Flo,

As far as lymphoedema, I think most of mine is gone, it took 8 months after the ending of radiation. However, the swelling is still off and on, more on than off, the face still get puffy from time to time, as long as it did not get infected, I started to treat it as normal, because the doctors really do not worry about that.

I cannot remember how many infections I had to this date, it will come every 5 to 6 weeks. The first bout, I had to go to hospital to draing the pus, the second time the doctor used a syringe (spell ?)sucting it out, then I became more alert to ask for antibiotics when I felt something is wrong.

I was told that for abscess, it can be drained, because it was collected in a pocket. For lymphoedema, it cannot be drained because it was distributed in the soft tissues. I tried massage, did not work for me, naybe my surgery is way too aggressive, the doctor got more than 70 lymph nodes out from my left neck. I noticed most people only lost 30 to 40 of them.

Well, I am still fighting this face swelling, tight neck, hard throat issue, will keep you posted.