The Lymphedema Patient Roundtable: January 2025

The Lymphedema Patient Roundtable welcomed 2025 with special guest Hardeep Kaur, who shared her story of living with upper extremity primary lymphedema and her journey from hiding her compression to making it a part of her self-expression.

In keeping with the spirit of the new year, panelists and attendees picked their “Word of the Year” to set the tone for the months ahead, and shared some exciting things they’re pumped for in 2025. The conversation also covered topics such as vibration plates, exercise, and when “light” versus “deep” massage techniques are appropriate when treating lymphedema and lipedema.

Our hearts are heavy for those affected by the California fires, especially those displaced from their homes. Having lived through natural disasters themselves, Evy Dominguez and Karen Ashforth shared important tips for lymphedema patients during these devastating events.

Then, at the end of the hour, Karen led the group in a grounding reflection with a reading of Martha Postlewaite’s poem “Clearing”:

Do not try to save
the whole world
or do anything grandiose.
Instead, create
a clearing
in the dense forest
of your life
and wait there
patiently,
until the song
that is your life
falls into your own cupped hands
and you recognize and greet it.
Only then will you know
how to give yourself
to this world
so worthy of rescue.

— Martha Postlewaite

A big thank-you to this month’s panel:

• Karen Ashforth, MS, OTR/L, CLT-LANA (⁠⁠⁠⁠@karenashforth_cltlana⁠⁠⁠⁠)
• Evy Dominguez, Lymphedema Patient (@evycalifornia)
• Alexa Ercolano, Lymphedema Patient and Lympha Press Marketing and Communications Associate (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@lymphielife⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠)
• Hardeep Kaur, Lymphedema Patient (@hardeep_k)

Links mentioned in the video:

• National Lymphedema Network’s 2025 Patient Summit
• National Lymphedema Network Garment Program
• Karen Ashforth’s “Understanding Lymphedema” blog post
• Information on vibration plates

This Roundtable was originally recorded live on January 14, 2025, and has been edited for time. The views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of Lympha Press.

Lympha Press is proud to offer these monthly Lymphedema Patient Roundtables and support the lymphedema community. The Roundtables are held on the second Tuesday of each month at 8:00 PM EST. Sign up to attend any of our live webinars at https://linktr.ee/LymphaPress.