Warning - long post!
Hi everyone. Thought I’d share a small success in the hope that it encourages anyone else who’s recently been dealt the lymphoedema card. It was cancer’s Christmas present to me.
As I expect everyone who’s had lymph nodes removed does, I’ve kept a pretty close eye on my left arm since my MX and AX clearance in June 2013 . Although I have hyper-mobile joints I’ve done the exercises regularly, although not every single day ever since.
I noticed my left wrist and forearm were swollen on Christmas Eve. Luckily managed to get an appointment just before NYE and BCN confirmed it was LO of 15%, which is classed as mild. She gave me a compression sleeve with attached hand part, because she didn’t want to drive any lymph into my hand. She also lent me a DVD, together with a follow up appointment for one month’s time.
Since my original diagnosis I’ve also had a right MX and double silicone implants last July. This hasn’t been entirely successful so reconstruction is ongoing. All of which has been difficult to deal with and so to say I was devastated at the LO diagnosis is an understatement. The DVD scared the bejasus out of me too.
Consequently, I have been absolutely determined to do whatever it takes to try and reverse the situation. I have worn the sleeve every single day and only taken it off when I finally sit down after dinner in the evening. I have watched a variety of videos on YouTube to find out how to do lymphatic drainage massage, and came across brushing as well. I’ve been doing a combo of massage and brushing twice a day, morning and night. Thank heavens I’m retired because it takes about 20 minutes a session.
My follow-up appointment was on Wednesday and I felt the best I could hope for was that it hadn’t got any worse. I thought my wrist didn’t look quite as swollen but I really couldn’t tell how much of an improvement there was, although my OH thought it had gone down quite a lot.
Anyway, after the BCN measured she confirmed the swelling is now 9%. My efforts have paid off with a massive 6% reduction. I am absolutely thrilled because I was so scared that nothing I did would make a difference.
I’m now wearing a sleeve with no hand and next appointment is in 3 months.
I shall keep on doing the exercises because losing an hour out of my day is worth every single second if it means not having to wear the sleeve in the summer.
So ladies, my advice is be vigilant, don’t delay in getting help and do the massage. It seems to have worked for me, and hopefully it will work for you as well.
In fact I’d go so far as to say that if you’ve had any nodes removed, do the massage as it might prevent LO developing. Apparently once you’ve got it, you’ve always got it.
xxxx