I have inflammatory breast cancer and so far have undergone chemo/radiotherapy to get rid of rash and now tamoifen and herceptin.
Although the rash has gone from the breast I now have a rash under my arm and surrounding my breast. It is very hot, sore and itchy when the air gets to it, with a few little red spots.
My oncologist says to leave it but it is getting worse and I don’t know what to put on it. I am worried this is the inflammatory breast cancer rash back, does anyone know if it travels to other parts of the skin or could this rash be caused by intensive radiotherapy to the whole of the breast area.
Anyone out there that can help. I have been watching rashes grow for a year now.
I don’t want to frighten you but I would ask for a second opinion.
Not sure how knowledgeable about IBC your onc is.
I had chemo to reduce the swelling, the aim was to have surgery next. Unfortunately my onc was on holiday when my chemo finished and I saw another guy who had differnet ideas.
I had finished the chemo in the July and had three appts with this new onc (just got caught up in his paperwork I think).
I had blisters appear on my breast which he told me not to worry about. He said they would never operate as the cancer would run rife. Blisters got worse and started to bleed.
I wasn’t happy, so rang my original oncs secretary and asked to see him.
He said the cancer was attacking the my skin (I was on herceptin alone at this stage and it was now November)
He called a surgeon in who took one look and said he needed to operate the following week.
After surgery I had rads.
I am not suggesting your condition is any where as bad as this but strongly urge you to get another opinion as the rash is back. My original onc was waiting for my skin to improve with chemo so that I could have a mastectomy. It had improved considerably, but still had thickening. However, he was alarmed at the state it had reached by Nov.
has anyone had chemo and herceptin, im due to have 6 lots of chemo and then herceptin introduced halfway through chemo. wonder what side effects you can get?
The first dose was given to me on it’s own so that they’d know if I could tolerate it, after that it was given with the tax.
I had no probs with herceptin at all.
I had herceptin for 7 months, the plan had been to have it for a year.
I have IBC which likes to attack the skin and, unfortunately once chemo finished that is exactly what it did.
We therefore cannot be sure if the herceptin ever worked for me ( I carried on with it for 4 months after finishing chemo and during this time skin became affected) or if it only worked in conjunction with the taxotere.
I must stress that this is due to the type of bc I have, which is rare and very aggressive.
I’m sure you will have no problems, I have heard of fantastic results when using the combo of chemo & herceptin.
Very best of luck with the remainder of your treatment,
Love
Mabel
My 2nd go of breast cancer was IBC and there were initial problems in getting it diagnosed as the original swelling in the solar plexus area (6” above my belly button) didn’t look like any sort of breast cancer. It had spread to my left breast, RHS mastectomy scar, below my right ribs, and as far as a couple of patches on my back by the time I started 6 sessions of taxotere with herceptin. The results were excellent - all the redness and lumpy lymph nodes (except for the redness on my breast) disappeared within a week of the 1st chemo. Originally the onc had said that there was no point in surgery as the cancer had already spread outside the breast area, but the chemo was so successful that he decided to offer me surgery, so I had my 2nd mastectomy & 29 lymph nodes removed. When the tissue was tested the cancer had completely disappeared. The onc & all the staff were surprised & thrilled at how successful the treatment had been (I was pretty thrilled too!). However when I mentioned reconstruction the onc said that he would not recommend it as cutting the skin might stimulate the cancer to reappear. I’m now on arimidex & indefinite herceptin, and 15 months after diagnosis I’m fine.
My experiences have led me to believe that all cancers are different and that ‘better safe than sorry’ is a useful motto. Rather than worrying about the rash, ask for a 2nd opinion from someone who specialises in IBC.