Ongoing problems with seroma in breast after reconstruction.

Well ladies I had my mastectom on March 16. Finally dot my last drain and took the last antibiotic on April 1. On April 2 I was feeling sick and had a fever that night of 102.7. Went to the emergency room on April 3 and ended up in the hospital for a week. I just had surgery on April 9th and there was 150 cc's of fluid removed. I am also being treated for cellulitis though I have tested negative for this but the doctor (infectious control) said he thinks that the antibiotics I was on in the hspital and at home prior to being admitted to the hospital altered the blood test. I now go to the Infectious Control Ctr daily for IV-antibiotics and am also on and oral antibiotic once daily. Everything loks good so far. It has been only 4 days since surgery and I still have a drain. The PS checked is yesterday and aid he would check it again on Thursday of this week. I am just so freightened that he is going to remove the drain and the swelling and redness is going to return.. So frustrated. I was looking for a smooth ride and now am hitting bumps in the road. BTW I am 41 and my children are 20. 17 & 15. No matter the age you want to be healthy and strong for them .

Well looks like we are problem central LOL. I totally agree with the kids thing, I have older ones as well, my 28 yr old just got married (adopted at 13), my 19 yr old just started college, my 16 yr old is a sophmore in high school, and my little love child Nikki who is 4. They have all handeled the cancer thing differently. My oldest would bring groceries and stuff, my one in college is studying to be a breast surgeon, my 16 yr old...well you know he's 16 and in his own little world LOL and Nikki who just wants me to be able to pick her up again. Life always throws you for a loop, just when you think you have it wooped! I am just ready to De Construct and feel normal again. One thing 18 months of recon has taught me is breasts do not define me. My WONDERFUL husband is so my rock, before I started all of this he tried to talk me out of it...wish I had listened to him, he is a smart guy! Glad to hear some of you are getting better and I am sending out healing thoughts for ALL OF MY BC SISTERS!

 XOXO,

Regina

Bad news here too. Met with my PS this morning and he is scheduling me to get my implants out this week. The wound on my right side will not close up and my body is just breaking down all of the synthetic tissue. I am opting out of recon for now. Told him when I make my 5 yr Trip Neg anniversary that I might try again, but I am really thinking about just getting tattooed up. My PS offered mt Lat Flap to try and save the recon, but cautioned it may not work as there is a possibility of infection present. Told him no thanks and I just want them out. Going home tonight to make myself a drain pouch and get drunk. Yea I said it get DRUNK. Gonna consume this months quota tonight and forget about everything!

XOXO,

Regina

Hi....gosh I thought I had problems till I read some of your postings.  My issue is edema after a diep flap.  I think one drain was removed to fast and I think I know what happened.  I had one drain left and had it for 2 months.  Oh those things can get soooo sore.  Suddenly it dropped from over 100 CCs a day to only 20.  I looked very carefully at it.....a piece of flesh was in the connector plugging it up.  I removed the flesh and immediately dumped 60 CCs into the little bulb.  So next time check the thing for plugs.  Don't let them pull it out so fast because they never look and check.  I still have to have reconstrucion on my remaining natural breast, a lift and the I call them wings removed from the sides of the tummy tuck area.  His spare tissue the dr says for repairs.  I'm wondering how long all of this is actually going to take.  The diep flap was in mid feb and it's almost may...sighhhhhhhh.  I just need to get this edema under control.  I did a posting in diep flap 8 wks of pain...no I'm not the one with 8 wks of pain.  But someone answered me and put several warnings about diaretics.  I'm taking a copy of what she said to my GP.  I just got 3 days worth of diaretics and potassium from her today.  She said she has seen this edema after just tummy tucks.  I didn't want a tummy tuck but was necessary for the diep flap.  But I go to a group and have heard so many horror stories and seen so many horrible things happen to women after implants and the pain from them pressing on the nerve endings left raw and searching for their other now missing half after a mastectomy that there was no way I was going to have a plastic bag full of "something" put in me.  They all had the same problems, tearing and opening of the skin, infections, everything all of you said.  Most have had to have them removed.  One who now has a diep flap and refered me to the plastic surgeon I am going to.  Had a implant before, it became gangerous and almost killed her.  Our plastic surgeon said he will NOT put an implant after a mastectomy for this very reason.  He said he has seen nothing but problems and has had to remove way too many put in by other drs.  For the very reasons you all stated in your posts.  I wish you all luck and hope things get better for you...god bless you all !

Hi All,

Well I woke up in recovery and still had the girls. My PS came in and the 1st thing out of his mouth was "Please don't be mad at me! and you have no drains" LOL He told me he was wrong, there was no infection or implant showing through and he had good thick skin to work with. He left me in the OR to talk to my mom and call my hubby to authorize not removing them. I have internal and external stitches for 3 weeks and then we will take them out and see what happens. He gave it a 50/50 chance of surviving as long as I take it easy for a few weeks. So another waiting game, but maybe the 3rd times the charm...right! Love all of you!!!

XOXO,
Regina

Kkat1976~ You asked for good stories after loosing implants and I have one.  I did fine during the expansion but toward the end the skin looked odd but we still went ahead with the exchange.  I did okay until week 7 and then the holes started, my PS was on vacation and the head of the department did a wash out and replaced implants with a smaller implant.  Once again it all looked really good and 3 weeks and 1 day later I started with the holes again.  My PS did everything that she could but I decided to remove them that my body needed a break.  So I went from 9/17 until 1/26 with just prostetics and then on 1/26 I had Hip-Flap done.  I am beyond thrilled with the new girls.  They feel incredible they move and they are just more than what I could have ever asked for and I am not even done yet.  So don't give up, let your body rest and you will get there. 

