HER2 Support Group Forums - View Single Post

Bellaokc · 02-27-2014, 07:04 PM

It's been a few weeks and the left side started feeling better. I have been doing my stretching exercises the nurse gave me and that seems to have helped. Then the right side started swelling last week and I went to the ER to have it looked at. After checking for infection, etc, they said it is probably a seroma and that I needed to see the plastic surgeon the next day. They bound me up with a compression garment, put ice on it and sent me home.
Neither the surgeon nor the PS wanted to mess with the seroma because it appears to be under the expander and they don't want to do any more poking or cutting than they need to.
Surprisingly enough the compression belt (looks like a pink corset) has helped tremendously and the swelling is very slowly going away.
It has been almost 5 weeks since my mx and only yesterday did I feel pain-free all day. I know it's the expanders causing all of this, but I am going to have boobs one way or another!

02-27-2014, 07:04 PM	#13
Bellaokc Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2013 Location: Oklahoma Posts: 51	Re: Drains out...now tightness in chest It's been a few weeks and the left side started feeling better. I have been doing my stretching exercises the nurse gave me and that seems to have helped. Then the right side started swelling last week and I went to the ER to have it looked at. After checking for infection, etc, they said it is probably a seroma and that I needed to see the plastic surgeon the next day. They bound me up with a compression garment, put ice on it and sent me home. Neither the surgeon nor the PS wanted to mess with the seroma because it appears to be under the expander and they don't want to do any more poking or cutting than they need to. Surprisingly enough the compression belt (looks like a pink corset) has helped tremendously and the swelling is very slowly going away. It has been almost 5 weeks since my mx and only yesterday did I feel pain-free all day. I know it's the expanders causing all of this, but I am going to have boobs one way or another! __________________ Norma, June 7, 2013: Age 43, mother of 2, had just celebrated 16th wedding anniversary June 6th Dx Invasive Ductal Carcinoma: ER-, PR-, HER2+++, Stage IIb, 5 cm. tumor, grade 3 Benign lymph nodes. June 26, 2013: Begin 4 Rounds of AC Sept 19, 2013: Begin 12 weekly treatments of Taxol/Herceptin Oct 22, 2013: Skipped a treatment because of a trip to the ER. Turned out to be a blood clot in the inferior vena cava….Started Coumadin (aka Warfarin) Dec 12, 2013: Last treatment of TH Dec 20, 2013: CAT scan and nuclear bone scans show NED. Yay! Chemo worked! Jan 24, 2014: Bilateral mx w/expanders inserted; 10 Lymph Nodes removed on left side;Pathology report shows no trace of tumor was left after the chemo. More proof that the chemo worked! Jan 30, 2014: Emergency surgery due to hematoma on the right side. Had a filter inserted to deal with blood clot that had developed in October. Feb 2014: Begin Herceptin only treatments Aug 29, 2014 Expanders OUT and implants IN Sept 4, 2014 Last Herceptin treatment YAY!! Oct 8, 2014 Port Removed Dec 5, 2014 Nipple Reconstruction Current Meds: Daily - 150 mg Effexor; 50 mg Tramadol for aches and pains caused by treatments Occasional - 30mg Temazepam (Restoril) for insomnia ; 300mg Neurontin for nerve pain in left arm; 1 mg Lorazepam (Ativan) for anxiety;