Breast Lymphodema ongoing saga
Hey girlsHere I am again with an update on what I have been running with - a diagnosis of breast lymphodema. mmmmmmmI went back to see my chemo onc - 2 months following my previous visit as instructed by him. When seeing him back in February he arranged for me to have blood tests, chest X-ray and to see the breast surgeon PLUS just for luck another ultrasound - 3 in 5 months. Nothing conclusive came from all the investigations. Nothing was showing as sinister on anything.....Anyway to get to the point. I sit down expecting Mr Grumble Bum to tell me, yep well done, carry on taking the Femara and see you in 6 or 12 months......Nup wrong again. He starts going back thru letters in my file and reads one from the surgeon that says possibly worth carrying out a few biopsies on the surgery breast. You could have knocked me over with a feather. This is 2 months later since seeing the surgeon and he now reads this out to me. Unbelievable.Grumble bum chemo Onc decided that they could end up doing a pile of biopsies in different parts of the and there could be an issue on the other side or underside where they having biopsied etc. so they could be taking bits from all over the place with once again nothing conclusive and putting me thru all that for nothing. So he has decided that to be able to put this baby to rest he is getting me to have a PET scan.The waiting game is on again. Waiting to hear when I can get an appointment now for the PET scan. Then after that waiting to get the results. He did say the PET scan isn't 100% positive but is better than an MRI in my case. I haven't had a chance to look at the differences etc. but I will trust him as being the expert on this one.One of the girls I met at the Community Liaison course posted on her facebook a post showing diagrams. If you have redness of the breast - TICK. If you have swelling of the breast - TICK. If you have thickening of the skin (orange peel - peard' orange) - TICK. Then you may have BC. Mmmmmm here we go again, could that be me, that is the question?????????The O.T. who I am currently seeing for lymphatic drainage for the said breast lympho said every person is an individual and the lympho can show up differently but she was surprised to see so much redness which isn't going away no matter how much we do the lympho drainage, there is just no change at all to the breast except it is getting more sore these days.So, like previously for me and so many of you lovely pink sisters I am back in the waiting seat. I am staying very positive this time though.I will keep you posted my luvlies :-)Lots of love, Mich xoxo
