Initially Gaye's swelling was not recognized as lymphedema.
Transcript
I had a lot of lymphs in my arm taken out and so I have to wear a sleeve if I travel or whatever I don’t wear one all the time but my arm is really affected by the barometric pressure. And , it was kind of like my arm would swell and I’d go to the hospital and they’d say, “Have you been lifting something too heavy?” and I’d say, “No (it swells) when the weather changes because I have bad allergies and I get bad headaches from the weather and it affects my arm. So when the weather changes my arm will tend to really ache and it will swell.” So I go to the hospital and get a pump, have my arm pumped and have a little bit of physio done on it and then it is fine. But I just have to watch that because I had so many lymphs taken out and I don’t like to wear a sleeve all the time. I know that you can get coloured sleeves and stuff. I don’t like that because I don’t like when people ask me why I’m wearing it because then they always say, “Oh I’m so sorry.” Well it’s all right, so I just try to tend to wear a long-sleeved shirt or something when I have to wear my sleeve so that people don’t notice. I just don’t want people to feel sorry for me because there’s way too many things in the world that are worse than my breast cancer.
More content
- Alternative and complementary therapies – GayeTo improve her taste sensation, Gaye would like to use marijuana and is trying to find a doctor willing to prescribe it.
- Chemotherapy – GayeGaye's biggest fear was to look like her bald father but her daughter saw a resemblance with Ghandi.
- Surgery – GayeEven though the surgeon advised Gaye to have a double mastectomy, Gaye felt a single was enough.
- Finding and sharing information – GayeGaye felt that people were focused on feeling sorry for themselves in the support group she visited.
- Follow-up care and the risk of recurrence – GayeGaye was also at higher risk of a recurrence. She asked her doctor to stop mentioning this at every visit.
- Troubling long-term effects of treatment – GayeGaye discovered that smoking marijuana temporarily restored her sense of taste and she described her excitement at experiencing flavours again for the first time.
- Treatment for lymphedema – GayeInitially Gaye's swelling was not recognized as lymphedema.