I’ve been wanting to do this thread about BREAST HEALTHCARE.Something I’ve learnt about over the past month having been in and out of hospital. Ladies ever heard of a breast abscess which is an effect of duct ectasia? Neither did I up until the 1st Jan 2019... a thread...

PSA keep your negative comments to yourself, someone will find this information useful you negative Nancy’s

New Year’s Eve was spent in a lot of sharp shooting pain coming from my left breast. As the day went on a lump that was present in my breast became more and more painful and bigger as the day went by. 3,2,1... happy new year and I went to bed miserable once guests left my house.

The morning of New Year’s Day I woke up in so much pain I could barely breathe, a swollen, red and hot when you touched it, as well as what felt like a golf ball sized lump was present in my breast. I immediately WhatsApp’ed @sindivanzyl described to her what was happening

I drove myself to hospital and went straight to casualty. They triaged me and I saw a doctor within half an hour. The dr on call immediately started intravenous antibiotics and my absolute best MORPHINE . He then tried aspirating (draining)

the abscess. he tried distracting me and next thing I knew this big ass needle had been inserted just below my nipple.unfortunately no puss came out. He prescribed antibiotics for me to take home to clear the infection. The infection subsided during the course of my oral

antibiotics and I was fine for 2-3 days post my course. Roll in Sunday, lo and behold the lump is back bigger and better and even more painful. Back to the ER I go. The dr took one look at it and admitted me straight away. A consult was done via telephone with...

with Dr Carol Benn who I have found out recently is actually a professor and specialises in breast healthcare and has even written a medical journal on this matter. (We’ll get back to this). A picture was sent to her and she ordered an immediate aspiration.

I’m now in the breast casualty and in my cute pink gown, that they’ve provided. A breast ultrasound is being conducted and the Dr see’s this huge abscess on the screen under my nipple. She advised that the aspiration previously attempted, failed because the abscess was so dense.

As she’s showing me on the screen, she administers a local anaesthetic. We wait a while and she aspirates. Well I tell you the amount of puss that came out. Almost a specimen jar full. That time the local anaesthetic did jack shit I could feel EVERY SINGLE THING. I nearly fainted

because of the pain. . Back to my ward I went and stayed on IV antibiotics and after 4 days released from hospital as my veins kept collapsing so they put me on oral meds. Long story short,a breast abscess presents itself like breast cancer, difference being the lump is painful

It is mostly prevalent in women who smoke. Once you have it you have it. Think of it as asthma of the breasts. When you have a cold you blow ur nose, when your lungs are infected you cough, when your breast ducts are infected they don’t have anyway of relieving themselves

And therefore an abscess occurs. It’s chronic, and can only be managed properly for the rest of your life. For it not to flare up again you need to quit smoking. Im currently on medication for another 3 months to stabilise it. The abscess has gone from golf ball size to a R1 coin

and almost completely gone. Education is key ladies. I’ve learnt so much in the past month frequenting the breast unit. You don’t only get breast cancer. So take care of the boobies.