Liz’s Story

Short years after receiving surgery, chemo and radiation for vaginal cancer, I was diagnosed with stage two estrogen + breast cancer.Removal of both breast and also 24 lymph nodes from my right side went well, until 3 years later when I noticed a small swelling on the top of my right hand. I worked in the hospital where my surgery was done, so I asked my surgeon what was happening to my hand. His reply was, Well I don’t really know. I chalked it up to arthritis and moved on. Several days later my surgeon caught up to me and seemed distressed. He explained that he had just returned from a lymphedema symposium and had learned how bad my hand could get. He sat at a desk making phone calls and immediately set me up with the lymphedema specialist in a neighboring town. I was fitted for compression garments, learned the art of manual lymph massage and hoped for the best. Unfortunately, I now have a severe case of lymphedema, so bad that because my right arm is so large, I have to buy my shirts in a larger size to accommodate my arm. Recently, I have seen changes in my skin, and I am experiencing joint pain in my elbow and shoulder. I never knew that living through cancer twice, losing my hair to chemo and vomiting from chemo so much that now my teeth are destroyed from acid erosion would be the easy part of breast cancer. This wont end,it wont go away and it will not get better. Please do whatever it takes to help future breast cancer patients from living with this after effect.