Post-Lumpectomy Massive Fluid Leakage and Infection!

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  • gemmafromlondon
    gemmafromlondon Member Posts: 138
    edited February 2015

    Daisey - Keep a close eye on the area around the incision - if it is very pink that might indicate continuing infection. Mine was pink in a wide area but no mention of cellulitis was made. The drain business seems to be a matter of surgeon's choice. I had three sentinel nodes and one axial node removed (refused to give permission for full axillary clearance) but surgeon said no drains. Think it would have been better if had had one. Hope you get better soon but don't hang about - just get another opinion if you are at all worried.

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  • labelle
    labelle Member Posts: 721
    edited February 2015

    I was told last Tuesday that I might have cellulitis by the wound care nurse at Vanderbilt (the breast center I go to-was there to see OC and talk about hormone therapy). I showed OC my breast and she had the wound care nurse come in to examine me. Nurse told me I needed to get into see my RO ASAP as I'd just finished rads and she felt this was rads related cellulitis he needed to be made aware of and that I needed antibiotic treatment. He worked me in the afternoon and I told him what the wound care nurse said. The SOB did not even examine me-had me pull up my shirt and looked at me from across the room. Said it just looked a little red and that he'd prescribe me an antibiotic just in case, mostly seemed to just be humoring me! This was golf ball sized, bright red, tender swollen area on my breast, stretched taunt and with a fluidy feel to it, but of course he never even touched it, barely looked at it. This is at my local radiation center/Vanderbilt is 90 miles away. So I had the RADS here in town. I had horrible burning / peeling with RADs so obviously plenty of chances for a bacterial infection. This guy was monitoring my Rads throughout, as ROs do, and seeing me once a week, so he should have seen all was not well, but he minimized everything, dismissed my pain, oozing sores, swelling, etc.

    Saturday morning I had my husband take me to Vanderbilt's ER after 4 days of oral antibiotics and more swelling, pain, redness. Did not want to go to the local ER where they would probably turn me over to my worthless lazy shit RO. So glad I am done with him. My lumpectomy was done back in November and all seemed to be healing well until part way thru RADS.

    Anyway they did an ultrasound in Vanderbilt's ER, found a 2 x 5 x ? area of fluid that they figured was infection that had been walled off, no way for it to drain-portions of your infection/abscess may be walled off as well and so will need to be surgically drained

    . I went into surgery Saturday afternoon, spent the night a Vanderbilt, had 4 courses of IV antibiotics (will continue to take oral for several days at home), now have a large open wound my husband will be packing for me twice a day-left open to drain. It's a mess and another incision and scar on my poor abused boob, but the point is, it couldn't heal without being opened up surgically, even with antibiotics. If you are having these kind of symptoms you need medical care ASAP-if possible I would ( and did ) go to the ER associated with your breast center hospital. They set me up for surgical follow up at the breast center on Thursday-provided we are shoveled out by then. I'm in TN and we are supposed to getting slammed w snow tonight. I was so afraid they would keep me another day and my husband wouldn't be able to come to get me. Don't ignore this-yours may not be as serious as mine, but you need someone to check it out. I was told this kind of thing can turn septic, lead to massive infection, if not treated properly.

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  • Daisey4522
    Daisey4522 Member Posts: 88
    edited February 2015

    Oh Dear! What a horrible experience you've had! I'm so sorry!!
    The night after I posted in the forum I decided to encourage the fluid out myself. I mean it was completely infected, that should not be in my body! I got the majority of it out. I have a couple of swollen lymph nodes and I was feeling very lethargic this weekend (especially on Saturday) but not so much today. The area seems to be filling back up with fluid, but there is no way to tell if the fluid is infected or not since I have not drained or leaked since Saturday. Superficially everything looks really good, I'm just concerned with the fluid deep within my breast, since you were saying that if it was encapsulated the antibiotics will not work. I'd rather not be surgically drained if that's what's best I better do it! I am just feeling and looking a lot better today, so maybe I was able to get all of the infected fluid out and the antibiotics are working.

    I have a call out to the nurse (I actually had a missed call from her this morning I think she was calling to check up on me) but she is with a patient. I'm going to explain all that happened and at least ask if I should extend the antibiotics since I was only prescribed 1 week.

