Boob Update - 2

So the saga of my boob continues . . . let this be a warning to the squeamish.

All weekend long I did everything short of taking magic beans in an attempt to cure my mastitis. The antibiotics didn't seem to be kicking in (I was promised improvement within 48 hours and that was LAST WEDNESDAY). Special thanks to MCM Mama for all her advice - about the only thing I didn't try on her list was cabbage leaves (see, I told you I tried pretty much everything).

I called my doctor's office again this morning and told them that there was certainly no improvement and it may have even gotten worse. Dr. Elephant was still on vacation, so I went to see the same nurse practitioner I saw on Wednesday. She took one look at me and said - "yup, it's worse." I essentially had a gigantic, hard, ouchy red mark on my boob. For those of you who have breastfed, imagine the worst engorgement pain, multiply it by five, raise that to the power of ten sore muscles and then multiply it all times yucky and that's what this lump felt like.

She immediately scheduled an ultrasound and an appointment with the surgical clinic. I admit, I got a little scared (no idea what to expect) and asked Buttin to call my mom. He told me he had already called her and she was on her way.

My ultrasound appointment was relatively uneventful - "yup, there's a big yucky mass in your boob." (As a side note, I don't know if I'm just one of those people who other people like telling their secrets to - but the ultrasound technician told me she breastfed her son for 3 years & 8 months - I'm very pro-breastfeeding, but do not think I could go this long).

So, I went directly from the ultrasound place to the surgical clinic. I wasn't really excited to see a surgeon - those people scare me. The surgeon was pretty nice and he just felt around my big boob ouchy and said he was concerned about an abscess. He said we were going to lance it (I was hoping for some kind of magic pill) right then and there. I was a little nervous about this procedure. I don't love needles or cutting of any kind (who does?).

I must admit that the procedure was actually pretty quick (less than 5 minutes) and relatively painless. The first couple of local anesthetic shots were a little stingy (but I had those shots in my who-ha, and shots in the boob are nothing like shots in the who-ha). I didn't feel any of the actual drainage happening, but I could see the technician's eyes widening, so I knew there was lots of stuff coming out. The surgeon said he got about 30 ccs (which I learned from google is equivalent to 6 teaspoons) of green milk from my boob (yum!).

He sent a sample of my Dr. Seuss milk to the lab and gave me another prescription for some antibiotics (sadly, no magic pill). I go back to see him on Thursday afternoon.

Currently, I can still breastfeed and pump with my right boob. I am already feeling tons better and I just hope that these antibiotics knock out the infection and remove the clot. As much as the drainage wasn't a big deal, I'd rather not go through it again.