Leg lymphedema in cancer patients

[Aquila]

/comfort Mudmucker. I hope the surgery and all goes as well as it can.

And wow, KnottedYet, what a great resource you are!

[ny biker]

Try contacting livestrong.org. They have access to lots of information and resources for cancer patients. Although I don't know if anyone can provide more info than Knot!

Best of luck with the surgery, and I hope you're back on the bike soon.

[Crankin]

I am thinking of you and hoping your surgery goes well. You are right, you are on the "A" team with Dana Farber.
I was amazed that Knott could give you such a detailed answer. We are lucky to have such a resource!

[Wahine]

Knott - thank you so much. You always have great information to contribute to this forum and we are very lucky to have you as an active participant.

To add a bit to what Knott said, I have had patients with lower extremity lymphedema and it is manageable. Knott's advice is fantastic. I would second the use of compression tights during and after activity. There are also massage therapists out there with very specific training in lymphatic massage. It might be good to find someone with certification in this type of massage and develop a relationship with them. If it was me, I'd try to go for regular lymphatic massage before and after the surgery. I don't know that it will help prevent lyphmedema but it can help boost your immune response which you'll need to fight off the cancer. And finally, believe it or not, acupuncture can be very helpful.

Good health and healing vibes heading your way.

[KnottedYet]

A really good massage therapist who is certified in MLD will teach you a simplified version of the "massage" that you can do yourself twice a day.

My only caveat there is to be sure the massage therapist knows the correct pressures and patterns to use on someone who has had nodes taken out. What is often taught through massage schools is meant to be used on folks with intact systems.

To prevent or control lymphedema when the larger deeper ducts are absent or damaged you must use very very light strokes. The intact portion of the system is the surface system, whose ducts are hair thin. You don't want to pinch them shut or collapse them, or direct too much lymph toward the deeper (dead end) ducts where it will stagnate.

[mudmucker]

Wow Knott. Thank you for your detailed and thoughtful response. Yes, we are lucky to have you, and love hearing you type any time. And Wahine too. This is sounding more hopeful in terms of how beneficial the exercise is and that it can remain an integral part of my life at a level I hope to keep. I'll be happy and grateful to use my calf pump as much as I can. I'm encouraged that the condition seems more manageable than I thought. That bit about the self massage to encourage the surface ducts is pretty interesting and especially since I can do this on my own too. I'm going to address that right away. I need to understand the lymphatic patterns and functions a lot more but you've set me on the right path. I'll be going to Dana Farber one more time before surgery after Christmas so I'll arrange to speak to someone while I'm there, and then maybe find a therapist out my way.

And thank you all for your words of support and encouragement. It is really helpful.

[Jolt]

Sorry to hear about your diagnosis--how scary! You're in a good place though, as far as the treatment and expertise that is available to you. As far as the potential for lymphedema, that is not an area I know much about (despite being a nurse) but it sounds like you've already gotten some good info. Like others, I think that if anything the exercise would be helpful because lymph is pushed along by muscular contraction. I'm wondering too if swimming might be a beneficial exercise to add to your routine--seems to me like the pressure of the water might help move things along too. Maybe somebody can give further info on this?

[KnottedYet]

We encouraged swimming for folks who had already developed lymphedema, because it was an activity they could do without wearing their compression sleeve or stocking. The pressure of the water did a fine job of keeping the edema down.

We always had a story we'd tell about the gradation of pressure for compression garments. I don't know if it's true, but it's a good story. Apparently some dude had lymphedema in his leg but noticed that when he walked around in the lake the edema got better. Et voila! The idea of graded pressure stockings was born! (high pressure at the feet grading up to light pressure at the groin, like water pressure when standing waist deep in water)