I might have been developing it for 3 weeks. Because the soreness in the left breast started when Mikey turned 1 week old. That's around the time I had the cracked fissure in my nipple.
Our latch on the right side was great, but the left side was no good and the crack lingered and it always hurt.
So 3 weeks later I developed a fever and chills. So I read about mastitis and clogged milk ducts and I sat and nursed for the entire day and did nothing else and the fever subsided. So I waited another week.
Then on Friday the 15th I had the fever and chills again. Again I nursed, used wet hot compresses, massaged from the armpit to the nipple, and again the fever subsided. Again I waited. Sat and Sun passed and I had soreness and hardness in the breast but no fever. Then Monday. Then Monday evening the Fever and chills are back and I still want to wait until the next morning so I can call my regular OBGYN Dr. Tucker with Women's Healthcare Associates.
But by 10:30 at night Michael is screaming inconsolably, I'm not producing milk, and I'm shaking with the chills so I go to urgent care.
Even during the Covid19 protocols urgent care went smoothly. I called them from their doorstep before going all the way in as requested by their front door sign. I told them I had a temperature at the door and they asked if I've been around anyone with Covid. I explained i'm a breastfeeding mom with a 4 month old and I haven't been past my front yard except to go to his regular 2 week wellness check. We didn't do or talk about anything Covid related after that.
Dr. Duan Bowers at the Canyon Urgent Care Express diagnosed me with Mastitis from Strep. Damn this area and the cow farms here. She said she had it twice, once with her first, and again with her third child. She prescribed Dicloxacillan. It must be taken 4 times a day with food. I don't like eating at midnight and I my teeth won't like it either but I did it anyway.
Bowers was really sweet, offered that I could call her if I have followup questions, even called the pharmacy on my behalf to make sure I could get the script that night.
30 hours into taking the antibiotics I still have a hard spot in the breast. Fever, chills and pain is gone. I called my normal OB and her nurse, Jeanette who is wonderful, told me to give it till Tuesday next week for the lumps to go away. Drain the milk, pump, breastfeed, hot showers, massage, and I can take Ibuprofin for the swelling normal dosage.
Evelyn is bouncing on the walls per normal, but she is a sweetheart and will watch cartoons literally all day. For this year of hell we are getting through on lots of TV. Bless her heart and soul she only wants to help me.
On May 24th my symptoms disappeared. Breast is soft when emptied now. I feel itching inside the breast at times. I hope this part of the healing process.
May 26th Today is the day I would call the doc if I was concerned about my mastitis. No symptoms today. I'm just vigilant about getting Thrush now. I take pro biotics in liquid form and give a powder called Seeking Health to Michael. I have to stop eating sugar but it's all I want to eat. Sigh.
May 28th finished antibiotic course today. Pray to god it never comes back. Occasionally I have itching on the skin on the top of the left breast. It's mild, I don't know if it means anything.
May 29th Developed a rash. Went to Dr. Tucker and she got to see it. It was on my breasts. She said it looked like an allergic reaction. She said if it doesn't get worse it is considered a mild allergic reaction. I need to let doctors know next time I get a course of antibiotics. My other choice is to see an allergist and get a skin test to find out how allergic I am to the antibiotics I used. Because it is also possible that the particular bacteria I had in the breast was flushing and causing a rash.
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