Sick of my Seromas!

bunnysnap

Hey SS Georgie :-)

I went to try on sports bras today and got cross and annoyed in the changing room but manged to talk myself off the ledge and left with two new bras to wrestle myself into (after drainage). Then I went for coffee. And a cake. Where in the US are you? I like America very much, I've only been to California so probably have a distorted view of your country but I really liked it :-) Have you done any / been shown any lymphatic drainage massage techniques? I've had a go but not convinced I am doing anything except encouraging movement and possibly increasing the fluid...

Hope your Sunday was good and keep your pecker up. And I will do the same.

SS x

Lillypoppy

bunnysnap Ruth 

I've sent you a PM. 

Lilly xx

bunnysnap

Hi Rengeko

I can only imagine how thoroughly pissed off you must be. I am so sorry to hear of your troubles.

I don't know enough to offer any advice but burgundy wine colour sounds like it maybe has old blood mixed into it so maybe it's old stuff that wants to be released and not a whole load of new fluid? I do hope so. This is pure speculation on my part but you have my sincere sympathy in either case. When do you go back for a second syringing? Are you doing any massage? Did they stick any bandages on you? 

Totally understand about other people and their well-meaning but irritating platitudes. If I get any more bright smiles and cheery 'well at least the worst's over with now' I'll knock their teeth out.

Wishing you strength and quick healing and stay in touch. We will swap any new information we can to get rid of this annoying pointless fluid.

bunnysnap

Just replied! Thanks so much Lilly x

georgie1112

Rengeko- So sorry you are going through this. 6? months is way too long!!! Holy crap. I would be angry too. 220ml is so much fluid I was told by 3 doctors that they could fix the seroma surgically.  I don't know what the red color means, only that there is blood. The medical assistant was not concerned about the color being red when it was drained this week.Perhaps you might consider consulting with another doctor who might be able to help you feel more comfortable. And yes, everyone says it will heal. I am getting frustrated hearing that too. Since you've had it drained you might want to ask your doctor about compression of some sort. Hugs...

SS Ruth- Good luck getting your seromas drained. I got really upset too wrestling with the tight shirts. Actually I started crying as I got a really good look at my chest in the huge mirror and bright lights. You might want to bring in the bras to show your doctor. Mine was fine with all my compression.

I do LE massage, but I think the seromas are serous fluid, not lymph. They are enclosed in a capsule so I don't think the fluid can be moved. Our bodies can absorb some fluid, but obviously not enough for us! 

Both of you, do take good care!

bunnysnap

Oh Georgie...bright lights and big mirrors are not our friends at the moment. Stay strong my sister in forums and fluids :-) We'll get there in the end.

SSR xx

bunnysnap

Dearest Georgie and Rengeko

I have beem PMing with a lovely lady in the UK and have the following new information (cut from her messages) to share with you. If you have any questions then just keep them flowing in this post and she will chime in to help us :-) Lilly - thank you.

" I'm too from the UK and had bilateral mastectomy
with immediate implants end of September. I had recurrent Seromas too and tried
everything – the surgeon didn't want to leave the Seromas too long and about 6
weeks after surgery had a small op to wash out and drain and had drains in for
nearly 3 weeks. - and had no problems following that apart from a small amount
fluid which body absorbed. I had no infection. His theory was once we got rid
of the large amounts that the skin was in a better place in the healing process
to absorb anything that's produced.

Surgery wise I'm fine now. I was so worried when the Seromas kept refilling.
I had nipple sparing mastectomies with immediate implants and I was so scared
of getting an infection and either losing nipples or implants so I know how
you're feeling. Keeping the drains in for 3 weeks was a bit of a pain too but
my surgeon said that the skin left between the implant and 'outside" was
intentionally really thin and because it was constantly "wet" from
the Seromas couldn't heal well. Because the drains kept it dry and I was
already further along in surgery the skin layers started to heal and by the
time drains came out were healthy enough to absorb any fluid. I wore a surgical
bra day and night for 6 weeks following and was so relieved when no further
Seromas. My surgeon teaches other surgeons all Over the world so I totally
trusted him. He put in a mesh called seristructure and I often wondered if
it was that I reacted to but will never know! I felt alone with it like
you do and frustrated.

My surgeon said the more times you have Seroma aspiration
the more chance of infection and it's really difficult to manage with implants
and the "mesh" needs to be in a dry environment to adhere. He put me
on a longer course of antibiotics (3 weeks) just incase"

So...armed with this new information I am going to ask my surgeon about having drains put back in and if not now then when. 

Hope we all have good weeks and talk soon everybody.

