There was such a heavy feeling in Shelley's arms it felt like she was carrying water, she was happy to learn what it was.
Transcript
I didn’t know I had lymphedema, I knew something was wrong and I would say that to both my general practitioner as well as the oncologist. My arm feels so heavy, my back, my front feels like I’m carrying water and to find out that it’s not just in your mind and initially it was a side effect of surgery it will get better it will get better, but to have it validated and say, “No, we can help you. We can reduce this feeling, we can help you manage it and learn about it.” has been very empowering because I would think it would be quite overwhelming as initially you don’t know what to do. You don’t know. Is this cancer coming back? Is it not? Why am I feeling I have another arm growing out of my armpit. The sensation was overwhelming. Then to find out no this is valid this is, this is a side effect of treatments again was empowering to know that there are things you can do and things you can do differently to live with this condition, to manage it and hopefully reverse it at times and you know find that normal again. Yes that has been outstanding.
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- Testing and diagnosis – ShelleyShelley asked for another test when her test came back benign.
- First symptoms – ShelleyShelley and a friend both felt a burning sensation when she was doing Reiki on her friend.