon for my 1 week post-op and had in the previous 24 hours developed swelling to my breast. He sent me for an ultrasound which showed I had a seroma (fluid build up). It was painful and difficult to wear my post-op bra. I had it drained under ultrasound and they removed 135mls. It felt better immediately and had shrunk significantly! I find today that the swelling has started again and am starting to feel some discomfort again-the breast care nurse had said this may happen, but I wasn't expecting to happen so soon. I have emailed my surgeon as he had said I could potentially leave it but it would take 4-6 weeks to resolve. I am wondering if there is anyone else had this issue and if you continued to get it drained (at a cost of $350), or if it was left and how long it took to resolve? Thanks in advance. Michelle ;)Stressed, exhausted physically and financially
Morning Ladies, My apologies in advance for the long read... I am awake early (every morning, if I have slept much at all), I have another infection it seems. I finished antibiotics not a week ago (14 days worth). I have had enough. Post-op Seroma drained x 3 this will be infection number 2, started day 1 of 5 weeks of radiotherapy yesterday. I know having the seroma drained is an infection risk, but when my breast was twice the size of the other one, an it was reducing my ROM in that arm and extremely painful, I had little choice. Feeling just miserable. While on the antibiotics, it was the first time I had-for the most part-been pain free since my surgery date on the 5th of November. I am truly exhausted. Pain is back with a force in the night and am red and hot on my breast. Combine that with the hot flushes I have had since having to stop HRT at diagnosis and we have one hot bed!! (Not in the sense I’d like it to be that’s for sure!). So I guess back to the Doctors where, as we have moved into another year and I no longer have my safety net threshold, I will have to pay for all of my services again. I went private as we knew no better, the option of going public was not discussed and I have to say I was certainly naive about paying the ‘gaps’ that going private would mean. Literally it has cost us a decent European holiday. Or at most it has cost me my ability to take some time off work. The approximately 8k (I’m too scared to count), so far we have spent could have allowed me some time off work. I have watched our bank balance decrease while our credit card has increased. Instead I have struggled to work because once I used up all of my sick leave and am now owe annual leave, I have no choice but to continue working. Despite having an an infection and then radiation after work today(who knows how I will manage to get to the doc), I have to go to work today. I wish I had known that private health cover does not mean that you are in fact covered. Or even that EVERY test, treatment that you have done has major out of pocket costs. The bills, including those I was never informed there would be a gap, keep rolling in. Yesterday I received a bill for the gap for my lymphoscintigraphy that I had on surgery day (5th November), another $198, and one from S & N $170 for the testing of the drained seroma fluid. A crazy $368 in one day-I can’t even pay for that with my days work! It it should be compulsory for providers to disclose that there will be a gap and what that gap will be at the time of service. What do I do now? I honestly can’t afford to keep going like this. Does anyone know if I can now be referred into the public system? And if that is not an option, would it happen if I start to refuse treatment based on the fact that I just can no longer afford it?? Its my 50th Birthday in 6 weeks and instead of celebrating in Bali as was the plan, I’m not even sure I will feel well enough to do anything. Definitely don’t feel like I have much to celebrate right at this minute. We have had to cancel the Bali trip as it is said to be just too risky for me and I likely wouldn’t be covered for anything that may happen anyway. We have travel insurance, but this will still be at a cost to us. I feel like my life has changed in so many ways in the past 2 months, I can’t even begin to list them. I’ve had enough, I am exhausted yet there is still so much to go through. On top of that, I have this guilt that my treatment and cancer is not as bad as some, and that I should be grateful. As we have all said many a time since this shitfest started-I WANT MY OLD LIFE BACK!! Thanks in anticipation, Michelle XOX
Encapsulated seroma
I had a tram with immediate recon in Dec 2012. In May this year, I had to have the mesh repaired and now have an encapsulated seroma that needs surgical removal. Has anyone any experience with this? I mentioned concerns months ago to the surgeon and she was dismissive. Told me the swelling was nothing give my body time to heal. Well.... I did and it didn't. I'm concerned that more surgery is going to lead to more problems. I also would like to get a second opinion. Does anyone know a good Plastic Surgeon in Sydney?
Is it a seroma? Underarm bulge getting worse during radiation..
Dear all, sorry if this question has been answered elsewhere, I have tried to find discussions using the search function but given up. My surgeon is widely acclaimed at least in Sydney BC circles as being super-skilled and brilliant. I told him right from the start that I wanted a mastectomy and not a lumpectomy, and that I did not want reconstruction. There was a double tumour and lots of affected lymph nodes so it was just as well I was having the mastectomy from the get go. The scar was very neat and healed up quickly but a large bulge of tissue remained at the end of it, at the underarm. It looks horrible and I hate it dangling there like a piece of flabby melon. When I saw him for a three-month checkup I asked what he could do about it and he blithely commented that it was too soon yet to do a reconstruction as I am yet to finish radio. What??? Now I recall that he said much earlier - when the drains were being taken out I think - that he needed to leave the extra bit of flesh there or it would be too tight for the reconstruction. What could I say? It turns out that he fully expects me to have a reconstruction, and he believes that even though I said I didn't want it I would change my mind. Do all surgeons think they know your mind better than you do? I have gathered that the cost of reconstruction as a private patient is very high, even with private medical insurance. Is it true that this is where the surgeons make most of their money? So now I am three days away from finishing radio and that soggy lump is swelling up, the nurses and radio technicians noticed it too and commented on it. Is this a seroma? Will it go away by itself? I asked the nurses and they said there is nothing you can do about it. They said I should tell my radiation oncologist. What can he do? Does this mean I will have this horrible lump forever if I don't have reconstruction? Can I ask the same surgeon to fix it up so I am properly flat? Or do I need to go to a plastic surgeon? And if I do that, do I have to tell my original surgeon? It almost feels like being unfaithful. They have us mystified, that's for sure. And our lives are in their hands. Any insights?
