Shirt design for Lymphedema

Glennie, it may or may not be helpful. Do lots more research before committing to that. The real treatment experts with LE are the well-trained and committed therapists, so maybe research those close to home first. The LE community is fairly small, so interconnections are common and helpful in keeping good therapists up-to-date.

When's the surgery again?

Hugs,
Binney

glennie, we're all crazy, because the D-I-Y part of LE is making us all crazy.  Gosh, your surgery is coming up soon. You have a lot on your worry plate right now.

binney, do the pockets really have to be a glove fit?  I wonder about a universal pocket that has rows of stitching, and we could remove a row or two depending on how deep in the pocket the chip bag needs to sit.  But I've not needed any swell spots to date, so I really don't know what I'm talking about.  Except the goofy one in the shape of a BC ribbon that I got when I was an LSAP participant at the NLN conference a couple of years ago.  I really could not for the life of me figure out how that thing could be of use, being such a strange shape.

I wonder if a material somewhat like suede would be good. Soft and non-slip. Anyone handy with sewing who could try the do-it-yourself approach?   I also wonder, if the shirt was snug enough, maybe the swell spots would stay in place without pockets? 

Glennie, my LE therapist made mine herself. I don't know how common that is, but she had these sheets of foam in different thicknesses, and she just grabbed some scissors and eyeballed my swelling and went to work, snip snip, presto, I had several to try, various shapes & sizes.  The problem I had was, I was using a snug sport bra to try to hold them in place and it just didn't do the trick. Didn't stay in place. So I kinda gave up. Now that I'm thinking about it....  Has anyone tried some of that sticky tape that is meant for keeping clothes in place?  I don't mean sticking it to your skin!  But maybe to whatever garment you are wearing.

OK, I've read some great feedback here, and the ever on-the-ball Binney already sent me photos with her sizing/fit comments!  Madhatter, toomuch, doxie, and journey (whose shirt arrived while she was away, so I know comments are not ready just yet) -- some of you have my email, and if you don't, just PM me if you want to email photos.  If not, PM me with any additional comments, so I can gather all the feedback for Margaret at GO.  By the way, when I sent you the shirts, I had a note in there with her email address, but she let me know that she's having problems with that--it's been disabled for a while as her website is being revamped.  I have an alternate now, and when I hear from you with final shirt comments, I'll let you know how to reach her if you want to.

Perhaps we can all wrap up our sizing feedback by this coming Friday, October 3?  Or Saturday, if you need some weekend time with the shirt?

Thanks, everyone.  I'm still puzzling over ways to keep swell spots / chip bags in place under a compression tee, without creating more irritating seams or locking in places for the bags that limit placement options.  I had wondered about lining the shirt so the bags could go in between, but Binney pointed out that might make the garment too hot.  I haven't ruled that out--all the seams would be on the interior, which might have benefits, and GO makes some lovely travel shirts of a very lightweight and highly wicking material infused with silver to reduce odor. I wonder if it stretches enough to not interfere with the compression layer of a double-fabric shirt, and if it would limit the added heat.  I sure do not know, but I will be asking Margaret, the GO garment designer.  Brilliant ideas from all of you are most welcome!

Thank you!

KC, the shirts in design stage now are short-sleeve, to avoid double compression over an LE sleeve.  The fabric is wicking.  I imagine that GO will eventually make a long-sleeve version if there's some demand for it, and I am sure that an XL is on the agenda.  The people there are great, so I have my fingers crossed that they will be able to add sizes and some basic features like long sleeves without too much ado.

jwoo, I did find someone, but thanks!

I flew from the east coast to west coast wearing this shirt a week ago. I was able to wear it without a bra and I had absolutely no truncal swelling after the flight! This is the first time in almost 4 years that I was still comfortable when I reached my destination. This is definitely going to be my go to travel garment! Thanks Carol!

I have been reading through the thread with great interest. Thank you all so much in pursuing this project to reality!

jwoo, that is horrible! I will check in with them and pass along your suggestion tomorrow.

spookybob, those are some great suggestions, and you've found some resources that are new to me.  Thank you!  I'm with you on the $90 compression tee from Wearease.  Some women here have tried it and love it, and I'm sure that the Wearease folks have a sizable investment in developing that product.  But I just cannot bring myself to spend that much.

I guess I love the wearEase tee shirt so much that I find it worth the price.

Jan, I sure do agree that the money spent on trial and error garments is enough to cover a few really good ones.  It's so frustrating!

Good news from GO, the company that's developing a lymphedema-friendly compression tee.  The garment designer has made some design adjustments in response to our detailed testers' feedback.  I'm to receive a second round of garments and will send those to several of our testers, probably in about a week.  Won't it be great to have several CHOICES of compression shirts made to work for us? 

Carol

Thanks for the update Carol57

Carol,

I've tested the new GO LE shirt and it's about perfect for me. I'm a largish small and they got the fit right. Nice and firm, but not too contracting. Works really well for truncal LE with armpit involvement. Anyone else test theirs out?