I had WLE then had Re excision 6 weeks ago. I have just been to see BCN this morning as I had noticed a smell coming from scar, bit difficult to describe but here goes— The scar is now underneath a huge crease in my breast and I have to part it to look at scar this is when it smells. BCN got surgeon to check it and he said all is ok its just because no air getting to scar and its just something will have to put up with and that it may change when I have rads, whenever that is I havent even got treatment plan yet but it will involve chemo as am triple neg.
Any advice on dealing with this smell would be appreciated, I do shower twice a day.
Hi Helen, I had WLE but then 3 Re excisions for clear margins. I had lots of probs with my wound as there was quite a big hole in my breast that got infected and I had to wear a bandage for weeks to stop it leaking over my clothes. Also had to go to nurse for a while to get my boob squeezed out. It was pretty disgusting. Anyway cleared up now. I have a strange nipple that sits to the side now and if I dont wash and dry it carefully it gets a bit sore and smelly . Hope I havent put anyone off their Supper. I think that making sure that you dry the area completely might help.
Lots of love Andrea xx
… have to say I have missed this particular side effect … I did develop a big crease (overnight in January I think) and then it gradually went until it has now gone. It wasn’t very deep but moisturising cream used to collect in there.
I am trying to use my imagination at this end am what I am about to suggest may be impractical … but …
CONFIDENTIALY … I have always had a very very odd probelm with my tummy button. It has never ever had any fluff in it - in fact I had NO IDEA why people talked about picking fluff out until I was over 30!!
Well - if I gain or lose weight it can smell aa bit nd occaisionally I get a tiny discharge … it used to hapen with every period as I always used to gain and then lose a few pounds
I used to keep it under control with a good scrub with q-tips and then talcum powder
I’m not suggesting you try this but I have some lateral thinking ideas …
could you sandwich some lint/lindt/gauze ??? (my spelling is awful - I am obviously not suggesting chocolate) in it - like lift it up a bit and put a pad in - it might keep it apart a bit and then some air could get in …???
or what about any baby products ??? they have lots of creams these days to help with sweaty little crevices … you’d have to ask BCN but might be worth a try …
good luck anyway … hope it clear up soon
by the way if ANYONE out there has the same problem with their tummy button I’d love to know!!!
lol .The thought of sandwichng chocolate in it…yuk.I am gonna try some talc and gauze.
Found bcn wasnt really interested today although she wasnt my usual one, I asked for some info on triple negative but she said there wasnt any written info.
I also asked about reconstruction after WLE (after treatment finished of course} she said was only available after mastectomy but that i could probably have a prosthesis
I’m sure I read on here about someone having recon after WLE??
Have more faith in info on here than at hosp at minute.
FizBix
what stage are yuo at with treatment and what are you having?
I had a similar problem with my full clearance scar, horrrible smell, did slightly fold over under arm so I got breast nurse to check it out in case there was an infection. It was all fine, she said no air getting to it and very moist area, she said keep an eye on it and so i washed and showered as usual and dried area off with a cool hairdryer. Keeping it exposed as much as possible seemed to help to.
Hope this might help you too,
FB
I am expecting to be given tax too when I eventually see onc!! It seems the norm for triple neg.The general opinion on here is that its very gruelling and side effects mean it sometimes has to be cut short I’m assuming thats why you had 3 and not the fourth?
33 rads seems a lot, dont know what i was expecting on that. I’ve still got a lot to learn!
Hope you are doing ok?
Quite honestly I found TAX very easy - it was easier than Epi by a long straw.
In many ways it was easier than the beginning of radiotherapy as with TAX I only had a few days where I couldn’t do anything - radiotherapy is much easier now
I had tingling but no pain, lost no nails - not even ridges (now 2 months since the last one and all nails still look fine), and grew a lot of hair!
My problem is that with any chemo my body just doesn’t seem to want to make the bone marrow - my neutrofil levels don’t recover - so i cost a fortune in injections - I also threw up during TAX 3 but I have now just realised tht his was due to the incredibly painful place they put the drip - I think the chemo going in was the last straw
I worried myself sick about TAX and even had a dream about dying and for me it was very very easy
Sorry took so long to reply, was at a wedding all yesterday (lovely day).
So glad your experience of tax wasnt too bad, not many (fairly) positive things said about it.
You’re quite a bit ahead of me so hope you dont mind if I throw questions to you now and again.
I am off on holiday to Gran Canaria in two week so am going to ring BCN tomorrow to push for appointment with Onc before I go so that can finally get treatment plan and hopefully come back from hols "fully charged"and get on with it.
Its funny how you really dread chemo yet cant wait to get on with it!!
Helen xx
PS…seem to have go smell under control with gauze and talc xx
Hi Helen
I too am triple negative. Had Chemo first, six TAC three weeks apart last one was altered slightly, the Taxotere does was reduced by one sixth and the A part was left out as I was so bad after the 5th one. My tumour 6.5cm x 4.5cm disappeared after the third course, they couldn’t even find it with ultrasound. Like FB didn’t lose any nails but my thumb nails developed a nasty ridge with each chemo and my other finger nails have white lines on them but all are growing out nicely so not a problem. Lost all my hair quite early but it is growing really well now (last chemo on 6th June). Main problem was nasty taste and sore mouth but lots you can do, and I am not sure if your regime will have the same effects as the TAC. They do keep a really close eye on you and alter things to suit. I then had a double mastectomy and axillary clearance on the right hand side, 4 out of 19 nodes affected. Am now receiving radiotherapy had first four, eleven more to go! If you want more info on triple negative www,breastcancer.org/symptoms/diagnosis/trip_neg/behaviour.jsp may answer some of your questions. Or if you really want to get to the nitty gritty go to www.breastcancer.org/treatment/planning/ask_expert/2008_07/
Or type triple negative into search on this site and you will find others in the same situation.
All the best, it is very doable, fear of the unknown is the worst part. Many of us have done it and there is a lot of support out here for you.
Thankyou for the links will copy them and as you say get into the nitty gritty!!
Both my sons leave home this week Eldest in the morning (uni) youngest on Sunday (Army) so will be" home alone" and have lots more time to look into things!!
jacqueline lewis - you can google her, does partial reconstructions at charing x hospital, but she says you need to have the reconstruction before radiotherapy I seem to remember
Thats really good to know, I was pretty sure I had seen it somewhere. I know some people will think I’m better off because I didnt need mastecomy, to be honest that was my first thoughts, but the difference between breasts now is really dramatic, I have a very close friend who had a mastectomy 18month ago, last week i showed her what mine was now like and she thought i was “no better off” cosmetically than her, in fact she was shocked at what she saw and admitted at first she was envious that I had at least kept my breast. She is having a reconstuction soon and thankfully seems to be recovering really well from her experiences.