Question about lymphedema in legs

Hi wrenn, no question is silly here. Lymphedema and prevention is a steep learning curve.

If you have never had surgery from aprox waist down where they may have had taken lymph nodes out you will be fine doing ankle cuff reading. Just have them stay away from your node side surgery arm. Don’t believe them if they say you can’t get LE on a node less side from a needle. Lots of people here have.

In the future if both arms are compromised and if no one will do bp on leg I’ve heard fireman are trained to do it.(a trip to the fire station might be easy on the eyes to! )A person needs to know how to do it properly and I have not learned yet to do it well at home. It will read a bit different that a bp in arm. Heart specialist nurses and docs also know how to do it and perhaps emergency dept. Your regular run of the mill assistant to doc will have no clue but may pretend she knows how which could be dangerous if she gave you a false reading.

Isn’t this smoke aweful today? I’ll be exercising indoors. I won’t even walk doggy in this today. His poor little lungs. I was in Vancouver early this morn and the smoke haze is worse than where I live.

As it happens, I'm having that very same test in a few weeks .  I did ask and learned that the test is valid for both legs with the blood pressure cuff on one arm only, so no worries there.  I suspect that if there is one spot on our legs where the risk of irritating a tendency toward lymphedema is next to nil, it would be the ankle.  

I'm guessing that, like me, you want to find out what the heck is causing your symptoms and maybe fix them?  Or figure out how to keep them from getting worse?  For immediate stress reduction, I suggest a couple of phone calls.  First, please ask your onc about the risks that concern you.  He knows you and your history and can really put your concerns in proper perspective.  Your vascular person (or whomever ordered the blinking test) can also discuss risks and rewards and give you a full explanation of how the test is expected to help and whether there is another option for accurate diagnosis.  Once he or she walks you through the test (yes, I'd insist that s/he do this), I think you'll be a lot happier.

Oh, yes--It will also be a good thing when the ordering doc lets the test techs know they'll be using only one arm.  I was told they do this all the time, but it's always better (i.e. quicker) when they don't have to check with the doc before changing their setup.