Hi folks, I’ve just got back from hospital after yesterday’s lumpectomy and since getting home my breast & armpit sound and feel like they’re full of water - if I shake them slightly it sounds like water sloshing about. The whole area seems more swollen than it did this morning, though my scar looks fine.
I’ve spoken with the on-call doctor at the hospital and he said that the area probably needs ‘draining’ but as it’s not urgent (ie, no extreme pain or fever) I should take some painkillers overnight and call again first thing in the morning.
He didn’t say anything like ‘oh yes, that often happens’, or ‘don’t worry, it’s a normal side-effect’, so I just wanted to check with someone here who’s experienced this.
Hello Firecracker,
Sounds like a seroma, I had lots of problems with the sloshing and had to have it drained a number of times. Its not painful having it drained and the relief afterwards is heaven.
Pam
I’ve just had lymph clearance and experiencing the same problem. I’ve been back to hospital twice to have the seroma under my arm drained and have been told it will will probably need further draining because its continuing to swell. I have managed to avoid taking any pain relief because the seroma has been drained every two days and relieved the discomfort. I hope it doesn’t cause you too many more problems
Thank Jo, Eva & Pam - I went to have it drained on Friday lunchtime, and so far it’s been ok, a bit swollen and sore, but hey, surely that’s normal for post-op? And the sloshing’s gone for now - I’ve been taking lots of arnica on the homeopath’s advice, she said it should help avoid recurrence.
PS… Of course, on Friday afternoon, once I’d got back from the drainage session, I had a proper look on this site - and there it was, ‘seroma’, completely normal, etc, etc.
Can anyone shed any light on how long it takes a seroma to settle down? I had lymph node clearance op on 12th Dec,three weeks tommorow, have had fluid drained from underam last week for third time, this time I had 315 mls drained! it continues to fill since last Wed. I have taken antibiotocs to prevent infection as they say inserting needles poses a risk. The hospital have said it might take several weeks to settle.
I had my mastectomy and node clearance op on 7th december. Within 3 days I though my boob had grown back! had 350mls drained 1 week after surgery. Four days later was admitted via a & e as seroma was huge. in fact the surgeon thought it was a beautiful reconstruction! Had a further 750 mls drained at day 10. Finally had another 500 mls drained on day 14 and thankfully now filling very slowly! I found it very uncomfortable if not exactly painful but it got so large I was oozing large amounts of fluid overnight from stitches. Anyway much more comfortable now. Hope this helps
13th October routine mastectomy - done
14th October mum passed away
7th Novemeber diagnosed with bc - done
7th December mastectomy and node clearance - done
30th December CT scan - done
3rd Jan Bone Scan - done
Results on 11th Jan -
Hi Lizzyship, thanks for your reply, you’re experience of a seroma is far worse than mine!750 mls is huge by comparison, it must have been so uncomfortable. I hope it continues to fill very slowly & stop completly soon. I lost my sister in Aug 2010 had a routine mammogram Nov 2010,no concern,then found a lump and was diagnosed in April 2011. I had my mastectomy last May, with just SNB, 1 node affected. I finished Chemo 7 weeks ago and had a lymph clearance 3 weeks ago. At least I only have the seroma to deal with now.I have rads next.
I’m so sorry about the loss of your Mum, you must be glad to see the back of 2011, what a horrible time you’ve had.
Wishing you luck with bone scan tommorow
boob has stopped filling now but hey ho got really bad mastitis! Always thought that you needed a boob for that, still got giant anti biiotics off GP so starting to improve!