inflammatory breast cancer concerns

[ancmac]

I am 37, and gave birth to my second child on 8/14/04 and have been breastfeeding since then.  Early January my left breast felt tender, then on 1/17/05 it was painful and I found a moveable lump in the outer most breast tissue almost under the arm.  Ultrasound said lymph node.  It was biopsied on 2/14/05 and was benign.  After surgery I had fluid collection at the surgical site, which has since gone down.  On 3/1 I noticed the pain again, nowhere near the surgical site, but in the breast itselt and I had phlebitis on the side of the breast where the surgery was done.  On 3/14 I noticed a small section if skin that was a peau d'orange texture.  on 4/1 my breast was also pink and more skin was peau de orange.  3 rounds of antibiotcs have not cleared it up and have ruled out mastits.  Mammogram and u/s showed nothing.  I am convinced this is inflammatory breast cancer:  slightly swollen, pink breast, sore, w/ peau d'orange skin.  Is there any other illness, disease with these symptoms?  Or could the surgery haver caused this? If not it must be inflammatory breast cancer.  My surgeon feels the odds are against ibc, but I am not convinced.

[gonerunning]

Hi there:
I read your concern and please, act upon it.  Demand further test.  My close friend is 36 years old and has been fighting IBC.  I have watched her go through this and it is difficult.  If you want to email offline, my email is candy.***@****.  You know your body the best, listen to it and demand test.  
I will pray for you that all is okay.

[CCF-RN,MSN-rf]

Dear ancmac:  Many things (most likely infection) can cause the symptoms you describe, particularly if you have had phlebitis.  Without reviewing your situation and doing a physical examination, it is impossible to speculate on what this may or may not be.  You  will be best served by discussing this
with your surgeon, who knows your case well. It may be reasonable to do a breast MRI.  If this is negative, then a skin biopsy can be done. If you are still concerned, consider a second opinion with another breast specialist.

[surgeon]

It's generally easy to differentiate IBC from infection by doing a biopsy of the red skin: in IBC, it contains cancer cells. Chronic infection and/or inflammation resulting from your surgery can cause exactly the same outward appearances as IBC, and the odds are that's what's going on. Getting rid of breast infection can be very difficult. Getting another opinion, from a surgeon who specializes in breast disease, might be useful.