Post 3x BEP - Weird bump on my arm

[JoePSU]

Finished my 3x BEP on Monday. My markers all went down to negligible/0 by the end of the 2nd cycle, so I am feeling pretty good mentally about how we treated the disease so far. (Upenn with Vaughn).

On Wednesday I discovered a strange, reddened, bump near the crook of my left arm (a few inches away from my interior elbow on my forearm). It is painful to the touch, and about the size of a dime, though about as tall as a bug bite.

I spoke with Dr. Vaughn on the phone, who thought it sounded like an inflammation of a vein. My fiancee (med student) described it as "undulated" and superficial. He recommended I treat it with a warm compress, and to come in if it did not respond. I put a compress on it in the evenings, and it decreases in size, but by the end of the day before I put the compresses on it, it returns to the same size.

I have not had any injections or IVs on this location. Has anyone else experienced this? Oddly enough, I have slight pain on the opposite arm in the same place, but don't feel any bump there.

[Fed]

Joe,
Great to hear from you again, and congratulations on finishing chemo with great results to boot. I don't know what to say about the bump. It seems that the warm compress is a good idea, but I don't know whether that would be a permanent fix. I would probably just want to have that checked out, if anything, for peace of mind.

[honeybee]

My son had a few bumps like that after his first round of chemo -- they went away in a couple of weeks; then after his second round of chemo he had a worse outbreak on his arms and his torso, and they also went away after a couple of weeks. The doctor hadn't seen anything like that before so didn't know what caused them and wanted to see them right when they first appeared after his third round of chemo -- but then, of course, he didn't get them that time. Anyway, it was weird that they appeared and disappeared like that. Thomas did say that they hurt when touched. The doctor speculated that maybe it was chicken pox, but Thomas had chicken pox when he was 5, so then the doctor thought maybe it was an inflammation of the hair follicles. But whatever they were, they went away after a couple of weeks and we haven't seen them since.

Jennifer

[JoePSU]

My son had a few bumps like that after his first round of chemo -- they went away in a couple of weeks; then after his second round of chemo he had a worse outbreak on his arms and his torso, and they also went away after a couple of weeks. The doctor hadn't seen anything like that before so didn't know what caused them and wanted to see them right when they first appeared after his third round of chemo -- but then, of course, he didn't get them that time. Anyway, it was weird that they appeared and disappeared like that. Thomas did say that they hurt when touched. The doctor speculated that maybe it was chicken pox, but Thomas had chicken pox when he was 5, so then the doctor thought maybe it was an inflammation of the hair follicles. But whatever they were, they went away after a couple of weeks and we haven't seen them since.

Jennifer

I had those too during treatment, but this is a single isolated bump, and doesn't really look like a zit. Its more of a reddish, enflamed, lumpy thing under the skin of my arm...

[Fed]

Hey Joe,
Unrelated to the welt, but I have to ask... how are the wedding plans coming along? Are you and your fiancee getting geared up?

[BeachTech]

Ahh, chemo bumps

I had 2 x bep and 2 x ep. I developed about 3 bumps in my veins on each arm. The were NOT at the injection site, about 3-7 inches away. It felt like BBs that were implanted under my skin.

I was told it was scar tissue and would go away. I took me a LOOOOONG time to get rid of them, like almost one YEAR. Harmless, and a great conversation topic at parties "Hey check out my chemo bumps!"
________
Roll a joint

[Lori]

My husband had a bump similar on his left arm, but that was on the same arm as the injection site for several IV's. So he was told it was a superficial blod clot (meaning on the surface of the vein not deep down). He did warm compress 3x a day and took ibuprofin for about 5 days. Took a while to go away but finally did.