Cellulitis question

Member_of_the_Club

Hi everyone! Its been a while. I'm popping in today because its my ten year cancerversarry.

So I've had mild lymphedema for 6 years (yes, i was four years out from surgery. It can happen later rather than sooner) and I've never had cellulitis in the affected arm. Oddly, I did develop cellulitis this summer on my foot. I think I probably get the initial infection from a blister when I went running through some mud beside a creek that had overflowed in a big rainstorm and maybe had sewage in it? I really have no idea. I didn't even notice it until weeks later when we flew across the country and I was wearing compression socks, as I often do when I go on long flights. When I took off my socks that evening my foot was swollen. (This is why they tell you not to wear your compression garments if you have cellulitis, its like striking the match). I put off seeing a doctor for a few days because I thought it might be some kind of weird running injury. I finally went to the ER because my entire foot was swollen and my friend the MD thought that since I developed it on a flight it might be a blood clot. I was diagnosed and I wasn't hospitalized (probably one more day and I would have been) but I was prescribed high powered antibiotics and it took weeks to fully heal.

Phew, that was a long story. My question is this, because I had cellulitis once, even though it wasn't in my lymphedema arm, am I more likely to develop it again, including in my lymphedema arm?

There is a moral to this story. I almost certainly would have gotten medical attention ASAP had this been on my arm but somehow on my leg I wasn't thinking "cellulitis" even though as a person with lymphedema I've educated myself about the signs. So just because we're at risk for one thing, doesn't mean we can't develop other things that have nothing to do with our lymphedema.

Anonymous

MOTC definitely big congrats on your 10 years!!!!  Its great you've come back in to post on your experience with LE in that it can come later on. I think that is a beneficial thing for people to know. AFAIC a lot of people eiither aren't told enough about LE from the get go like they should be or worse, aren't told at all. 

From what Ive seen, there does seem to be some people who once they've had cellulitis seem to get it again. I don't know if there's any studies done to substantiate this  though. It could have all sorts of side issues like what else a person has going on health-wise.

Hope you have many more years free of the beast!