Anyone had a Strange-Acting "Infection" after Tissue Expanders
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I'm also on my second TE, and second pseudomonas infection.. I suspect that the first one never really went away, despite appearing that it had. I was 5 weeks post dmx and expanding beautifully... my right (non cancer side) started to swell and went from 40 ccs drainage (still had one drain in) on a saturday to nothing the next day. I also was chilled all day and didn't realize that I was running a low grade fever. Took the drain out on a monday, and had 80 ccs of fluid removed from around the expander. Got the culture back thursday.. pseudomonas. Got a picc line friday and started IV cefepime. By monday my breast was giant and almost purple. Expander came out at 4pm that afternoon. I never felt bad, or had more than a low grade fever. 50 days of IV cefemine and I was declared infection free. Got another expander put back in June 15... had a week of IV cefepime again. 4 days after stopping the cefepime I spiked a 102.3 fever, and my breast was ever so slightly enlarged.. but every muscle on that side of my chest screamed as if I'd done a thousand situps.. I felt absolutely awful this time. Went to the hospital and my white count went from 20 on a tuesday evening to 7 on thursday morning.. they sent me home with another picc and cefepime for 6 to 8 weeks. Still had one drain in. on 7/13 I thought I was septic.. my temp was really low and I again felt awful. Went to the ER where they declared me just fine.. all blood normal. No bacteria in grahm stain, no sepsis. Had a CT which showed no fluid around the expander and "inflamation consistent with TE placement". Culture of bulb fluid came back with pseudomonas again, but we all agreed that the bulb itself was probably colonized from the weeks before (why they didn't change it, or I didn't think about it, I don't know). Had my last drain out last Monday (7/17) and by wednesday I had a little red spot under my nipple. The spot grew through the weekend, but has mostly remained the same since, although today it appears larger and angrier. I am to get the fluid drained tomorrow and on Monday my ps has agreed to an unconventional treatment of flushing the pocket with betadine. I have also gone for two infusions of high dose IV vitamin c (12.5 grams monday, and 17 grams yesterday). I am eating liposomal vitamin c in great quantities (20+ grams per day). At this point I feel like I am beating a dead horse, and that the end is inevitable (te removal again). my ps and infectious disease dr say I'm probably just "colonized with pseudomonas from my greenhouse"... I'm not sure I buy that. If it comes out again, it will probably be 6 months to a year before we try again. it's soooo frustrating. I feel for anyone who has gone through this.
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I don't know why they couldn't draw off fluid....mine did and came back positive for E. coli.....I'm not happy. PS wants to remove and put back in after chemo, but I think I might just wait to see what the antibiotics do.
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Long story short, I had my original double mast. in July 2017, and was diagnosed with pseudomonas after several surgeries/troubleshooting that fall. TE was removed and I took 10months off from surgery. Had the TE placed back in this Sept, went through the fills again during the last 5 months...was ready to get my implant and then i had debilitating pain/redness/swelling. Back to the hospital with IV and eventually got surgery again. Surgeon ended up taking out my TE and giving an implant a shot (things did not fully look like an infection during surgery). Culture came back with minimal positive signs of pseudomonas AGAIN.
I go off of antibiotics next week and then it's a wait and see game to see if symptoms return or not. I'm very anxious about not knowing how this will go and feel like I'll be on edge for the next 6months - year. Not being able to test for infection is very frustrating.
Has anyone had a similar experience?
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hello sweetie I had L mast 3mo chemo before and after then with my first fill with expander good then a little while longer was near holidays my fiance now husband were watching t v when I felt tightening in area then I started getting hot was burning up husband took me to E R had very high fever 104 i believe went to surgery expander removed my body rejected it. Never wanted to try again been wearing prothesis and very comfortable. Now a 25yr Survivor this yr. Praise God. Hope is the key along with Positive thinking. msphil idc stage2 0/3 nodes Lmast 3mo chemo before and after surgery got married then rads 7wks and 5yrs on Tamoxifen.
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I have an infection after bmx and tissue expanders. 4 weeks out from surgery. I was on iv Cipro now I'm on Levaquin. Antibiotics make me sick. Are there any stories of the tes being saved on the first try (I don't mean removed and put in later) because I don't want to endure weeks of torture just to have them taken out. Seems all the stories result in the tes being removed.
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After my mstectomy, I had a red breast area and was treated for infection with doxycycline, even though I didn't have chills or temperature. The red area seems to appear more later in the afternoon, but is there almost the entire time. I do not feel like I have an infection, but rather, a reaction to the cow skin put underneath the expander, to aid in making the skin thicker/stronger. Mine just felt as if it moved and seems to be leaking slightly. I will call my doctor's office in the morning.
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pink dog, I didn’t feel sick but I was leaking pus and later fluid. He sampled the fluid and it was a pseudomonas infection. After being on iv Cipro for 3 days I had a bad reaction. Then my right side turned red. He put me on oral Levaquin for a week but it got worse so he took out the expanders last week. I’m glad he didn’t torture me with iv antibiotics for 3 more weeks of failure like some people wrote about. They are still red but not leaking any more so waiting to see if infection is gone. I am out of antibiotics though. I’m surprised he didn’t extend them longer. Hopefully he will sample your leakage. Doxy doesn’t work on pseudomonas.
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