Last week, FINALLY, after nearly four months, my pump arrived. One of the “prongs” of the three-pronged lymphedema treatment approach is the use of a compression pump – lymphatic drainage massage and wrapping are the other two prongs. After working with Ms. Lymph twice a week in January to bring my swelling down, she ordered… Continue reading Our New Appliance
Today I had an appointment with my third lymphedema therapist. She is a massage therapist who is trained in lymphatic drainage massage. She actually works at the hospital, for some reason in the cardiovascular wing. She is insanely inexpensive for a massage therapist, so that’s nice, since this is not covered by insurance. She spent… Continue reading Lymphedema Therapist #3
I’ve been wearing this sleeve + gauntlet for a few months now, and I still really hate it. Well, the sleeve is fine, it’s the gauntlet I don’t like, since it does not fit that well – my fingers are too long. The therapist had said that I could either wear the sleeve/gauntlet daily, or… Continue reading Trying Again with the Night Glove
Yep, looks like it’s gonna come in curly!
The last time I visited Dr. FixIt, my plastic surgeon, was sometime during chemo for my final breast expander fill. We agreed at that visit that I should call him about six weeks after my final radiation therapy appointment to schedule my next appointment with him, at which point we would start discussing reconstruction. He… Continue reading Surgery Scheduling
A week or so ago I met with the UCSD plastic surgeon I’d heard of who is able to perform lymphedema microsurgery – the only such surgeon I’ve been able to find in San Diego. He was very young and distractingly cute. I liked him, but still have a lot to consider. He trained at… Continue reading Meeting a New Doctor
My hair has been growing back nicely, but it’s still really short, and I’ve gotten used to wearing a hat – it feels chilly without it. I don’t know how bald guys do it. I figured I’d be wearing my hats for another few weeks – both to give my hair more time to grow… Continue reading Going Hatless
Some miscellaneous updates here with no real punchlines, all regarding lymphedema, my new new hobby – my old new hobby having been cancer. (I guess moving from a deadly disease to an annoying lifelong condition is progress…??) I exchanged email with the doc at another clinic (UCSD) who I mentioned in my previous post. He… Continue reading Progress is slow…
Last week I had a follow-up appointment with Dr. Cancer. It’s been about twelve weeks since my final round of chemo. Every time I see her, I need to get a blood test beforehand, and I’ve learned that I can schedule that, so I did that the day before – and again, it required lots… Continue reading 12-week Oncology Follow-up
One of the articles I encountered in my lymphedema surgery Googling was about a woman who traveled from San Diego to Orlando to have microsurgery done for her lymphedema. The article specifically mentioned that she initially learned of the technique through Facebook, so I thought me stalking messaging her on FB would be copacetic. (I also discovered… Continue reading Making Friends
Project Perky 