Post Lumpectomy symptoms vs IBC

deedee2604

Hello all.  I was wondering if anyone had any experience with what I am going through.  I have a 10 year history of fibrocystic disease of left breast.  I had 10 "lumps" at one point all in my left breast.  Three of them have been biopsied with benign results.  Recently two of the biopsied lumps grew bigger and were recommended to be removed.  I had a double lumpectomy on 4/12/13 with one incision being made (both turned out to still be benign).  I didn't appear to have any swelling or bruising after surgery.  Everything was healing nicely and by middle of third week post op I noticed breast actually felt kinda good and less sore.  This continued into week 4.  Somewhere between week 3-4 I noticed a slight discoloration (pink) on left breast that was not near the incision.  I decided to watch it, after all I did just have surgery.  After about a week and a half to 2 weeks and it had not gone away, I decided to go back to the surgeon.  I saw the NP who gave me an antibiotic (Keflex for 7 days).  I have one day of antibiotics left with no improvement.  Since my trip to the surgeon the pinkness has not spread but i notice a different texture in the area (lumpy or ridges), kinda of an exaggeration of the normal texture of my right breast.  I also have developed intermittent soreness in the breast.  At times it feels like I am about to have my period and other times the incision areas feel sore as if I had my surgery last week.  After reading symptoms of IBC I think I have convinced myself that is what I have.  It just seems weird to me that I was improving and then went in the opposite direction with no improvement on Keflex.

I have a follow up appointment with the surgeon in 1 week.  My plan is to call surgeon tomorrow and let them know my current status and suggest getting tested for IBC.  I am hoping they will at least consider it and not brush it off to the fact that I have had surgery 6 weeks ago.  My back up plan is to call the local cancer center (Roswell Park) where I am actually employed as well.  They don't have an IBC clinic but I would hope they take my concerns seriously.

Thanks for listening.