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Has anyone had breast lymphedema which then spread to the arm?
Breast Cancer | Last Active: Dec 25, 2023 | Replies (39)Comment receiving replies
Hi@Trixie1313:
Thank you so much.
The axial webbing sounds
like something that I am working with.
I had a problem with the chip bag that the PT made for me.
If I wore it with any bra, it put pressure on the sentinel node area and caused pain at armpit and some spots on the arm which made little knots.
I do not see my PT again til the 2nd week in January.
I can only wear the mastectomy bra with a silicon liner on the lumpectomy side. This compression bra does not have any seams as such or are minimal and soft.
Are you wearing the swell spots inside the compression bra and where?
Should I be getting swell spots and putting them inside the compression bra with the silicon liner.
The silicon liner was very expensive and I do not want to damage it.
I have not found a regular bra that I can wear with the chip bag. I have stopped using the chip bag. All other bras cause pain at the sentinel node, and armpit.
Where did you buy the swell spots?
Replies to "Hi@Trixie1313: Thank you so much. The axial webbing sounds like something that I am working with...."
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@timely
I'm not sure what a "chip bag" is, but maybe it's similar to a "swell spot." I've never had a silicon liner and not sure what that is as well. Following my lumpectomy, I had to go get my breast drained of blood (needle aspiration) about 5 times of honeycombed seromas. Following the lumpectomy a few months later, I had to undergo mastectomy and I chose to have both breasts removed...I decided to go flat....then came the radiation (30 treatments in two areas, front and back). When I had the axial webbing, it was so bad that I couldn't even lift my arm up as the lymphs blocked all the way down to my wrist. My PT started me with a WearEase post-mastectomy bra and a JoviPak serratus anterior pad which I wear under the bra -- it reaches from my breast all the way back toward my rib area. I was advised to wear this throughout the day continually for about 3 weeks. It did help with the aid of the PT working on all the pressure points from my wrist, along my arm, at the armpit, and breast area -- quite painful as she would push on the pressure points and also lift and pinch the lymph veins. I was very fortunate as at my Kaiser PT Dept, there are two PTs who are quite knowledgeable in what to do for these problems. So between that and radiation fibrosis, my breast was even more sensitive. What I have found is that the arm axial webbing, breast lymphedema, and fibrosis can, and have for me, reared their ugly heads up but with the knowledge I have on how to treat the symptoms, I am well armed with my trusty post-surgical bra and swell spot. These problems are definitely not for the faint of heart, but please look forward and not backward as how you feel today is not how you will feel in a year from now.