Rainbow Colored Breastmilk [TMI - duh]

Factual Questions
21

First and foremost, thank you all for your support and kind words. I was way too freaked out last night to do much of anything beyond play with my kid and zone out in front of the TV.

I feel like I belong on that Medical Mysteries show.

From the first minute I walked in for my appointment I was impressed with the staff. An intake person confirmed my information in her computer and had me fill out some forms. She was so nice, commenting on my daughter, how pretty and sweet she is. 

I sat in the big waiting room for a few minutes. Then a nurse came and took me to a changing cubby of sorts. I left my stuff in a locker, and proceeded to a smaller waiting room with other women waiting for their tests. The nicest technician ever (hereafter referred to as NTE) then came and got me for the ultrasound.

NTE was amazing. I actually plan on writing a letter to the hospital commending her she was that great. She explained everything she saw on the screen, answered all of my questions, and treated me like I was her daughter. She actually said that at one point. She saw a bunch of stuff that looked kinda suspicious so the doctor was called in. They discussed three things: enlarged milk ducts, microcalcifications, and some suspicious looking shadowy things. Like the prolactinoma, microcalcifications could be nothing to worry about or could be precancerous. The word is still out on the shadowy things.

NTE and the doc weren’t satisfied with just doing an ultrasound so I went and had a mammogram after all. It wasn’t too bad, actually. Again NTE explained everything on the images (they were digital) as well as the entire process as we went along. I learned a lot which is cool. She pointed out two white specks and said they were probably the microcalcifications they saw in the ultrasound.

While on the way to the mammogram NTE told me something rather alarming. The doctor who had been doing this for 25 years had to look up my condition in a book. It was so rare he didn’t know what to make of it. :eek: She again reassured me that this happens sometimes and not to worry.

After the mammogram I was taken back to a room to discuss things. This freaked me the hell out. I had assumed they would do the whole “we’ll send a report to your doctor and she’ll call you in a few days with the results”. Instead they said it’s probably mastitis (literally inflammation of the breast tissue). That diagnosis is nearly meaningless to me. It’s akin to having a broken arm that swells up and being diagnosed with inflammation of the arm – well duh. It’s inflamed, but why?

I was repeatedly assured that I was fine it was probably just a minor infection but to be sure they want me to see a surgeon. Again, I expected the typical “here’s a few numbers, call them when you can and get in asap”. Instead they made the calls for me, gave me two times to choose from, and said I was being squeezed in for today. It was such a tight squeeze that they gave me paperwork to fill out before the appointment. Included with the paperwork was information on breast biopsies. Again I was assured that this probably wouldn’t be needed but to read it over “just in case”.

While in the room with the doctor and nurse, NTE took my daughter to get some crackers and take a tour. This was a huge help as it allowed my husband and I to focus on the task at hand. My daughter, incidentally was the best behaved I have possibly ever seen her. She said her please and thank you’s all on her own, patiently waited with her father while I got my tests, and even told another patient “nice to meet you” after being similarly greeted. My daughter, in case you don’t know, is only two. I was one proud Mama last night, let me tell you.

Everything happened so quickly I don’t know quite what to make of it. On one hand they could just be trying to be overly cautious about everything. But on the other hand, who goes to see a surgeon and is warned about biopsies for a simple infection that is treated with antibiotics?

My appointment is for today at 3:15. Hubby and daughter are going with me again to offer support.

Blood work is still on for Monday to test the prolactin levels. I will update again when I know more.

22

Sorry for the double post, but I have a few questions.

Is this pretty standard procedure for this sort of thing? It seems like they are acting way to quickly for them to truly believe that everything is fine.

Is this how it goes when people find out they have cancer?

I know rationally these are ridiculous questions but I’m panicing here and have no one to ask since I’m at work. No one other than my boss has any idea what is going on. Plus I couldn’t sleep much last night so this is my sleep-deprived brain taking over the rational side of me.

23

:::raises hand:::: Me!

That instance involved my Infamous Zit From Hell Emergency Abscess Surgery that I described in a thread some years back. It could be you have a localized but significant infection of some sort and they want to deal with it before it becomes something much more serious. Granted, there are some significant differences with your situation, but I just thought I’d offer an example of when you wind up talking to a surgeon about an antibiotic treated infection.

24

My husband has had some experience with weird medical stuff, and in his experience, if the doctors think there’s even a chance that it could be something that would require immediate attention, you’ll get fast-tracked through the system, even if there’s a good chance that it’s just minor and not a big deal.

I can imagine you are pretty freaked out anyway. Keep us updated! I’m really glad you went in to get checked out.

25

Short answer to the question of is this how it goes when people find out they have cancer?

