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I played tennis for years before my cancer and played during my chemo...nothing was going to keep me off the courts. But like an idiot I overdid it, was not kind to my arm. It was fine for awhile but then I started getting symptoms like tennis elbow. So completely not thinking, I bought this brace that you put on your arm for tennis elbow. It's this little strap with a gel pad that you strap around your forearm to relieve stress on elbow. I was in the middle of a match, when my friend and tennis teammate (who had breast cancer 9 months before me) screamed at me from another court. "Sherry look at your arm , take that damn thing off your arm". I looked down and my arm and hand look like a ballon. I had been so careful not to let anyone take blood pressure in that arm, why in the world would I think it would be OK to put that strap on it. I just wanted to play tennis pain free. Needless to say, I haven't been able to play for months now, my arm swells and aches when I try. I had lymph massages and have ordered the electric pump to help when at home, haven't gotten it yet. I have a sleeve that I wear when on airplanes but it didn't really help on my last flight. My arm doesn't swell really big, but darn does it get painful....sherryg683
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Sherry
Diagnosed: December , 2005 at age 44
13+ positive lymph nodes
Stage IV , Her2+, 2 small mets to lungsChemo Started: Jan, 2006
4 months Taxotere, Xeloda, Hercepin
NED since April 2006!!
36 Rads to follow with weekly Herceptin indefinately
8 years NED now
Scans every year
Life is not about avoiding the thunderstorms, it's about learning to dance in the rain!
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