Radiotherapy, the gift that can keeps on giving. 4 months on from it, and was doing some streches as felt a tad sore around my ribs, when a big twang, like an elasic band snapping over my ribs, occured. Felt the burn, was quite intense, made better by use of some expletives and lots of rubbing.
Quite sore in area for a while, but I found that if I stretch and massage at the same time I can stretch all the way now.
Just goes to show these cording little buggers can happen at any time after. Seem to be having a peak of symptoms again months later. Thats only after 1 SLN out.
This weeks concern is orange peel skin and lumpiness under-side of boob, which Dr. Google says is lymph build-up under the skin, so doing twice daily massage with oil.
Just letting people know what can happen down the line, although most times its suggested things improve after 3 months generally. Lyphoedema and cording is not just about arms, can pop up in other places too it seems and long after you’d expect it to.
Ooh what an unpleasant surprise. Thank you for sharing it, despite my stomach now rolling! These little bits of information are good to know in case they come knocking.
I’m mid way through RT. Ribs and shoulder already sore from being positioned and my breast tonight looks inflated and starting to pink, but atleast it’s the weekend. Two days off.
Wishing you well x
I finished my radio end May , I developed the “edema “ in August .
It was warm weather , breast a bit swollen and red . Bit pitted .
It calmed down after a few weeks . I did see a lymph specialist , she did a bit of massage but she wasn’t too concerned .
I was told keep moving , swimming particularly good but I hate it !
Keep doing arm exercises .
I wear my sports bra a lot of the time .
And keep your weight down ( easier said than done with AIs!).
Radiotherapy is the gift that keeps on giving for life 
I used E45 cream/lotion after my radiotherapy 26 years ago. I am still using it today it helps with sore skin. Hope thys helps.
Hi sal1,
I did have quite a lot of radiotherapy, 19 sessions over 4 weeks. Ok until the last week when the tiredness increased, along with the pinkness, and mentally felt done with it all and had to grit my teeth until the end.
My advice would be to take note of any developing soreness or restrictions that appear with stretches, and massage the area while streching so you can extend as far as possible. If you catch it early enough when a cord is forming, hopefully wont get to the having to snap it stage.
I was swimming in the sea on holiday a few weeks after radiotherapy, going to the gym and doing rowing machine, running etc. Just a couple of weeks of slacking off around xmas and it all seemed to happen. Just shows how regimes need to continue for months, maybe even years, after.
About a week to 2 weeks after radiotherapy was the peak of skin reactions. Wasn’t too bad. You can’t take your eye off the ball though, for a long time after.
Hi @entropy, I feel your pain - and frustration! I too had cording and lymphodema after surgery / radiotheraphy, though the physio at hospital clearly hadn’t heard about trunk cording and insisted it could only be under the arm. I managed to snap two cords in my armpit and the releif was immediate, if a bit painful! It wasn’t until I went to a BC charity and subsequently had lymphatic massage that it turned out I was right all along. 5 years on and I’m still dealing with breast and rib / trunk oedema. You have to push to get what you want though. I manage it myself now, though I do find it creeps up on me if I forget to massage 2-3 times per week. There are certainly times when I feel pretty resentful at the ongoing side effects of treatment, especially after all this time and having been discharged from any immediate support, but thankful that lyphodema is limited to my trunk and breast. One benefit of regular moisturing is that my arms are pretty presentable! Wishing you well for your continued recovery and hoping you keep your lymphodema back in its box!.
I get the annoyance of symptoms that can occur being unrecognised and unmentioned. Lots of info avaliable about cording under arms, but no mention anywhere about trunk cording, and suggested exercises would do nothing for that. You need to stretch up and bend sideways as far as you can to release it, and preferably prevent it.
We cant be the only 2 people who’ve had it. Kind of reminds me of old secrecies around things that can go wrong with childbirth and perimenopause, never knew about what could happen until things happened around it, and Im a health professional. Somehow, womens health is less open than it should be. About time every detail was put out there. Some people, such as myself, want to know as much as possible and feel hoodwinked when unkown and unexpected things occur.