Can lymphedema be reversed?

Hi, Jilly,

I'm so sorry your mom is going through all this, but glad she got started on the antibiotics. This does sound more like an infection than lymphedema. In an infection the remaining lymph nodes can swell and feel like a hard lump, as they work to gather the "bad actors" and get rid of them.

If your mom has never seen a lymphedema therapist she might want to ask for a referral to one when her radiation is over. A well-trained lymphedema therapist can assess your mom's risk of lymphedema, take arm measurements for future reference, and give her personalized risk-reduction tips. Here's how to find one near you:

http://www.stepup-speakout.org/Finding_a_Qualified...

There's little that therapists may be willing to do to actually treat lymphedema if it is present, until radiation treatments have ended and the skin is healed. So starting the antibiotic and checking in with her oncologist are definitely the steps she needs to be taking now.

Please keep us posted on how your mom is doing with this. And give her a hug for us,
Binney

Sorry to hear about your mom’s difficulties. LE risk rises with the number of nodes removed (regardless of whether they’re negative or positive) and gets higher still with obesity or even overweight. And yes, radiation raises the risk as well (breast or truncal LE, or if to the nodes, arm LE). But still bear in mind that the majority of patients never develop it, though the risk is lifelong. I got Stage 0 (subclinical) LE, but it is manageable and I haven’t had flares in a year and a half. She should always refrain from getting any kind of needle sticks, tourniquets, BP cuffs, sunburn, insect bites or pet scratches on that arm; any injury, even the slightest, should be cleansed thoroughly and observed carefully for signs of infection. And I second the advice to see an LE specialist once the infection either heals or is ruled out. Physical therapy (including manual drainage self-massage) made a dramatic difference for me, keeping my LE from getting to full-on Stage 1. (I first discovered a “cord” in that arm, and immediately made the first LE specialist appt. I could get. The cord popped, but I saw him anyway after returning from a Mediterranean cruise).

Regardless of whether she actually has LE, she should get a Medic-Alert bracelet or pendant detailing LE precautions (the symbol should be pink, because that’s what emergency personnel recognize as LE risk) and if a bracelet wear it on that arm. She should carry a wallet card, and (even better) enter that into the Health app on her smartphone. If she travels extensively, she should get measured for a compression sleeve and gauntlet to wear on any flight >4 hrs. (and if she’s into fitness, for exercise as well). And if she is not obese, she’s on the right track. If I’d only known why not to gain weight, I’d have kept dieting instead of waiting until starting on letrozole (which causes weight gain or makes losing weight much harder), instead of throwing myself a pity party and eating whatever I wanted as soon as the biopsy was scheduled.