When Lymphedema Meets a New Challenge: Learning to Navigate the Unexpected

It has been easy for me to become complacent about the lymphedema I acquired during the course of treatment for breast cancer. I had good instruction early on and remain relatively diligent. Although there are challenges to address now and then, especially in summer, I can go years feeling that I am on top of things until startled by a new challenge.

Making Self-Care Part of Everyday Life

Old challenges, of course, will intersect with the new. One ongoing challenge is to be realistic about self-care. I do have room for improvement in that regard. This summer’s goals include wearing my sleeve more often during or after relevant activities and remembering to put lotion on my arms before I go to sleep. Lotion next to books on the bedside table and a sleeve without a built-in glove have helped achieve these goals.

A few years ago, a new challenge became working with an issue in my shoulder to hope to avoid surgery in the future because surgery plus lymphedema makes for a more complex recovery. To help with the shoulder as it might impact lymphedema, I have modified some physical activities. For example, I used to mow the entire yard all at once. Now I limit myself to sections to avoid too much pull and push in one afternoon. I also avoid heavy lifting.

When Old Challenges Meet New Ones

This summer has presented a new challenge. When my left palm began to develop nooks and crannies, nodules and cords, I visited my PCP and then my orthopedic doctor. Turns out, my body has decided to take on Dupuytren’s disease as I enter my seventies. On the plus side, I am 70. On the flip side, it is hard to know what will come, so I am educating myself and will work with my orthopedic doctor until I need a hand specialist.

My hope early on was for the lymphedema limb to stay out of the fray. I was happy that only my left hand was acting out. An initial visit to the orthopedist, however, assured me that both hands are involved. That led to my hope that the right hand would just be slow or slower than the left to develop its own issues.

Hope is, of course, the thing with feathers. That is a good thing and a bad. Sometimes hope takes flight and flees beyond the horizon.

Learning More About Lymphedema and Dupuytren’s Disease

My right hand is currently evolving too, though it does not seem to be (at this writing—things could change tomorrow) going so quickly down Dupuytren’s Drive. Thus, I have begun to research what it means to work with Dupuytren’s and lymphedema. How, for example, do the two intersect? Could the lymphedema make the Dupuy’s slower to evolve? Faster? What might I do to try to avoid surgery on my hand as well as my shoulder in the future?

The truth is that I cannot know the future. And regarding the intersection of Dupuy’s and lymphedema, I have found little to read or study to learn about ripple effects. Consequently, I am making a study of myself, every few weeks measuring and photographing and noting things in a file for future reference.

Doing this helps me to put worry out of my mind. My worry can reside in a folder on my computer instead of in my heart.

Finding Perspective as a Cancer Survivor

While life is nothing if not full of surprises, one of the joys of being a cancer survivor is learning to navigate these surprises. As one of my other healthcare providers noted when I mentioned the Dupuy’s, I have been through a bigger challenge.

Going through that, even being mindful of potential future cancer, has taught me how to have a good relationship with the surprises a human body can present us with when we least suspect another one.

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