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  • Trvler
    Trvler Member Posts: 3,159
    edited February 2015

    How are things going, Daisey?

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  • Daisey4522
    Daisey4522 Member Posts: 88
    edited February 2015

    Sorry for the delay in getting back to you, but things actually got worse and I have been dealing with that. I saw that you had asked how I was doing last Thursday and it really touched me that people care so much :) That night was actually a terrible night (the worst I have had, much worse than the surgery!) so it was really nice to know you were thinking of me.

    I said that everything looked good last Tuesday, well on Wednesday I could see yellowish/whitish fluid poking through the incision site again and the incision site was starting to turn red. I could tell the fluid was building up again and that I would burst any day. I called the nurse just to let her know that it does not seem to be over, but that it looks like it's going to burst again. The receptionist at the office asked me if I could come in that day so the Nurse could see me. Apparently the Nurse I have been seeing has breast cancer and will be having surgery (by my surgeon) the following day and will be out of the office for weeks! I felt so sad learning that… but she seems to be in good spirits and it really made me feel good that she was having my surgeon do her surgery when she had a choice of anyone… He does seem to do good work.

    Anyways, I went to the office and she examined me and then had my Surgeon actually pop in for a minute and examine me. They keep telling me that it's fine. They said just let it drain if it drains. They said that it would be hard to aspirate my particular case and it would leave me very poor cosmetic results. They told me that I should be concerned if I turned significant red, develop a fever, or the skin becomes warm to touch. I went home and a few days later I started to swell up again. It was right under my nipple and it hurt so much. I felt an intense stabbing pain. At about 1 am the incision burst and fluid started to flow out but not as much as previous times, this time the fluid seemed to be of a different consistency. The odor was not as strong and the fluid, although it was still yellowish/white and cloudy, it was not as "messy" looking as before. It was also thicker and slower flowing and less came out. I noticed, what appeared to be internal stitching come out with the fluid through the incision site. I am guessing it is dissolvable stitching? It was so painful. I even saw a piece that was a loop with a knot in the end (and that had to come out through the tiny break in the incision with the fluid). I saw a long piece of thread come out of the hole, I tried to pull it out, but I think it was still attached inside and I feel like I ripped some of my internal breast tissue. It was so painful… I don't know if I started scaring myself seeing this and the intense pain, but I felt like I was going to black out. I would see black and white flashing lights and I started to cry uncontrollably… I like to think that I am tough and this sort of thing rarely happens to me...


    The next few days I leaked a little bit, but it's more like a oozing rather than gushing like the previous times. Today I look good again. It's not oozing right now and the incision site looks good. But this is what has happened the past 4+ times. My breast drains, I start to heal, then it fills back up and I have to go through the painful process all over again. I'm wondering how many times is this going to happen? I'm hoping that since this was of a different consistency this will be the last time, but who knows, I just usually try to be optimistic. My next appointment is not until April 1, so I really hope I do not have to go through this anymore.

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  • NATSGSG
    NATSGSG Member Posts: 231
    edited May 2015


    Hello Daisey4522: I read the terrible experience you have to go through. It must have been very scary and painful for you...I don't know what I'll do in such a situation....and I feel most doctors do care and some don't give a damn, we are just another patient to them... thank you for sharing your situation so we learn something from it.... I am just thankful my female doctor surgeon is a wonderful, caring and patient person. Every time I leave her a message, she will return my call by the end of the day, no matter how busy she is. She welcomes any concerns I have, respects my decision if I choose something different from her recommendation, provided I am able to provide evidence of my decision.

    I hope you will find a better doctor for whatever post surgical therapy you have to go through.  Oftentimes, our gut feelings are correct....if it tells us something is missing, it is asking us to question is, to seek more clarity about it...

    Pleas do not stop reading about conditions similar to yours from the internet because you can learn much from it, and help you make decisions you otherwise wouldn't make without knowing them. The National Library of Medicine has tons of scientific evidence you can find to help answers some of the questions you have...

    I have even written to some cancer patients for clarification so I can understand better. Many are more than willing to share whatever they have because they want us newbies to not suffer what they have suffered had they known some of the things that their care giver or doctor failed to tell them in their own research...

