I have a question about blanching.

jdmac1199

Hello!!  I  have a question...  . But...first a few facts...I am currently going through chemo for IDC and have had an infection around my lymph node removal scar for weeks .. saw Dr again yesterday and she thinks now it is chemo induced mastitis and cellulitis. Around the scar is thick  and hardened with skin changes and I have a redness  that's spreading around it on my breast. It's tender and has a weird numbness  but not numbess feeling..lol  It is warm, and swollen. BS said she might need to go back in and remove some tissue that's hard . I did have a seroma that required draining twice in the same area over the last two weeks  but that's not filling up again so I am not in as much pain as I was a week ago. I think my BS was a little concerned  and checked both breasts and measured the 'sheet' of hard tissue as she called it.. but concluded she 'thinks' it is a reaction to chemo and put me on another two weeks of antibiotics and will see me in two weeks just before my third round of chemo is due.  My question is... if you press on skin with IBC does the redness stay the same? Mine turns white and I remember my BS saying she thinks its mastitis and cellulitis because it blanches on pressure and also recedes when I lay down. I know it is highly unlikely that I now have IBC but there's this niggling doubt in the back of my mind and I cannot find info anywhere about the blanching  on pressure. Thank you

Kicks

Not all IBC presents with reddened skin.  I never had any reddened skin.  The vast likelihood is not anything related to IBC but rather reactions to other issues.  There are MANY possibilities of what you are dealing with and your Dr(s) is the only one who can tell you - no one here can.  Having hd a seroma, infection is definately a possibility, but again - only your Dr can tell you.  While unlikely - anything is possible.

jdmac1199

Kicks, thank you so much for your response! Sorry for not replying sooner. Had a rough few weeks, struggling with infections and chemo side effects.

My breast is  very warm and still pink  and still swollen and I have some areas of orange peel like skin and the stretch marks are swollen and look weird, but BS still says it is mastitis caused by chemo , so I guess that's what it is and I should stop thinking the worse..lol I have been on antibiotics for 7 weeks for it but she is letting me come off them now and says she thinks it will just take a long time to clear up and she will just see me again for my first Mammo in Dec.

Anyway, just wanted to thank you for taking the time to respond to me!

 

jdmac1199

Hi Bon, thank you for your response too! Much appreciated.

I am currently going through chemo, had surgery in may., about three weeks after surgery, I developed an infection near the wound where the lymph nodes were removed. Antibiotics didn't clear it up ..developed a large seroma and had that aspirated twice.. Infection never cleared up. BS and PS said it was cellulitis and mastitis . Seroma is gone now,  but my breast is still warm, slightly swollen and  most of it is pink. about an inch below the lymph node scar, I have some thickened  scaly skin and from there all the way under my breast the pores are very large and open looking.. BS surgeon  seems pretty sure it is mastitis now and decided to take me off the antibiotics and thinks when chemo then radiation finishes it will go away. Although I have had a few freaky neurotic moments fearing the worst..lol I  trust my BS..just  sometimes I am a little emotionally fragile..lol