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Posted by Cassie The bandaging is a shock, for sure. Right at first it felt like a major insult as well. It was my right hand, too, and I'm right-handed, so it did make for a lot of frustration and occasional rages. Learning to do the bandaging yourself is another challenge--flinging bandages around the room is not unheard of! But the good news is, if you've caught your LE early and you're willing to take charge of it, the prognosis is excellent. I had wonderful results from my therapy, and it didn't take more than a few days to start noticing a difference (though the complete treatment lasted 5 weeks, 4 days a week). Learn all you can of the massage and wrapping, skin care, exercises -- the more you pitch in the more empowered you'll feel and the better your outcome. It is a lot to handle, and for some of us it's seemed harder to deal with than the original bc diagnosis. It's clumsy, ugly, and impossible to hide; after all the bc awareness and ackowledgement nobody's even heard of LE and they really don't want to try to understand it either; the medical community can be dismissive or even scornful at times, and many doctors and nurses both know next to nothing about it; it can be time consuming and expensive, and it's frankly a bore. But the fact is if we take charge of it we can reduce its impact on our lives and avoid the worst problems. So hang in there, Laura! You're doing great and you're going to make it through this, too. Tell us how we can help. Cassie
on 11/29/2005, 4:57 pm, in reply to "first full lymphedema treatment today"
12.72.96.169
Hi, Laura,
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