Hi,
I had my operation nearly a year ago, last December to be exact, Ive gone through Chemo, Rads, Extra chemo, now on Herceptin and Tamoxifen.
when I had my operation they went in via my nipple, There has always been like a small dot of a scab that has been on the scar since my operation but in the last couple of weeks is now visable and to be honest hard and a little sore, My breast is also doubled in size.
I do have Lymphodemia on the arm, so i suppose it could now be in my breast. But what’s with the scab !!!
I am due my Herceptin on Thursday so I will show my Oncologist, but can’t help thinking this is something bad again… I always seem to be going to him with one problem or another, feeling a little like a hypochondriac at the moment !!
Has anyone else experienced a scab on there scar nearly a year after, if so what was it…
Hi Teresa
How upsetting for you having to deal with this and wonder what’s going on. I know what you mean about feeling like you’re being a hypochondraic but really - try to put that out of your mind as you are certainly not a hypochondriac - I think most ladies if not all will be able to relate to what you are saying and all will sympathise with how you are feeling and your worries. Your oncologist is there to treat you and also to check on things like this and I’m always being told to come back if I have any worries.
Good luck for Thursday
xxxx
Muffet you take care of yourself and I really do so understand and sympathise = anything gets me going these days - I have worries all the time - life is just so different in terms of what’s going on with your body to how it used to be - it’s not at all easy.
Hugs
xxx
Um… The downside of living in Spain… I seen a different Oncologist today about the swelling and my scab !!!
he said it’s normal, I couldn’t make him understand that my breast now being nearly treble the size is not normal and a scab on my scar a year later is not normal too … AArrgghhhhhhhhhh…
So spoke to my Chemo nurse who said come back next thursday and see my normal Onc… Another week waiting. !!!
Dear Teresa - oh no now waiting waiting and more waiting - so sorry that you couldn’t get the oncolgoist to understand - I know the week’s wait will be really hard for you. It’s hard and nothing I can say will make it any easier. Just know that I am thinking if you and wishing all to be ok
xxxx
Csme to find your first post, which I’d missed (I would’ve looked out of sheer nosiness cos it sounds gory…<grin>).</grin>
I’m not surprised you’re freaking out - and being a newcomer to this bloomin’ club (and I would much rather use a far stronger word than bloomin, I sound like my mama) - the waiting game is all too familiar, and I completely empathise with the stress it puts you under.
Stamp and scream, stamp and scream. You know your body - don’t get fobbed off. Do you get a bcn in Spain? Or is it the Chemo nurse who gives you support? I hope you have someone xxxxx
Maybe tha lack of useful responses is itself indicative of how unusual the problem is. I haven’t had it and have no memory of coming accross anything quite like it on here. One lady on the embarking thread has had a problem with an ongoing post op abcess which is the most similar I have come across.
hi it sounds such a worry ,i had infection after my op and seroma but all scabs had gone after 3 months my friend had a scab left for over 12 months which finally dropped off but she had no swelling sorry i have no advice only if it was me i would go to doctors today and ask for another opinion good luck missmessyx
Not quite the same but following DX I developed a seroma which became infected. I had emergency surgery to open it up and drain it. The resulting wound took 10 months to heal so I understand your frustration. The doctors kept saying leave it alone and it will heal but it had to be dressed 3 times a week and it really upset me. In the end one of the doctors put silver nitrate on it to open it up a bit and kick start my body into healing properly again. That worked and it is now healed.
Hi Andie, My god that sounds awful, I had Seroma too but eventually the drains worked for me.
Tor’s your right i suppose it is unusual. Don’t get me wrong the scab is not big, but it has got bigger… Someone mentioned it could be a rogue stitch working it’s way out ! Lets hope so…
The swollen breast could well be lymphodemia as i have that in my arm, but for the Oncologist to look at this and say it’s normal is well I can’t comprehend where hes coming from !!! Its now nearly treble the size of my other breast…
Thanks for all your comments ladies, Love Teresa xxx
Hey girlie. Had a similarish thing about 7 months after the op… In August, in mid-chemo and after the first Herceptin, I had a scabby bit along the scar line which was doing things I didn’t like.
Anyone wanting to avoid gore turn away about now. It was about 1cm round, red and oozing yellow/clear stuff. Although it started as a scab, it turned into a bit of a crater after a few weeks. I’d already had a few stiches that didn’t dissolve and had to be pulled out, and they’d all oozed and opened up a bit eventually, but were much much smaller than this.
They did swab it for dodgy cells and it was negative. About a week later, whilst having a prod at it I felt something sharp and recognised it as a stitch Feeling up for a bit of d-i-y, I gave it a yank and soon after the hole healed up and has now disappeared. I think that at this point, I’m supposed to write a disclaimer about not being a medic and the above not being medical advice, or some-such.
So there you go. Indeed, yours could well be a stitch thing. I’d add a little caveat and say that all of this happened in the non-naughty-boob side, which I’d had reduced and uplifted (thanks, NHS) at the same time as the mastectomy.
Stamp up and down if you’re not happy. I do. A lot. xxx
I had a small scab, on my mx scar, not quite at the end of it.
It was tiny at first, then got bigger, and more raised. After a few days it turned nasty, and burst, it left a nasty hole. Anyway to cut a long story short, it ended up being the knot at the end of a stitch, which they pulled out.
I had a course of antibiotics, and it healed up really quickly.
So hoping thats whats happened with you.
Good luck with your appointment, dont come away without a proper answer.
Thanks Sharon, Lets hope so… A friend of mine also on this site has exactly the same symptoms as me, she went to the doctors this morning, he examined her and found another lump!
It just gets to you so much, as you well know honey… How are you doing, I here chemo is suiting better now…
Hi Teresa just to say I am the lady referred to by Vicki on the other thread with a post-op abscess. But my abscess formed in a sebaceous cyst I had had on my abdominal wall for many years. My Onc and surgeon both inferred that it was chemo induced but doesn’t really matter it was sooo painful. Sorry can’t help you really and seems that the lack of info on here indicates that it is a bit unusual. Hope you can find out what it is and get it treated I do feel for you. You mustn’t be fobbed off with this.Hun thinking of you. Jackie