Exercises for patients that have not had a mastectomy or reconstructive surgery
This was the sheet the physio gave me the day after surgery and I kept these up for 6 weeks. BUT I should have kept them up for longer as at about the 9 month mark I noticed this weird "CORDING" as I learned from Dr Google. Since diagnosis of lymphodema I now have to lie down and elevate my arm for 20 mins twice a day - at 90 degrees and then massage the WHOLE AREA of the breast, underarm, side, down to bottom of ribs and wear a sleeve to control the lymphodema. No sleeve on whilst elevating or massaging. Here's the two sheets of exercises for those who would like to do them from the beginning and/or those who would like to perhaps prevent lymphodema or keep it to a minimum. primek This is basically the exercises I had after mastectomy and reconstruction http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/breast-cancer/treatment/surgery/breast-reconstruction/exercises-implants
Famous breast cancer survivors
Kathy Bates I was watching the old Misery movie last night starring Kathy Bates. Younger movie watchers will remember her as Molly Brown the oil widow on Titanic. What I didn't know is Kathy is a breast cancer survivor. Born in 1948, Kathy successfully overcame ovarian cancer in 2003. In 2012 she had a double mastectomy with breast cancer. Kathy didn't marry until she was 43 and divorced 6 years later. She has no children. Kathy also has lymphedema in both arms and is National spokesperson for the Lymphatic Education & Research Network (LE&RN) and has been actively involved in lymphedema and lymphatic disease advocacy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathy_Bates
Lymphodema Swelling During Chemo
Hi All i had a simple mastectomy with auxiliary lymph node removal at the end of February and had my first TC chemo on the 26th March. On Wednesday I noticed that the veins on the inside on my wrist weren’t as prominent on the arm that had the nodes removed and so I measured my arms for comparison and they appear to be about the same size. My lymphodema physio says that it may not necessarily be lymphodema as she see patients with swelling like this during treatment. She has given me a sleeve to wear as I willl need one for flying in the future but I was wondering if anyone else has experienced this?? Thanks xo
Could it be Lymphoedema
Over the past month I’ve had pain on the left rib cage near where I had a lumpectomy with sentinel node biopsy and radiology treatment. There doesn’t appear to be any swelling but it hurts when in inhale but not exhale. It’s probably just muscular but It really hurts when I sneeze. I’ve had a chest X-ray and all clear and they’ve checked my blood in case it was a clot
Nerve Pain before and after surgery
Hi everyone! Before I was diagnosed back in April, I'd been experiencing nerve pain and thickening down my left side (cancer side), mainly the arm into my hand but also down my breast, ribs and into a dull ache in my leg. A few weeks after this was when I found my lump and was then diagnosed with cancer. I had a lumpectomy in May and the nerve pain disappeared for 3 months whilst my surgery healed (I had a nasty infection that delayed the healing process) Since its been healed completely and I've been going through chemo, the same nerve issues have come back. My oncologist seems to think it may be mild lymphedema (I only had 3 nodes removed- all clear) and has referred me to see the physio next week but I'm perplexed as this also happened before my diagnosis. It doesn't bother me a huge amount but obviously any ache and pain in that area now panics me a bit although my oncologist doesn't suspect anything suspicious due to clear margins/no node involvement/tumor removed/smashing chemo. Has anyone else experienced anything like this? Could it be that my original breast tumor was pinching a nerve and now the scar tissue filling that void is doing the same thing? Stay strong x
Lumpectomy: exercise, OT etc.. before surgery ?
I have completed neoadjuvant chemotherapy (July-Dec 2019) and I'm scheduled for a lumpectomy next week and most likely full axilla clearance. There was no advice from my doctor regarding seeing an occupational therapist or physiotherapist prior to surgery. I would like to find out what others have done prior to surgery to improve outcomes and avoid lymphedema, cording etc..
