This is a cross post with another post I’ve made in life limiting illnesses, but realise now this board probably has more traffic.
I'm 24 weeks pregnant, I've been receiving treatment for mastitis for close to three weeks. I've been on three types of antibiotics for that time, including a drip in a&e as I felt very sick one weekend.
The doctors at a&e referred me to the breast clinic as they believed I had an abscess that may need draining. At the breast clinic, I had an ultrasound on the affected breast, and I was told that it is completely clear - nothing untoward in there. As such, had to come back in a week for a follow up, continue taking antibiotics.
I've had my follow-up appointment yesterday where I was seen by a new surgeon. This time, it was just a physical exam, and I was told I may need a biopsy as I'm showing symptoms of cancer or other complications. I have to continue taking antibiotics this week, and will go back to be reassessed next week just in case it finally clears up.
What I would like to know is if I've had an ultrasound which was clear, what else can a biopsy show? Is a clear ultrasound a very positive sign? My symptoms are fluctuating redness in one area of the breast, and part of the area around the nipple is swollen (again, fluctuating, it’s not consistent one day to the next). There is occasional tenderness but the pain has improved, sometimes there's barely any redness while other times it's bright red. Physically I feel sick and exhausted but I’ll put that down to three weeks of high strength antibiotics.
I'm so scared. This is my first pregnancy, and my first medical scare. The surgeon didn't say what the other complications could be - just something more serious, including cancer. I don't know if I should be pushing for a quicker appointment, if I should be off work resting, or what. I've also never been seen by the same GP, surgeon or nurse this entire time - a total of 8 people in three weeks. So no one can actually tell me if it's getting better or not. I'm just overwhelmed, scared for me and worried about my baby. I’d really appreciate some reassurance, I stupidly googled misdiagnosed mastitis and all the results are about inflammatory breast cancer. I have 2 of the symptoms (redness and swelling) but none of the others.