I have an infection

I'm so sorry you have a
I'm so sorry you have a infection they are very painful. I would have been scared too. I hope you are feeling better very soon. Take care Kay

Ohh man as if you needed anything else
So sorry you have another worry to deal with but glad it is sweat glands and not Big C. A friend of mine got a boil under her arm after her mastectomy (staff infection) and it was painful but she managed. It seems like it is always something. I hope you are feeling much better now.

Sending my hugs and
Sending my hugs and prayers...and a pm too!

Linda

mom62 said:

Infection
I didn't have this kind of infection but I did fight an infection for a year because my body rejected mesh they put into my chest to rebuild my chest wall. I ended up having 4 surgeries and antibiotics for 5 weeks. I hope your case is much easier to take care of. It sounds like it could be something that happens a lot. Good luck and I'm glad it's just an infection (if that makes any sense)!

Terry

Dawn,
If the antibiotics
Dawn,
If the antibiotics don't seem to be helping in another day, call your doctor back and have them see you again. Sometimes infections don't respond to the antibiotics the way they should and you don't want this to get worse. Also, you need the reassurance that this is an infection and not something more. This is going to be one of those TMI things but long ago before I had any cancers I had pain in my anal and vaginal area. It was red and swollen and hurt like crazy. I went to my NP that I saw back then and I told her what was going on. She did a pelvic exam and said it was probably a yeast infection and gave me a prescription. I told her it didn't feel like a pelvic infection and my butt hurt and was red and swollen. But she assured me that was probably what it was and she would have the lab results back in a few days. I called two days later and said it was worse and she said she would called in another prescription. I asked to be seen because my butt was really red and swollen and was beginning to look like a baboon butt. She said to start the next prescription that day and if it was not better tomorrow to call and she would see me and also the labs would be back. Well, I had not slept during all this time, I was in extreme pain, could not sit, and it was getting worse. The next day I did go in to see her and she said the labs came back and I didn't have a yeast or any vaginal infection and instead of examing herself, she was going to send me to the gyn specialist. She called one of the doctors in from the PCP department and she asked if she could take a look. She took one look and told my mom (who had driven me there with me laying on the back seat) that she could either drive me to the hospital or they would call an ambulance to take me. The hospital was a short drive and faster so mom rushed me down there. They put me on a soft bed, hooked up IVs with antibiotics, pain meds and several hours later I had surgery to take care of the "worst" perianal abcesses the surgeon had ever seen. I had systemic infection and was in the hospital for well over a week with drains, packing and tubes in me. I had a serious reaction to one of the antibiotics and I broke out in hives, my skin peeled off my hands and it was considered life threatening. When I went home, I went home with drains in me. These stayed in for 3 months and I went to the doctor weekly to have them checked. After three months they came out. The doctor said that had I waited just a day or so longer, well it wasn't a pretty picture he painted. He was so angry about the misdiagnosis that he wrote a letter and had it put in my records and I think the NP was fired. I just felt it was an error, oversight, but he was very angry that it got that bad. Why, you ask, am I saying all of this? Because I should have spoken up and been insistant about being seen sooner and if you feel this is not getting better or it is not what they original thought, then you must call and insist that they check it again. Even a simple infection can get bad very, very fast. So call and have it looked at again. If it is only an infection you have lost nothing but the time to find out, but if it is something more then you want to know now, not later.
Wow, this was long winded but I believe strongly that our instincts are there for a reason. Follow them.
Stef

fauxma said:

Dawn,
If the antibiotics
Dawn,
If the antibiotics don't seem to be helping in another day, call your doctor back and have them see you again. Sometimes infections don't respond to the antibiotics the way they should and you don't want this to get worse. Also, you need the reassurance that this is an infection and not something more. This is going to be one of those TMI things but long ago before I had any cancers I had pain in my anal and vaginal area. It was red and swollen and hurt like crazy. I went to my NP that I saw back then and I told her what was going on. She did a pelvic exam and said it was probably a yeast infection and gave me a prescription. I told her it didn't feel like a pelvic infection and my butt hurt and was red and swollen. But she assured me that was probably what it was and she would have the lab results back in a few days. I called two days later and said it was worse and she said she would called in another prescription. I asked to be seen because my butt was really red and swollen and was beginning to look like a baboon butt. She said to start the next prescription that day and if it was not better tomorrow to call and she would see me and also the labs would be back. Well, I had not slept during all this time, I was in extreme pain, could not sit, and it was getting worse. The next day I did go in to see her and she said the labs came back and I didn't have a yeast or any vaginal infection and instead of examing herself, she was going to send me to the gyn specialist. She called one of the doctors in from the PCP department and she asked if she could take a look. She took one look and told my mom (who had driven me there with me laying on the back seat) that she could either drive me to the hospital or they would call an ambulance to take me. The hospital was a short drive and faster so mom rushed me down there. They put me on a soft bed, hooked up IVs with antibiotics, pain meds and several hours later I had surgery to take care of the "worst" perianal abcesses the surgeon had ever seen. I had systemic infection and was in the hospital for well over a week with drains, packing and tubes in me. I had a serious reaction to one of the antibiotics and I broke out in hives, my skin peeled off my hands and it was considered life threatening. When I went home, I went home with drains in me. These stayed in for 3 months and I went to the doctor weekly to have them checked. After three months they came out. The doctor said that had I waited just a day or so longer, well it wasn't a pretty picture he painted. He was so angry about the misdiagnosis that he wrote a letter and had it put in my records and I think the NP was fired. I just felt it was an error, oversight, but he was very angry that it got that bad. Why, you ask, am I saying all of this? Because I should have spoken up and been insistant about being seen sooner and if you feel this is not getting better or it is not what they original thought, then you must call and insist that they check it again. Even a simple infection can get bad very, very fast. So call and have it looked at again. If it is only an infection you have lost nothing but the time to find out, but if it is something more then you want to know now, not later.
Wow, this was long winded but I believe strongly that our instincts are there for a reason. Follow them.
Stef

