pain and itching

[diamondwings]

My grandma had a lumpectomy a year ago.  She has been experience itching and also pain in that breast.  It is also warmer than the other breast. Her new surgeon has no information for her and just sends her home. She gets very discouraged becasue they are not telling her why this is happening. He is suppose to be the best surgeon in her area. She says that she cannot sleep at night, she wakes up just itching and she has a lot of pain still.  She is wondering if it is normal do all women have pain and itching or is it possible that she needs another opinion? Any suggestions that you can offer would be greatly appreciated to help put my grandmother at ease.  Is there anything that she can do for the itching and the pain? She already takes Darvocet for pain, but it dosen't seem to help. Thank you very much for taking the time to help me,

Sincerely,

Diamondwings

[CCF-RN,MSN-rf]

Dear diamondwings:  This pain and itching could represent many things from healing processes, to inflammation, to infection, and even cancer.  The only way to know is to have it evaluated by a doctor.  I would recommend that she see a breast specialist - perhaps not the surgeon since he is dismissing her - and have it evaluated.

[ritavv]

Does she have a rash?  Shingles would be both painful and itchy.  Maybe she needs to see her internist.

[diamondwings]

I do not believe that she has a rash.  She went to her cancer doctor and he set her up with a surgeon and he didn't seemed bothered by it.  My grandma on the otherhand is suffering the concequences.  I wish that there was something that could be done to make the situation more tolerable.

[Irisme]

Did the doctor rule out the possibility of  inflammatory breast cancer?  Itch,pain and warmth to the touch are some of the ibc symptoms.   It is not normal to have pain and itch on the breast  1 year after the  surgery. I heard even good doctors misdiagnose  ibc quite often.  Please bring it to the attention of  other  doctors to be on safe side.  Hope it is not the case.

[diamondwings]

Thank you very much for all your comments.  I will relay them to my grandma.  Unfortunately I do not know anything about ibc and pray that it is not that.  I will have to do some looking on the internet about it.

Thank you again,
diamondwings

[diamondwings]

Not to sound dumb, but how do I find a breast specialist?  I have looked under physcians and they only show  a cancer doctor, not a breast specialist.  Please help.  Should I just call her doctor and ask for a referral to one?

Diamondwings