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
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
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
The “maintenance” therapy for my lymphedema includes wearing a compression sleeve + gauntlet. However, since the majority of my lymphedema is in the hand, my therapist added a little pad under the gauntlet, in the back. All this seems to work fairly well at keeping the swelling at bay. Last weekend we went skiing, and… Continue reading Switching Gears and Researching Options
