Cording

Sea, I too had cords that I could see in my arm, and arm pit.  I also had swelling.  Most of it went away with time.  I still have some swelling in my surgery area.  Keep doing your exercises.  Lymphedema was different than the swelling I had post surgery.  But keep a good eye on it. 

Be careful not to lift anything heavy nothing more than 5 lbs after surgery to be sure, then nothing more than 10 lbs for a year, avoid hot things, avoid bites and cuts avoid hot tub, hot showers and hot baths.  My BS told me not to worry about it, as surgeries have improved so much well I got a paper cut one day on my middle finger, didnt think anything of it then 3 days later 3 of my fingers and half of my hand was swelling, hard and hurt.  So yes I have lymphedema.  Just another lovely thing of cancer.  I hate cancer.

Best of luck to you. 

Hugs

Sea, the cords are thrombosed lymph vessels, and sometimes veins. Some therapists like to "pop" them, which is essentially to rip them, but Jodi Winicour PT of Klose Training in Colorado who lectures on this all the time, is not comfortable with that approach. Jane Kepics PT whose article is linked on the stepupspeakout site says that if there's a pop with gentle traction, it's not likely doing harm.

Cording is not lymphedema, but it sure is a risk for it: all those lymph vessels can't do their jobs when they're clotted off due to trauma, and no one knows if they open, or new ones form. Many women have little piano wires of cords for years.

In general, most cording goes away in a month or so, but as Deborah wrote, you're at increased risk, especially in the acute phase of cording.

Like Deborah, I had cording, got a couple of bug bites on the arm on a hot day, and my hand swelled, and I've been struggling with it for the last year.

And, like Deborah, my surgeon told me not to worry.

Cording, but some accounts, occurs in most women who have any axillary surgery, but the really painful axillary web syndrome is less frequent.

Be careful right now. Heat is not a good idea for lymphedema, but some gentle heat to the axilla, like a warm shower--not hot--can loosen them and make it feel better. Gentle overhead stretches help. And a good LE PT who knows cording can really help.

For a couple of months, I could reach for a glass without terrible pulling. It rots.

Kira 

I had the same thing after my surgery,.. I couldn't raise my arm without it pulling through the pit,.the cord is no longer there since my surgery was almost 2 yrs ago,.but,.I still have tightness to a degree,.but,.I've got Lymphedema big time. Went to the PT,.did the massage,.wear the sleeve,.wrap,.you name it....and it's twice the size of my other. ( I loose both *girls* and gain a JUMBO limb,.yippee.) pffft. Now I know how Hellboy feels if anyone is familiar with that character,.lol.

I had cording, too, and went to a PT who treated it, and within 2 weeks I was back to normal -- and the cording was pretty bad.  I see that some doctors say to do exercises, etc., but I was totally impressed with how my PT got rid of these. She is a BC survivor, too, so she understood all the issues.  My arm is, of course, perfectly fine now (4 years out), but it was really almost perfect within a month or so of PT. I went to her about 3 weeks after surgery and I think it was the best thing I could have done. Good luck!!

Hello ladies!

I'm not sure if it's cording, but lately I've been having this pain below my right breast (where the cancer was found) that feels like a wire under the skin when I stretch out my arm. The weird thing is that my armpit doesn't hurt when I stretch out my arm. It gets weirder, I've been having pain in my right forearm when I strectch it out, my wrist/thumb area gets swollen, and I had thumb pain the other day. I've told my oncologist about it and asked him if it's lymphedema related and he said no. I'm not sure what to do, I had a chest x-ray done today and they found nothing. I also had an ultrasound done on my right arm and axilla and they found nothing. I had my lymph nodes removed in December and I didn't have any problems until now.  I'm so frustruated and I hate being in pain. I hate not knowing what I have and worse it makes me irritated that my doctors don't know what I have. I don't like to sound like a total nag, but I just want peace of mind when it comes to this whole ordeal.

Thanks for the link Kira!  There is lots of great info there.

I did find a local PT who is familiar with cording and have booked an appt with her for next week. 

She told me to keep going with the arm raises and pushing myself to the point of the "start" of pain.  She advised me not to push through it. 

I find that everyday I am getting more and more range of motion but the tightness along my upper arm and down my ribs continues.  She says that sounds like the fascia has tightened where scar tissue has formed and that can be massaged loose again.

I never thought I'd want to be a loose lady again but it seems that I do!

Thanks for all the info and support. 

Saw the PT yesterday.  She gave me a few more exercises to try - wall walking as high as my arms will go in front of me and then slide into it and then push out, also laying down on good side with arm stretched out and palm facing forward bring arm up and then fold behind head keeping shoulder down press elbow towards back.  I know it's hard to read these but I have to say they are really helping.

Also she did some manipulation of my scar tissue and also put traction on my cord while she manipulated my arm.

I have to say that the pain in my elbow (where the stretch stress was) has eased off and now I just need to work on stretching out my chest more and keeping my shoulder down.

This PT is not a lymphodemo or cording specialist but an experienced PT who has worked with mastectomy patients before.

