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calvertcrafts

I had a lumpectomy with 2 nodes removed in Sept 09. I finished chemo in Jan 2010 and 37 rad treatments in March 2010. I felt pretty good and was painfree until early July. I started having pain in my breast and irritation near my scar. I saw my surgeon and she said it was radiation mastitis. She recommended Aleve twice a day to ease the pain. Today I had a return appointment so she could ckeck me. Unfortunately, I still have pain and the breast is hot to the touch. She said about 2 out of every 100 have this happen.(Aren't I special!!) Now my options are live with it, have steroid shots every month(which may or may not help)or have the breast removed. Anyone dealing with this?? Advice, plez!!

missrenee

I still have pain and swelling too.
Had lumpectomy with re-excision and 23 nodes removed in Dec. '09, finished chemo in May, just finished rads 3 weeks ago. I still have pain, swelling in my breast (along with a seroma) and pain and swelling along my ribs/trunk on that side. I see a PT who specializes in post-op breast cancer patients. I have exercises to do and a massage technique. They have helped somewhat. However, my surgeon said this may be a forever thing (yippee). I think this happens to more than 2 out of 100--just from people I've talked to. Having the pain really sucks--more so because it's really hard to have a day when you can actually forget what you've gone through.

Let me know how you're doing and if you get any good advice.

Hugs, Renee

2Floridiansisters

missrenee said:

I still have pain and swelling too.
Had lumpectomy with re-excision and 23 nodes removed in Dec. '09, finished chemo in May, just finished rads 3 weeks ago. I still have pain, swelling in my breast (along with a seroma) and pain and swelling along my ribs/trunk on that side. I see a PT who specializes in post-op breast cancer patients. I have exercises to do and a massage technique. They have helped somewhat. However, my surgeon said this may be a forever thing (yippee). I think this happens to more than 2 out of 100--just from people I've talked to. Having the pain really sucks--more so because it's really hard to have a day when you can actually forget what you've gone through.

Let me know how you're doing and if you get any good advice.

Hugs, Renee

Oh my gosh, this is terrible to hear...
I sure hope both of you get better from this situation, I've been thinking a lumpectomy would be a walk in the park compared to a mastectomy, boy was I wrong. I hope this doesn't happen to me, my lumpectomy is September 15th, I hope to get a prescription for plenty of pain pills after hearing this.

Angie2U

2Floridiansisters said:

Oh my gosh, this is terrible to hear...
I sure hope both of you get better from this situation, I've been thinking a lumpectomy would be a walk in the park compared to a mastectomy, boy was I wrong. I hope this doesn't happen to me, my lumpectomy is September 15th, I hope to get a prescription for plenty of pain pills after hearing this.

No, I never had this. I
No, I never had this. I certainly hope they can help you without your having a mastectomy. Keep us updated.

TraciInLA

Antibiotics?
I had radiation to both breasts, and had very similar symptoms to what you describe (one breast much redder than the other and hot to the touch) -- only in my case, this happened during radiation, not months afterward.

My radiation oncologist also said it was probably mastitis from the radiation, and prescribed a course of antibiotics, which worked quickly and very well for me. Maybe my situation was different than yours, but he never once mentioned any of the options your surgeon did.

I'm wondering if you should maybe get a 2nd opinion from your radiation oncologist, who's probably going to be more knowledgeable about radiation aftereffects than your surgeon may be?

Traci