Good advice Stef. If I
Good advice Stef. If I didn't get fairly quick results, I'd ask to see an ID doc and maybe another breast specialist. It never hurts to get more brains on board.

Texasgirl10 said:

OMG
wow Stef, that is horrible. I'm so sorry that happened to you. I'm glad you kept at the NP and she was smart enough to know that she didn't know what was going on & got someone in there that did know. That is scarey.

I'm pretty good about staying after my doctor. I'm a nurse and I'm not afraid to tell the doctor what I think is going on. I will even let him know that I disagree with him if needed.But he's an excellent doctor, so I have confidence in him. I'm feeling a little better today. I think I just panic these days when something doesn't feel right or if I develop a new pain. I've only been diagnosed with IBC for 2 months and halfway through chemo. I'm already freaked out about the cancer and the fact that it is so very aggressive, so I guess this is the "new normal" for me these days. But if I don't feel better by tomorrow, I will be calling him.

Dawne

IF not much better (or it
IF not much better (or it gets worse) by tomorrow definately call again. Being IBC does ,ake you worry more about some things and had that happened to me - I'd have big time worried. It is possible that the chemo you're on is not working as it should - there are other options. With me, my first chemo didn't get much, if any, shrinkage but Dr did the same (A/C) again for the second but said that if didn't get results we'd be changing to something else.

Thinking positive - it's an infection that will be much better quickly.

Susan

fauxma said:

Dawne,
If it is not better
Dawne,
If it is not better this afternoon, I would call just so you can get in as soon as possible. I would think that you should be seeing improvement by now. And it is not panic you are feeling but concern, genuine concern. I truly only told you that story to impress how important it is to follow your gut and to speak up, but as a nurse you already know this. Glad you are comfortable with your doctors. I am so lucky that, other than that one NP who I only saw for a short time and is now long gone, I have had the best doctors, nurses, and my all time favorite is my nurse practioner in gyn oncology that I see for the uterine cancer follow ups. She is the best medical person I have ever had. She is the one that scheduled the IVP that found my bladder cancer, the one who referred me for genetic testing that discovered the HPNCC (lynch syndrome) and the muir torre syndrome, and well, she is just so great. My doctors are good also but she goes the extra mile always, to answer questions and she never makes me feel like something I ask is silly. She does the most thorough breast exams every year and gently gets me through the pelvics that are so painful to do now. She eptomizes what nursing and health care is all about. When it looked like I was not going to have coverage, she scheduled every test that she felt I would need to be done before I would have lost it (Fortunately I didn't lose the coverage). I wasn't supposed to have my first mammo after the breast cancer until after we might have lost the coverage so she wrote the referral in a way thatit would be done then and not a month later. She also told me that I could call her anytime if I had concerns and she would be there to give me guidance. What a gem! Well, I kept my coverage through cobra, expensive but we have managed to do it. Next month it ends and I am looking into Cal Cobra, which will be more expensive. Hopefully we can get it. I only have 2 years and then I can switch to madicare and pay way less and stay with my provider. We will do everything we can to continue my coverage but it is tough.
Well, once again, I digressed. Seem to do that alot lately and I can't blame chemo brain because I didn't have chemo. LOL As a friend once told me, it sometimesheimer, the forerunner to allsheimer.
Blessing to all,
Stef

Dawne:
I had an infection
Dawne:
I had an infection similar to that after my first chemo treatment. Started oral antibiotics on a Monday, then IV antibiotics in the dr office on a Tuesday and was then admitted into the hospital on a Wednesday. Spent the next 10 days on IV antibiotics in the hospital, released and spent another 7 days on oral antibiotics (2 types). If it is not alot better call your doctor and see what else can be done. The infection in my arm got so bad that part of my upper arm was as big as a football and the other part of my arm was as big as a softball. White counts were almost nil, once the antibiotics were give in the hospital and they drained the infection recovery was pretty quick.