[PinkGirl]

Hi Donna
I have mild lymphedema in my arm and hand. It started
a few months after my mastectomy. It can be very
painful.

I was lucky because my cancer centre has a physiotherapist
who specializes in lymphedema and she was a big help to me.

I was shown how to do very, very gentle massage on the
skin to help the fluid move up my arm. I also have an elastic
sleeve and glove. I started out with just the sleeve, but my
hand ended up swelling more. Now I use the sleeve and glove
when I am going to be using my arm strenuously. Luckily this
is not my dominant arm. My arm and hand will also swell when
I am traveling in a car.

It is hard to find someone who knows anything about this. I
saw a local physiotherapist and she admitted to me that she
had very little training in this - other than how to wrap a limb.

I hope you can find someone to help you. I was told that this
is something that will flare up at times and I will have to deal
with it. Right now I am doing well. It was worse in the summer
with the heat and with me doing a lot of gardening. Look luck
with this.