I was diagnosed nearly 5 years ago and had WLE, ANC, chemo, rads, a year of Herceptin and have been on Aromasin for 4 years. I have lymphoedema in my affected breast and - just a little - in my right arm so am being very careful with my right arm so as not to develop full lymphoedema there.
A week ago I fell, breaking my left arm. I broke the top of the humerus. I found out yesterday that the ball bit of the humerus is partly displaced so I may need surgery to pin the bone.
I have realised that if it comes to surgery they will probably need to put a cannula in my right (ANC) arm as they will be operating on the left, broken arm. Does anyone know how dodgy this is from the point of view of lymphoedema risk or have any experience of similar.
I had a Tram Flap reconstruction in Dec 2010. The veins in my good arm arent good, so I ended getting a cannula put in my foot. Dont know if they can do this for other ops.
Hi Anthi
I had diep surgery in September and from the start all blood pressure readings were done in my leg. When my cannula came out during the night a junior doctor made a right mess of trying to put it back in my good arm and hand and in the end gave up but left it very bruised and swollen. The night sister came along an hour later and inserted the cannula in my foot with no problems. All blood tests in hospital were also taken from my foot. I wouldn’t let them go near my Bc arm!
Best wishes.
Pam
I have had bilateral breast cancer so both sides are affected… Thry have to use my arms unless tge cant find a vein but i usually use the left which is the most recent and had a level 2 clearance but im right handed so really dont want LO in the right side if i can help it.
LO isnt a definite and a cannula sited under sterile conditions is less likely to give you problems than if you got a bee sting or scratch from a pet or from gardening etc.
If thry can put it in your foot then that will prob be the best option but will depend on your veins too.
Lulu
They don’t need to put a cannula in your arm with lymphodema or risk of lymphodema.
During my treatment, I had to go back for emergency surgery as my wound reopened. I had one at risk of lymphodema and the other had recently had multiple blood clots. So what they did was put a line in my foot. It’s more painful but I’ve had it done twice at two different hospitals. My veins were pretty rubbish then too because I’d recently had chemo.
I’ve also had blood pressure taken on my leg rather than my arm.
You do need to speak to them as soon as you go in and the most important person to inform is the anaesthetist. But tell absolutely everybody - that’s what I did to be on the safe side.
As Lulu says if there is no other option then they will have to use the arm but it will be a sterile technique. The biggest risk is infection so you probably wouldn’t want to have a cannula in there for too long. You could still have your blood pressure taken on your leg rather than that arm though.
like the others have said they can use a leg for blood pressure, blood tests and putting cannula in, just make suree everyone know the situation with your “bad” arm and you are fully informed what they are going to do and that you agree with the plan
I recently had to have a cannula put in my bad arm as i needed dye injecting for a ct scan, they couldn’t use my good arm as i have a clot in it.
I was sent to the chemo ward to have the cannula fitted by one of the chemo nurses as it was agreed that they were more experienced etc, after the procedure was done i was put on super strength antibiotics as a preventative, this was 3 weeks ago & all seems ok.
Hello everyone and thank you for your replies and good wishes.
I had the surgery (plate in broken arm) last Thursday and came out of hospital on Saturday but have been feeling too sleepy to do much until today.
The anaesthetist was wonderful and offered to put the cannula in my foot. Unfortunately he didn’t manage to get it in either foot while I was awake so he had to go to Plan C: he put it in my ‘bad’ arm just for the knockout stuff and then once I was unconscious he was able to a better job of putting it in my foot so it remained in my bad arm for only a short time. No bad reaction in that arm.
What a relief to get it done.
Take care everyone - Anthi x
I’ve been told to rest the arm for 6 weeks - having to be very patient but not to worry - as long as it heals up.
I was told by the surgeon that this break would not have happened if I didn’t have osteoporosis. I didn’t realise I had - I was under the impression that it was osteopenia which I thought was less bad than full blown osteoporosis. So now of course I’m considering stopping the exemestane altogether. I’ve been on it for almost four and a half years - difficult decision.
Take care everyone
Anthi x