Sometimes.

My mom, for example, had a routine Pap smear and vaginal exam which caused her doctor to send her for an ultrasound (or sonogram, or something like that). Results of that led to “immediate” hysterectomy (2 weeks later, or something like that, planned a bit around mom’s schedule).

Doctor promised everything looked good, biopsy anyway just in case . . .

3 days later “Guess what?” “You’ve got a tiny bit of Ovarian Cancer and we are pretty sure we got everything but we want to give you chemo before we send you home from the hospital”.

She’s fine now, ten year later. But the road to cancer diagnosis can be a twisty one with the medical professionals assuring you that everything is fine right up to the moment they suggest chemo “just in case”. Especially in cases where 90% or more of the time the results of the biopsy is “no cancer”.

On the OTHER hand, it sounds like what is happening to you is weird. That’s disconcerting, but it doesn’t mean it’s cancer or if it is cancer it (or the treatments) will be lifethreatening. It just means that no one is quite sure what the best treatment is, or even how to figure out what’s going on. Don’t make any radical decisions until you feel like you know something with a little more conviction than you do now.

But a biopsy is not the end of the world–it can rule out nasty stuff as easily (or more so) than it rules nasty stuff in.

Best Wishes for the rest of this saga, and that the end result is good no matter how twisty the road is in between.

26

Continuing to be concerned. No advice, just waiting for the next update. Hang in there and congratulations to your daughter for being so good.

27

Hope everything is ok…

28

Just chiming in with a “Me, too” (on hoping everything is OK).

29

I’ve been reading along with this and want to send my sympathies too - you must be very worried right now. Is there any more news? Not wanting to nag you of course! But we are concerned for you.

30

Sending good thoughts- please don’t worry yet.

Medical people like to:
A) Cover their asses
B) Remove uncertainty
C) Check with other people when a management plan is complicated
D) get involved in anything that might make it into a Journal or that they perceive as being “cool”.

All of this means that when there is a patient with a rare problem which might be really bad, or might be nothing at all, or might be anywhere on that spectrum, and which is also kind of cool and interesting, expect to see a lot of docs and have a lot of tests done really quickly.

It doesn’t mean that bad things are happening- it means they don’t know just yet what is going on and they want to find out asap and that everyone wants to be in on it. The upside of having something rare is that your docs will be interested and invested in your case- this is a good thing.

31

I hate to sound crass, but have you considered starring in a Japanese commercial? You could make MILLIONS.

32

The appointment with the surgeon went very well! He reviewed my records, did a full exam, and basically asked me why the heck I was there in the first place.

He thinks the radiology people were way too cautious in sending me to the surgeon. Apparently the bluish stuff is actually present in the lining of the milk ducts and is totally normal to have that come out. It’s only cause for concern when it’s blood coming out. And it’s not just leaking on it’s own I have to try to get it out so that’s good too.

He concluded that both the ultrasound scan and the mammogram are both within the normal range and are also not concerning. The calcifications are so few in number that I don’t need to worry about them at all. The inflammation isn’t caused by an infection since other obvious signs like redness, fever, etc. aren’t also present. He’s not totally sure what could be causing it. It might just be “normal” for me for now and there isn’t much that can be done for it.

I was told to stop trying to get the stuff out, still check out the prolactin levels to be sure everything was fine with that, but I don’t need to follow up with the surgeon.

Personally I felt he was a bit too dismissive of everything and had a horrible bedside manner but what he said does make sense. I’ll follow up with my gyn once I get results from the bloodwork.

I went in for bloodwork this morning to check on prolactin levels. I’m pretty sure these will come back within a normal range considering everything else I learned at the surgeon’s. I should know the results by the end of this week or beginning of next.

So long story short, it’s looking more and more likely that I’m just one of those slight freaks of nature that take a really long time to totally dry up. :slight_smile:

33

Thanks for the updates! Hope it all continues to be no big deal.

34

Excellent! What a relief!

35

Well, that’s good news, indeed.

When I was in my early 20’s I went to my family doc for an abnormal pap test. He gave me two options, (1) I could have a hysterectomy or (2) I could have a hysterectomy. Family Doc referred me immediately (like within minutes) to a gyno in the same building. This urgency sent me into a complete state of panic. The gyno, however, looked at me like I had 9 heads. The gyno, the voice of reason, said they didn’t even know what it was yet, just that I had abnormal cells.

Long story short, it was common dysplasia treated with cryosurgery and all is well. I bring up the story to illustrate just how a doctor’s presentation can make or break a diagnosis.

Please keep us posted with your progress. Here’s to Rainbow boobs and candy nipples. :smiley: