When I wake in the morning, the swelling is minimal because I've had my arms propped up all night long on pillows, but by mid morning, the tops of my arms are huge. They're so swollen I can barely get my shirt sleeves over them. I'm thankful a friend had recently given me some larger sized blouses and the width of the sleeves on those accommodate my "fat" arms well.
This morning I will be seeing a physical therapist in Fayetteville named Alison Franklin. She's certified in working with Lymphedema patients. I have no idea what she's going to do to help relieve the situation but I have appointments lined up with her for every other day next week and for several weeks following. I imagine I'll be on the road a lot in between these appointments and my radiation appointments.
It would be nice if breast cancer patients could go in, have surgery and just be done never having to worry about anything else again, but as it goes, most women end up having additional physical problems, treatments, and other issues to deal with for long periods of time. And just when you finish all of the required treatment plans and think you're home free, a new disease creeps in...Canceritis. Canceritis is the fear of recurrence of Cancer. So, you see, breast cancer isn't a once and done type of deal...it's a life changing, mind boggling menace. Not only does Canceritis affect the patient, it also affects the patient's family. Who wants to sit around wondering if every new lump or bump might be the return of a horrible disease?
In the words of Scarlett O'Hara, "I don't want to think about that right now!" I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. Right now my focus is to get this Lymphedema under control so it doesn't travel on down my arms and cause me to be unable to do the things I am able to do right now. If it gets worse, they'll put me in compression sleeves. There is no cure for Lymphedema. That's one reason it's so important for me to remember not to have any needle sticks, blood pressures or any kind of skin injuries to either arm because any of those things can highly exacerbate the situation.
It's always something! Tomorrow I'll give an update on what the therapist did for me today. Thank you for stopping by and reading my blog. I'm sure you're learning more about Cancer than you ever dreamed you might. My prayer for you is that neither you nor someone you love will ever have to deal with Cancer but chances are, someone you know will be diagnosed with it soon. When and if they are, hopefully my blog will have given you some tidbit of valuable information or some small shred of encouragement to pass on to them. It's not an easy trial to get through but it is doable.
One of my favorite quotes is “The strongest of all warriors are these two-Time and
Patience.”- Leo Tolstoy. Time and patience, those are the things a breast cancer patient learns well during their journey. I've always been a impatient person. I've always been a hurry up and get it done type of person...typical type A personality, but since I've had cancer, I've had to learn to slow down and just wait. That's one reason I stopped wearing a watch...to remind me to just take time...to just take one moment at a time and that's all I can do.
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