Questions about Cobalt Treatments

LindaGene · May 2006

Hi! This is my first post. I am here to find information to help me in caring for my 80 year old mother-in-law who had a radical mastectomy in 1961. She is widowed and my husband is her only child. My husband was a teenager when this operation happened so does not understand nor remember what happened at that time.

We are dealing with the fact that she is a very sensitive person about physical problems and has a vivid imagination. Please help me dispell some myths I believe she has.

#1. She thinks that cobalt treatments, which she took, have been outlawed.

#2. She believes that she is not to have her affected arm stuck in anyway nor have her blood pressure taken from that arm.

#3. She believes that she may loose her arm because an emergency room technician tried to put in an IV into that arm.

There may be something to these thoughts but I can not find anything to support them. Does anyone have any information that can help me deal with her concerning this.

I have to be very careful what I say. Any doctor that has said anything in passing that could have been taken as negative, she has never forgotten. I need to be able to sort out what is real and what is unreasonable.

Thank you for any help you can give me.

Annie62 · May 2006

Linda,

I don't know anything about the cobol treatments although obviously they don't use them anymore- I believe because they have better treatments now. As for not having her affected arm stuck, if she had lymph nodes removed, then she shouldn't have bp cuffs and sticks there. They should use the other side. There is a concern about getting lymphedema which is a painful and potentially debilitating swelling of the arm. There is a forum for this topic on this discussion board as well as the main information sections. You main want to read up on that.

Good luck with you mil. My elderly mother never gave us the right story either with regards to her health so it's difficult to know when to know there is a legit issue.

nowheregirl · May 2006

Hi Linda,

Quick answer to your questions,

#1. As far as I know, radiation therapy is also called radiotherapy, X-ray therapy, cobalt treatment, or irradiation and it is still widely used as a cancer treatment around the world.

#2. If she's had an underarm lymph node dissection (with mastectomy or lumpectomy), she is at risk for developing some degree of lymphedema (a build-up of lymph fluid in the arm). To avoid the risk for lymphedema, she shouldn't have her affected arm stuck nor have her blood pressure taken from that arm.

#3. As mentioned above, the reason she shouldn't permit the skin of her at-risk arm to be pierced for any reason is to lower the risk of developing lymphedema. She isn't at risk at all for losing her arm.

Anonymous · May 2006

You've gotten a lot of good information here. You Mom is right to be concerned about the potential for Lymphedema. It can appear at any time ... once lymph nodes have been removed - either sentinal node biopsy or axillary dissection - the risk of developing lymphedema is for life ... good skin care is important ...
see Lymphedema Risk Reduction

It sounds like your Mom has been a good advocate for protecting herself from Lymphedea ...

Ages ago the treatment for Lymphedema was amputation... this is no longer the practice...
Doreen

Annie62 · May 2006

Fumi,
Thanks for the clarificaton on cobalt (not, ahem, as I typoed earlier - cobol!). I didn't realize it was radiation therapy.

I laughed when I read my earlier post - cobol - maybe the treatment was that they made you sit at a computer and type code!

Questions about Cobalt Treatments

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