Current literature says you can. I will not! There is no expiration of time that lymph edema can occur. I won’t take a chance.

I followed the don't touch rule religiously for years even though I only had a lumpectomy and 1 node removed. I too thought it sucked since my good poke was on that side. A few years ago I had a tech who was drawing my blood tell me that it wasn't an issue. I was still pretty stingy with that side. After recurrence not so much. I get way too much blood drawn and my vessels on the other side are tiny and roll. I still don't get bp on my cancer side but I don't think it would matter. I saw a study on it recently and doctors are backing away from never use it.

By the way I would suggest every single woman getting any Breast-sentinel-lymph node surgery to learn ahead of their surgeries how to do lymph massage. Check out youtube videos and begin as soon as you can after surgery. Don't wait for Lymphedema to happen, see if you can prevent it in the first place. It can't hurt.

I was told before my surgery when I opted for the sentinel lymph node biopsy that there is only a 10% chance of developing lymphedema. I'm with Barbara in that I'm not a risk taker and would rather be safe than sorry. I am a hard stick but found a lab where the people can always get blood on the first try and I don't end up with bruises up and down both arms. I always go there and refuse to have blood drawn at the doctor's office unless they have a skilled phlebotomist on staff. Most are nurses who do a great job on people with large visible veins but mine aren't.

I just asked a nurse in the last week or so about how long I had to keep using my non-mastectomy side. She said 5 years.