Monday, December 13, 1999
Treatment would end her isolation
BY MAXINE BERKMAN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
When Lillie Ward managed the wig department at the old Elder Beerman store in Swifton Village, she saw a woman “with this huge arm and one real skinny one. I felt so sorry for her,” she recalled. “And then I came up with the same thing.”
In 1994, Mrs. Ward discovered a lump under her arm that was diagnosed as cancer. Because the cancer had metastasized to her lymph nodes, 21 of the nodes were removed during the mastectomy. The result was Lymphedema, a swelling caused by the accumulation of lymph fluids.
Mrs. Ward is right-handed. Her right arm and hand swell to 11/2 times the size of the left. “I can't use my hand. I have no grip.” She is learning to develop left-handed skills, but can't write with her left and has difficulty maneuvering pot handles.
Twice a week the Avondale resident takes an Access bus to the Medical Arts Building for treatments on a Lymphedema sleeve and pump. She said that the process is not painful and easy to administer.
“After the pump, my right arm is the same as my left. I feel so much relief.” But the swelling process resumes as soon as the treatment ends.
Mrs. Ward's medical coverage is limited to two weekly sessions. Her wish is to have equipment in her home so she can have treatments daily.
A gentle-voiced 66-year-old woman with Cleopatra hair, Mrs. Ward lives in an apartment complex for the elderly and people with disabilities.
Residents congregate in exercise and dinning areas and at outings to shopping malls and holiday dinners at churches.
“I don't go to any of them,” she said. “I feel too self-conscious.” She recalled: “I stopped talking for a long time. I got to be a loner.”
Mrs. Ward said that she “is depressed but thanks God that the surgeons got all of the cancer.”
If she had daily treatments, she would “associate with people again, go places and be with my grandkids.” She would like to go to church and not feel that she has to “hide one hand in the other.”
Mrs. Ward would like to help other women with cancer, especially those who have Lymphedema. She wants them to know that “there is something that can be done.”
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