Mastitis
It all started out as just a little lump, or so I thought that was all it was... Around the six week mark (January 12, 2009) after having Macy I found this little lump on my right breast, ask the doctor about it and all they said was to watch it and see if it got bigger. Well, it did. Slowly over the following weeks I kept noticing this lump getting bigger and bigger. At first, I wasn't so sure that it really was getting bigger, but it was getting more and more difficult to sleep at night (sleeping on my stomach was so bad, that I stopped sleeping on it all together). Finally, when I went in for a checkup on February 27th, I asked the nurse about it. When I told her about the lump she kinda looked at me and said, sure thing, acting like it was nothing. Yet, when she saw it she said.... "Wow, you ain't kidding." She was a bit stumped by this problem and went to ask the doctor on call what to do. Thank goodness for Dr. Karlsson's nurse who thought that it was a big deal and scheduled me to come back and see Dr. Karrlson the next week.
Dr. Karlsson put me on some antibiotics and scheduled an ultrasound just to check and see what was really going on in there since it was so painful., scheduled an appointment with a special doctor, and gave me some yummy Vicodin to tide me over. My ultrasound was scheduled for the next week (they weren't too worried about it and thought that the antibiotics would help it get better). By the next Thursday, two months from the initial problem, I finally had an ultrasound and got it checked out.
I went into Epic West on the 12th of March. The technician didn't tell me much as she did the ultrasound but made some interesting noises as she went along. A few minutes later (it felt like forever to me though) the radiologist came in and told me the news. I had a breast abscess the size of a grapefruit. We had a few options on how to proceed but she needed to talk it over with Dr. Karlsson to see what she wanted to do. After a nice half an hour talk with the doctor they decided that it would be best to preform an I&D (incise and drain) and see what they could get out and go from there.
I can't even begin to describe the pain as they stuck me with a needle to numb me up. Ouch is one word but it felt like I was a pin cushion (looked like it afterwards as well). To say the least, it did feel a bit better afterwards but I would have to say anything would if you had a quart of fluid (200+ cc of fluid) in you. It was disgusting. But at least I can say I was relieved that it wasn't cancer. (The thought was on the back of mind the whole time. Whew.... That was the good news anyway.) The Radiologist would preformed the I&D said that this was the worst breast abscess that she had seen and the most fluid that she has ever drained from one of these. Crazy, huh?
(I just had to have a picture of the syringes of all the gross fluid that they got out of me.)
Well, that was only the beginning. The antibiotics that I was on (had to be taken three times a day on an empty stomach) didn't do much and the lump started growing again. Geez... I kept thinking to myself haven't we had enough trouble this year with Tim that we didn't need things to go wrong with me as well.
I was supposed to go in and see a specialist the next week as soon as I could but of course the doctor was out of town and so I spent a lot of time trying to figure out who to see and when... Finally, I got ahold of Misha at Dr. Karlsson's office who told me that I needed to get in to see someone ASAP to make sure that it was all gone especially since I thought it was growing again.
Tuesday of the next week, March 17th, I made an appointment to see Dr. Morris downtown (a surgical oncologist who was on call for the doctor I was supposed to see). Dr. Morris was really sweet and was able to drain my abscess again. She only pulled out like 60 cc this time (still a lot but nothing compared to the first time around) and put me on a different antibiotic. Thankfully this one I could have with food and went down much easier.
I'm happy to report that now three months later, I am free and clear from this silly infection and hope that it won't happen again, although there is a possibility with each kid. At least I know what to do if it does.
Dr. Karlsson put me on some antibiotics and scheduled an ultrasound just to check and see what was really going on in there since it was so painful., scheduled an appointment with a special doctor, and gave me some yummy Vicodin to tide me over. My ultrasound was scheduled for the next week (they weren't too worried about it and thought that the antibiotics would help it get better). By the next Thursday, two months from the initial problem, I finally had an ultrasound and got it checked out.
I went into Epic West on the 12th of March. The technician didn't tell me much as she did the ultrasound but made some interesting noises as she went along. A few minutes later (it felt like forever to me though) the radiologist came in and told me the news. I had a breast abscess the size of a grapefruit. We had a few options on how to proceed but she needed to talk it over with Dr. Karlsson to see what she wanted to do. After a nice half an hour talk with the doctor they decided that it would be best to preform an I&D (incise and drain) and see what they could get out and go from there.
I can't even begin to describe the pain as they stuck me with a needle to numb me up. Ouch is one word but it felt like I was a pin cushion (looked like it afterwards as well). To say the least, it did feel a bit better afterwards but I would have to say anything would if you had a quart of fluid (200+ cc of fluid) in you. It was disgusting. But at least I can say I was relieved that it wasn't cancer. (The thought was on the back of mind the whole time. Whew.... That was the good news anyway.) The Radiologist would preformed the I&D said that this was the worst breast abscess that she had seen and the most fluid that she has ever drained from one of these. Crazy, huh?
(I just had to have a picture of the syringes of all the gross fluid that they got out of me.)
Well, that was only the beginning. The antibiotics that I was on (had to be taken three times a day on an empty stomach) didn't do much and the lump started growing again. Geez... I kept thinking to myself haven't we had enough trouble this year with Tim that we didn't need things to go wrong with me as well.
I was supposed to go in and see a specialist the next week as soon as I could but of course the doctor was out of town and so I spent a lot of time trying to figure out who to see and when... Finally, I got ahold of Misha at Dr. Karlsson's office who told me that I needed to get in to see someone ASAP to make sure that it was all gone especially since I thought it was growing again.
Tuesday of the next week, March 17th, I made an appointment to see Dr. Morris downtown (a surgical oncologist who was on call for the doctor I was supposed to see). Dr. Morris was really sweet and was able to drain my abscess again. She only pulled out like 60 cc this time (still a lot but nothing compared to the first time around) and put me on a different antibiotic. Thankfully this one I could have with food and went down much easier.
I'm happy to report that now three months later, I am free and clear from this silly infection and hope that it won't happen again, although there is a possibility with each kid. At least I know what to do if it does.
posted by Brittany Schmidt at
10:00 AM
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