I hope that others are getting some help with this and working through it too!

Hi MarieK!

I've tried the wall walking exercise but the other one I can't figure out. Are there any diagrams or pictures of that other exercise because I would really like to try it. Another exercise that my surgeon recommended: you stand and bend over from the waist, let your arm hang (the side where the lymph nodes where taken) and move it around in circles, clockwise then counterclockwise. It really helps, I'm doing better. Thanks for sharing these exercises with us  

Hi

I had cording in my arm in the sping, now I have visible cords in my abdomen just under my rib cage toward my side (in the node dissection side) are there any resources for illustrations of self massage on the cords so I can rush this along?

Wendy

KAK,

  Some of us are just prone to it: I had a ton of cords after my surgery, and recently saw a new PT who had me start theraband exercises, and within a week--cording!

I'm doing my overhead stretches, child's pose, lay on my back with hands over head, and twist my knees to the side (kind of a spinal stretch), and I emailed Jodi Winicour, the amazing PT at Klose who is an expert on it, and she said to stay the course.

I do the skin lifting stretch in the axilla, as described in the Burt and White book.

It's back....

Hope both of us have it go away soon.

Kira 

BigApple, how were you told to do the massage? Stretch the cords between your fingers?

I know the belief is that surgery or exercise can trigger cording--my bs told me of a woman who had it without any surgery, and they just blamed overuse. Personally, I think some of us are more prone to it.

I was contacted by a PT from Malta (I had to look it up...) and in Malta, they believe that all women who have any axillary surgery develop cording, and all women are sent to PT's.

Kira 

I was wondering why it felt funny under my arm - I had snb in February and have only just noticed what felt like a cord or rope in my armpit.  I am seeing my onc on Tuesday and will mention it to her.

Hi ladies, I hope you don't mind me popping in here, I'm from the November chemo board. I put out a question on my board re. Lymphedema and wearing a sleeve, but I guess no one has encountered any problems yet. I"m 2 months out from dbl. mastectomy with 27 nodes removed from left breast where cancer was and sentinel nodes removed from right. I went 2 weeks ago to get evaluated because I did feel strange pulling in my left arm and hand. I had spilled a little bit of hot coffee on the top of left hand, no big deal but it swelled and stayed swollen for two weeks. The therapist measured and gave me excercises to do at home. She told me to get sleeves for both arms and gauntlets for my hands. She said I should be wearing these whenever I am working with my arms & hands etc.or traveling. She told me she wants me to wear sleeves during chemo because sometimes chemo can start the whole cycle of lymphedema. Im waiting for my sleeves right now. I start chemo on Nov. 17th & hopefully the lymph. won't get started. My onc does not believe in ports unless you have problems with your veins, so I guess they will be doing chemo in my right arm, the one with only sentinel node removal. Has anyone here worn sleeves during chemo or know why or if it is necessary? Any help you can give me will be extremely helpful cause I really don't understand why the surgeons and the oncs don't seem to worry about lymphedema. I really didn't know what it was until that day in the therapist office, I saw this poor little old couple and the little ladies arm was the size of my thigh, she could barely hold it up from the weight of it. It was red and looked very angry and painful!! Thankyou for all your postings and I look forward to see if any of you know about this sleeve/chemo thing. Thanks so much

Hi folks, have just read this thread with interest as I have been plauged with cording since mx and axillary clearance on early August. My PT has prescribed exercises and massage for it and it has helped but recurs randomly (seemingly so anyway). last week or so I had two new lumps ultrasounded under my arm - my GP was worried it might be a vein thrombosis but the report came back seeming to suggest 'lymphocele' - a blockage of lymph fluid, which makes sense to me. My husband has been massaging lumps and cords and it does seem to be working as the cords have greatly reduced from lower part of arm and somewhat from under arm area, so we will persevere.

Like others I have been astounded by lack of knowledge of axillary web syndrome in practitioners, even my GP and those massage therapists specialising in lymphatic massage, and I feel I am on a constant education campaign to spread the word!

In hospital I was given a set of gentle exercises to do with my left arm to  reduce risk of lymphodema and my PT has also got me a sleeve with fingers to wear when needed as I have had had some swelling (and i live in mortal dread of developing full blown lymphodema)

I would be interested to hear of anyone who has experienced the types of lumps I described and how you have dealt with them. they were small, pea sized, adn seemed to be located right on edge of cords under armpit. A bit tender when pressed.

As a PT who has cording, plus shoulder and breast pain to go with it, I'm very happy to say that I've had 3 PT treatments myself so far, and I feel much better.  I have axillary cording, but I also have tightness from the sternum, up to the clavicle, across the chest, over to the shoulder, and around the back to my scapula.  So, you have to unwind all of that stuff to get the cording to relax.  My PT worked on loosening up the clavicle and scapula, then the neural tension in the shoulder joint that had set in.  Now, I can start actually getting a good stretch again across the chest/breast where it tightened up again.  This is all from rads.  I didn't even have any nodes removed or biopsied.

You do have better luck finding a therapist who has a clue with soft tissue stuff.