Give me an 'S', give me an 'E' oh...never mind x

georgie1112

SS Ruth and SS Lily- Thanks for sharing this as a solution! So helpful to have a forum to hear more options. Glad this worked well for you, Lily!

But I will not let them put in the dreaded jp drains again! HATED them. I also got a mild infection at the drain insertion point which spread. It took two rounds of different antibiotics to cure. So sore....

My doctor doesn't like to leave the drains in too long. She pulled mine at 2 weeks but it was too late as I already had an infection. 

Guess I have had seroma fluid drained at least 14 times. No issues so far. Tried looking up the mesh but couldn't find it. Just lots of lawsuits with other types of mesh.  

Wishing you the best... Will call the PS tomorrow. Should have paid more attention when the medical assistant was explaining it. 

bunnysnap

Lawsuits? Eeek! And now I have to google...

I have a notebook which I try and write everything down in (not always successfully) but it is really helpful to look back on as the appointments are such a blur sometimes. How did the PS call go today? I do hope you had a positive chat? 

I liked my drains. They gave me little cloth bags to carry them around and I ended up feeling very attached to them :-) I am also going to use my new sewing machine to make many more of the little cloth bags as the nurses told me if they don't have enough they have to send some ladies home carrying their drains in carrier bags. This almost happened to me and it was the thing that made me cry the most when I woke up from the op. It seemed like the worst final insult to the day.

Good luck everyone. Fingers crossed for moving forward and our bodies healing quickly.

SSR x

lilymay

I had my seroma for 4-1/2 months.  I contracted a staff infection at 4 months due to the fact that I was already in hospital with an intestine infection and too sick to have the drainage done for 4 days.  I should mention that I was on chemo so of course my resistance was very low.  At this stage my mestectomy swelled to the same size as my left breast (well endowed).  It was very red.  I was rushed in to have drainage done and 180mls left me.  Relief.  After 2 days when the next drainage was being done the needle blocked up with the revolting fluid.  The next step was to have a bigger hole  punched into the seroma and a suction tube inserted. This worked and an enormous amount of infected fluid came away.  This was done for a number of times but after 3-1/2 weeks in hospital I still had to visit my breast surgeon to have drainage continued.  As I said 4-1/2 months of misery.  Unfortunately this set me back enormously and I am no longer able to have chemo.

Moderators

Pamela, that sounds like quite a time! We're so sorry to hear you had to go through this.

Just to let you know, this thread is quite old -- the last post was in January 2014 -- if you'd like to interact with others about your journey, we'd suggest starting a new thread where others can hop in and comment...

We hope this helps and welcome to Breastcancer.org! We're happy you're here!

--The Mods

Pearl99

I've experienced a seroma after having a lumpectomy for breast cancer in October 2014, and have been drained 10 times since then. At times the procedure was ultrasound-guided and at others it consisted of the doctor just putting a syringe into the breast and draining it. My usual mode of operating is to tolerate the pain until it gets to an unmanageable point, then I make an appointment to have it drained. After today's doctor visit, he is going to remove the seroma surgically and insert a drainage tube and leave it in place for 2 weeks. The drainage tube will not suction it out, but let it drip out. Sounds like a Plan. I have to do something because the pain is quite annoying. I'm just trying to imagine how this is going to shake out. Any advice? I'm scheduled for surgery Monday, Jan. 4, 2016.

bunnysnap

oh sweetheart, right now this will feel like the ultimate slap in the face after everything you've already been through. I has Seroma for 8 months, being drained weekly and it felt very unfair and crap! It does go.. You can't do anything to make it quicker but it does go. I promise. Stay in touch and ask me anything at anytime x

Pearl99

Seroma Update: Well, since Oct. 2014, I have had my lumpectomy incision re-opened 3 times due to seromas. The first time, the incision was stitched. Seroma developed. The second time the incision was glued shut and a drain installed for 2 weeks. This worked for about a month. - seroma persisted. The 3rd time the doctor re-opened the incision and surgically removed the seroma and stuffed it with gauze and ordered 30 days of home health care visits where nurses would remove the gauze from my breast and stuff clean gauze back in. After 2 weeks of this treatment, the nurse said that this was not working and suggested a wound vac. The nurse said she could not see the bottom of the wound and that the "hole" she was stuffing was too small to get all the gauze in it. So back to surgery to have the incision hollowed out and made bigger. Wound vac was installed and this time the incision was healed from the inside out. I have a mangled breast, but the incision is slowly healing. The past year and a half of "treatments" have been a nightmare, but I think I'm finally healing properly. Thank the Lord.

Tomboy

Good God, Pearl, that's a lot to have to go through! I am so glad you are healed finally!