Sloshy Breast after Lumpectomy

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klposton51
klposton51 Member Posts: 4
edited March 2017 in Managing Side Effects of Breast Cancer and Its Treatment

Hello, I have been diagnosed with DCIS, ER/PR Negative, Grade III (left breast).  Had a lumpectomy at UAB on Monday.  Yesterday and today I've noticed that my breast is increasingly swelling and quite red.  The strange thing is that when I scratched my breast last night it sounded like water sloshing!  I have laughed and laughed about it, made all kinds of jokes with family, etc., but then I started reading that this can be an infection.  I read that the fluid (called Seroma) is supposed to be reabsorbed back into the body and that it can take up to a year.  How many of you have experienced this and did you have any complications?  I am supposed to start radiation in 4 to 6 weeks.  Thank you.

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  • savgigi
    savgigi Member Posts: 376
    edited March 2017

    I had a seroma and my surgeon drained it at the post-op visit. Call your surgeon's office and ask about draining the seroma.

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  • ElaineTherese
    ElaineTherese Member Posts: 3,328
    edited March 2017

    I also had a seroma that my surgeon had to drain. In fact, my radiation oncologist refused to start radiation treatment until it was done. And, so it was drained. To prevent another seroma, I had to wear a very tight sports bra stuffed with socks on my cancer side. Otherwise, it's easy for another seroma to form. Best wishes!

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  • mustlovepoodles
    mustlovepoodles Member Posts: 2,825
    edited March 2017

    Make me three. I had a very large seroma following a huge hematoma in the breast. I would definitely let your BS know about the redness.  That's not normal. It should be looking better, not worse.

    Most seromas are just handled with a wait & watch approach. If they're relatively small, the surgeon may just allow it to reabsorb. In my case, the seroma contained 11-oz of fluid--yikes!  They started out drawing it out with a syringe and finally just gave up, opened the suture line and mashed  the rest out.  It was like Niagara Falls.  I was supposed to go back in 3 days for a recheck. On the night before it opened up and gushed out again. It was all over me--yuck. Next day, same scenario--the mashed the rest out and it was like the Fountain of Youth. This went on every 2-3 days until it finally got infected; They put me on antibiotics and put a drain in finally. 


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  • ChiSandy
    ChiSandy Member Posts: 12,133
    edited March 2017

    I had two seromas—one in the breast which made it look bigger than my other breast; and one about the size of a tangerine beneath the sentinel node biopsy incision. The weight of my breast pulled the latter incision open and the seroma gushed all over the place and had to be sutured. I still have the breast seroma, but it’s down to about 10 cm and never did feel sloshy or make noise. If that’s about as small as it gets, I’m ok with it—in a bra I’m symmetrical (and naked, it looks nice and perky, whereas the L one looks like a basset hound’s ear by comparison).

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  • thistooshallpass2010
    thistooshallpass2010 Member Posts: 8
    edited March 2017

    I had this after my first lumpectomy. It only lasted for maybe 3 weeks. Every time a bent over it would slosh! Oddest sensation! I went to this site and was told it would be reabsorbed and it has. If, however, you are experiencing unusual redness and if you have a fever I would definitely contact my doctor. You may need an antibiotic. Hope all goes well.

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  • Tresjoli2
    Tresjoli2 Member Posts: 868
    edited March 2017

    I sloshed for about a month...eventually it stopped.

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