Back to work today for 1/2 day. Nurse said it looked good, just stay on light duty and not to stretch, push , pull, or lift anything. Maybe all will be well this time. GOOD WISHES TO EVERYONE!

XO,

Regina

Quite an eye opener to read posts here.  I am sorry all of you are having issues but am so very glad I am not the only one.  I was not all that enthused to have anything done but my Onc & PS both told me the procedure was easy and quick recovery time (like 2 weeks or so - Yea, right!!!).  I had BMX 4/14/10 with single stage implants and a total of 30 nodes removed. When had my port put in, they also removed the sentinal node with 8 others. After that surgery and during Chemo, I had cellulitis - radiating from a big baseball sized ball under my arm and of course resulted in a hospital stay for an antibiotic drip. Had to have this baseball drained 5 times before the surgery on 4/14 when they took 21 more nodes. Came home with 5 drains, all filling to near capacity two times a day. One drain was left in for the maximum 4 weeks then had to be removed for fear of infection even though it was still filling up twice daily. Now I am 17 weeks out from the surgery, fluid flowing from one implant to the other (you can actually see the shape change), so much pressure that my collar bone and rib cage are bruised and is actually moving my port. And of course, this is painful!! Some swelling in my arm but more in my hand and fingers than arm and this swelling isn't painful. Have found the compression sleeve and glove are very helpful for the lymphedema but all I can do is light lymph massage technique (found a great site that has videos showing how exactly to do this) to try to get the fluid out of the chest wall area. Saw my PS last week and his comment was that they looked good and he didn't see any fluid. He couldn't tell me if removing the implants would help or not!!!!! In the meantime I am doing what I can and hoping the fluid will eventually slow and go away and searching the internet for info. ?? I really wish I had followed my own instincts and had nothing done. No cosmetic anything is worth all the pain and possible future problems.

WOW.  Thanks ladies for sharing your stories.  I had a "partial mastectomy" on 7/8, ALND and re-excision/stitching of my breast incision on 7/22, a drain for about 10 days and all seemed fine.  I went in last Monday to have the last stitches removed and my nurse noticed a red area that was warm to the touch, so I started Keflex.  The next 3 days, my drain site, which seemed to be healing up just fine and closing, was suddenly putting out really nasty fluid resembling baby diarrhea (the only description I can think of!!).  I went back Friday, had an US-guided needle extraction, but the contents were so thick nothing would come out through the needle.   There is a hard/lumpy spot at the end of my ALND incision that is apparently the culprit.  When I push on it, the drain site under my arm leaks.

So I go see my surgeon again today to see what she says.  Sounds like I may be in for a surgical drainage or something, which would make 4 surgeries in 3 months and I'm really praying I don't have to go that route.  This has delayed my chemo plan; I was supposed to have my port put in today but of course they won't do that until we get this cleared up.

Although I'm not dealing with TEs or implants, I share your frustrations and pray for complete recovery for everyone.

I am not sure I have a seroma or if it is something else.  I love my PS, but I do not ask many questions and he does not elaborate much when I do.  In Novermber, I discovered a lump and had the lumpectomy on Dec 10.  The dr I had then I would not recommend to opporate on my bigh toe!  Needless to say, it was a sucess totally removed and no lymph involvement.  They said if the was ever a "good" cancer, that was what I had.  Chemo was never suggested-good for me because I would decline it anyway.  Radiation not really an option since I also have Lupus-seems it does not "play well with others".  My mother has been real sick for about 2 years and we finally got her home in March and less that a week later, My step-dad passed.  After re-evaluating what my brother and I had to do to get things ready (and yes-they had already paid for the plots, markers and vaults) but still a lot of work had to be done fast.

After the funeral, I made the life altering decission to have a bi-lateral mastectomy.  Since I am still in reasonably good health and physically able to handle the surgery, I figured it was better to do it now that wait to see if it comes back later.  I do not want my daughter to have to go though what I have.

So, on April 30, 2013 I hade the surgery, while in the OR the PS came in to insert the TEs befor I was sewn up.  I woke up with 4 tubes.  At first I thought-no problem.  Very soon afterward I found them to be a terrible problem!  Every single one of them were positioned exactly on the bra line!  They stayed so irritated and honestly, I was so glad when the finally came out.  First 2 (two weeks out), then 1 (4 weeks out) and a few weeks later the last one.  Now I am having trouble with retaining fluid on both sides.  When the PS aspirated the left side, he took out close to 800 mg! Almost 3 weeks ago I went back to hospital and had a new tube put in on the left side.  This one was great!  Good position, it did not hurt and was working fine-even though-sometimes it would stop for a couple of days and them start back.  We were hoping that there would be enough fluid to put in a new one on the right-but there was not.  

Yesterday, I went back to hospital to have a drain put in the right side.  The PS aspirated over 250 mg on Monday, and after the drain was inserted about another 270 mg was aspirated.  While I was there I had them to double check my left side because it had not drianed since Monday afternoon.  Sure enough it was clogged so I had the option to reschedule another appt ot to wait to be worked in Flourascopy, so that they could make sure the replacement made it into the same spot.  I arrived at the hospital at 12:45 pm and I did not get out till almost 6:00 pm.

I noticed where someone had posted about the "slimey" liquid oozing.  What is this?  I have noticed sometimes my drains seem to have partially gellitonized matter.  Then I have also noticed "strings" or "chunks" coming through my tubes.  That was actually what had clogged the one drain.  At this point, I can live with the tubes and draining.  I just cannot figure out why there is still fluid and what the foriegn matters are.  I thought, maybe fatty deposits, but the response to that was just a simple no.  No elaboration at all.

Is there any explaination as to Why? or What this is?  What makes it form a gellatinous substance?