    Please take care...also do remember to do your post surgery exercises wherever possible...those exercises can really help to speed up your recovery. Here's a link with pictorial demonstration:

    http://breastcancer.about.com/od/lifeaftertreatment/ss/arm_exercises_tutorial.htm

    All the Best

    Apr. 5th, 2015:

    Sorry, I went back and checked the link...and re-pasted it above. It should work now. Thanks for pointing it out...all the best in your recovery and .thanks for you well wishes...going for Chemo #2 in about 30 mins. today...

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  • Trvler
    Trvler Member Posts: 3,159
    edited April 2015

    I see you are going today. Please update us when you can.

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  • Daisey4522
    Daisey4522 Member Posts: 88
    edited April 2015

    Thanks so much NAT_SG! I wish you all the best as well. BTW - The link you sent does not seem to work.

    That's so nice of you to ask Trvler! Everything went well. It was funny though, a resident walked in and said "I'm Dr. XXX" I just looked at her blankly until she said "Oh Dr. XXX (my regular doctor) is coming" LOL. She was just practicing on me. Gave me a very good feel and then asked me all sorts of questions of my experience and why I chose to do the surgery. I didnt mind too much as long as I got to see my surgeon. The leaking of the fluid stopped about a week before my appointment (so I leaked for about 9 weeks!) The first few weeks were horrible with large amounts of fluid flowing so quickly but it turned into a slow leak that was much more manageable the last few weeks. It seems to have stopped leaking all together now, but my nipple does look a little funny. I can get some sort of reconstruction surgery for the nipple, but I'm going to wait for now. I'm just thrilled that the size of my breasts match! Both are still DD! I was so worried I would have a B and a DD like the first surgeon said.

    It seems like for now I can put this all behind me... well except I have an appointment with Radiology to have a bilateral Ultrasound. I'm not sure if they will be able to see much in my right breast, because I had those masses removed (I think my radiologist is not aware of that), but I have my 6 month follow up with the mass(es) I found in my left breast. There are two smaller masses in my left breast (that was not very concerned about). I had one of the 2 masses biopsied and it turned out to be benign (fibrocystic changes). So I am now going back to make sure that nothing has changed with the other masses since it was never biopsied. That appointment is on April 20. I hope all goes well so I do not have to have another biopsy!

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  • Trvler
    Trvler Member Posts: 3,159
    edited April 2015

    Great news!

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  • Straitlover
    Straitlover Member Posts: 124
    edited April 2015

    On that link for the exercises, looks like a letter was left out. Should be breastcancer.about.com/ .... the M was left out.

    Hope everything goes OK from now on!

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  • Daisey4522
    Daisey4522 Member Posts: 88
    edited April 2015

    Thanks!!!

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  • Deda6266
    Deda6266 Member Posts: 5
    edited November 2017

    I’m almost a year post lumpectomy surgery. Developed a suroma two weeks after surgery. Dr. Chose not to drain it, said it would be reabsorbed. Finished radiation the middle of February and in August the suroma felt like a golf ball in my breast. Had surgery to remove it and scar tissue from radiation. Had a drain at that time for two weeks. Healed fine, and felt much better, when six weeks later after my shower, I sprung a leak. Was put on antibiotics for ten days. Now here it is almost ten weeks later and Still draining. Only now it stinks! Back on antibiotics!

    Was told that the radiation has compromised the healing process in my breast. I see the surgeon again tomorrow. I pray he has a solution to this.

    I pray for all of you to find a solution to yr pain. Hang in there. Thanks for all your input. Nice to know this isn’t so uncommon. And that we’re not alone.



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  • Jagger2015
    Jagger2015 Member Posts: 14
    edited November 2017

    Deda...I also developed a seroma after surgery (6 months ago) which was also the size of a golf ball. I was told by my surgeon to do nothing...it would be absorbed by my body in time. Well....it has gotten much larger, flatter, and hard. It is quite painful and most of my breast and lately under my arm feels hard, lumpy. Not sure who to talk to...my surgeon, oncologist, or radiation oncologist?do you feel better now that you e had surgery

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  • Daisey4522
    Daisey4522 Member Posts: 88
    edited November 2017

    I'm so sorry to the both of you, Jagger, and Deda. It was horrendous when I saw a ton of disgusting fluid pouring out of my breast. I hope your doctors are able to help you get some relief.

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