infection a month after lumpectomy?????

Jessie, I'm sorry no one has responded yet. Have you looked up seromas? A seroma is a collection of lymph fluid that could be caused by the LX. Here's the BCO information page https://www.breastcancer.org/treatment/side_effects/seroma It's good you have an appointment scheduled tomorrow with your surgeon so you don't have to wait for answers. All the best for quick healing. Ceanna

This sounds identical to what I have experienced. I had a lumpectomy in February 2019, healing was going really well, no issues at all and then about 4 weeks later one morning I noticed my inner lower right breast was all red and inflamed including the areola with a discolored orange like nipple. This was sudden, unexpected and on the opposite side of my surgery which was the outer side of my right breast. It alarmed me thinking I had an infection or something worse like IBC. I saw the surgeon who thought it was odd but didn't think it was an infection so we would watch it. I still have the redness and inflammation and am under going radiation now. I was just put on antibiotics this morning since I am feeling under the weather a bit with very hot skin and a very hot and red breast. It scared me to not feel well and have this inflamed breast that can only be more inflamed by the radiation. The team that is caring for me is wonderful and helped me through this meltdown this morning. Hoping it is nothing like I fear and resolves with either the antibiotics or time.

Hi jessie123. Just reading your reply now. I definitely will let you know how the antibiotics do. It is Tuesday and I have been on them since last Friday. I feel better but my breast is unfortunately more swollen and red. It's hard to tell how much is caused from radiation which I just had this morning with another 16 treatments to go and how much is a possible infection and or something worse. I saw the radiologist oncologist this morning and she remarked that it looked worse then she expected and I may need to be on antibiotics beyond the first batch of Cephalexin. I did ask her what if the antibiotics do not get rid of this inflammation, what next? So I am raising the red alert and I believe they will get to the bottom of this one way or another. I hope yours resolves soon and if not keep asking, raising your concerns for answers to figure out what is going on. I so understand how you must be feeling. It's distressing but hang in there. In time right around some corner the light is gonna shine again.

Hi jessie123,

I understand your fear and know how an anxiety disorder makes it all so much worse. I will take a slow breath along with you and try to take it a step at a time and a day at a time. I never thought of the 4 injections of the dye into the nipple which I also had for the sentinel node biopsy but perhaps it is a reaction that some may experience? After about 4 weeks post lumpectomy and after a shower I looked in the mirror and noticed this large pinkish area that started on the inner lower left of my right breast and like you mentioned, a lower semi circle around my areola and nipple. It didn't look inflamed or red. Just pink. The nipple looked inverted to me though, it was very dark and the areola looked orange and yellow and just plain weird. I also noticed in a few areas surrounding my nipple these strange pocmarks so once I looked online and saw a few pictures I was immediately alarmed. Since that time I have started radiation, my surgeon did not think I had an infection but the pinkish area slowly has now turned more red, more swollen (radiation complicates it all) and another patch of redness has appeared on the top of my right breast. I have been struggling with my fear because it isn't going away and I am grateful for that fear because it will keep me working with my team to make sure we figure out the root cause. I am not a medical professional and there are other breast conditions and inflammatory processes with symptoms that do not have to be what I fear, still if it doesn't go away I do expect my medical team to find out exactly what is going on and not dismiss my symptoms as statistically very rare without at some point another biopsy. I believe I have a great team and that I will know soon. I hope you feel the same kind of trust in your oncologist, radiologist and surgeon, nurses and all, and if not a second opinion is the best thing to do when feeling you can't get any answer for ongoing symptoms that remain, get worse and or are being ignored and not investigated. I wish you the very best. Keep me updated on how your doing and I with you and let's take that deep slow breath. We are certainly not alone.