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Listen to your doctors, and ask questions the more you know, the better," she told Coping. Go through the initial panic, and when that dies down, focus. "It's no picnic, but it's not necessarily a death sentence either. When it comes to cancer treatment, Bates says a positive attitude and becoming informed can make a world of difference.
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She now warns others not to do this one thing when it comes to their health. I can't have a lot of salt or alcohol, I have to stay out of the heat, and I'm not supposed to pick up heavy things." She has also become a spokesperson for the Lymphatic Education&Research Network (LE&RN), which works to educate others about lymphedema.įor more health news sent directly to your inbox, sign up for our daily newsletter. Now I've lost quite a bit of weight, and that has helped considerably, but I still have to be careful. "I had to have my arms put into these pneumatic sleeves that feel like a boa constrictor," she told PPM. Though there is no cure for lymphedema, the actor now works hard to manage her symptoms. I think it was the culmination of having been through cancer twice and realizing that now I'd have this condition, this life-long souvenir," Bates told the medical site Practical Pain Management (PPM). She admits that her initial reaction upon learning of her lymphedema was one of deep anger, especially since she had watched her mother contend with the condition following her own cancer treatment. Immediately following her surgery, which included not only the removal of her breasts but also 22 lymph nodes, she noticed swelling in her arms and pain in her hands-two tell-tale signs of the condition.
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Today, Bates is cancer free but lives with lymphedema, a painful chronic condition which affects 30 percent of patients who have undergone breast cancer treatment. I realized that I already had what I wanted most, which was to be happy, have energy, work, be with friends, and live life," she told the magazine. "I recently had an opportunity to have breast reconstruction, but at the last minute I decided I was feeling so good that I didn't want to go back to surgery, to bed rest, to being on pain medication. Nobody should be ashamed to have cancer."īates has taken the same fearless approach when it comes to her double mastectomy, often opting to "go flat" without prosthetics and eschewing reconstructive surgery. "Seeing Melissa Etheridge in concert with her bald head, wailing on her electric guitar, she was a force to be reckoned with," Bates told Coping. By the time she developed breast cancer nine years later, her attitude had shifted significantly. Back in 2003, Bates kept her ovarian cancer diagnosis private at the urging of her agent, who feared she would be stigmatized in Hollywood.