Friday, April 28, 2017

Lymphodema becomes a reality



This has been a tough week – I had my first flare up and all I can say is lymphedema blows. I went to bed Sunday night and my arm was fine, Monday morning it was 4 times the normal size and throbbing.  Don’t get me wrong, I’ll take it over cancer any day.  But having lymphedema does suck as it interferes with everything I do, everyday.  I’m not able to lift things and some movements are difficult.  I’m wearing a compression sleeve with a pressure gradient from my fingers to my shoulder to help aid in channeling the fluid out of my arm.  Only time will tell if I can push the fluid out of my arm or if the compression sleeve will be a permanent addition to my wardrobe.

Why do I have this?  I had the first and second tier lymph nodes removed during my surgery and the remaining nodes and channels were damaged by the proton therapy. So my right arm has no healthy channel for filtering and dispersing the fluid that naturally occurs and moves through my arm to the rest of my body.  Lymphedema can occur at any time for any reason and there are few resources for people who live with this condition.

I am very lucky that this does not affect my dominate arm.  That would make simple tasks even harder.  But that’s enough of that!

This weekend we are spending time with family and watching Tribe baseball.

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