Lymphedema People ™

I've been spending time at my place at the Rivah without the computer. I've stayed down there for 1-2 weeks at a time and it is doing me good. I go to the pool 2-3 times a day and either do my water aerobics or just chill in the pool--ah it has been feeling good. I've been home for a couple of days and getting ready to leave tomorrow to head back down but since they have wireless internet down there now I'm going to take my computer down and see if I can get hooked up. I hope everyone is doing good and trying to stay as cool as they can with hot humid August rolling allong in full steam. Last week we have temps over 100 and humidy 110+ for most of the week here in VA so I've been drinking even more water and doing more MLD to compensate for what the humidity is doing to my swelling.
Talk to you all soon and promise not to be as missing in action as I have been this summer.

Hi ya Lisa

Welcome home

Been kinda wondering if your were down at the rivah

Sounds like you've been having a "cooler" time then I have baking down here in Hotlanta, Georgia.

Beginning to think these 90+ degree days are never going to end.

Keep in touch...don't be sucha stranger

Pat

I've missed ya, Lisa,

I've been kind of missing i action, too, especially from this site. My couch sees a lot of me these days. The heat around here in wisconsin, up until this week, has been in the 100's, too. I have been miserable, even in the air conditioning! I don't have air in my truck, so I stayed home and isolated for a couple of months there. didn't know what else to do. I swell so much with the heat!

Pat, Hotlanta????? hadn't heard you call atlanta that before: cute!

hey Julie,
Good to see you posting again too! yes, the heat is doing a number on my swelling as well--gosh I hate to see how much my weight has gone up this month due to swelling--i'll see on the 22nd-hopefully it will be cooler between now and then so I can get my swelling under control again. The air hasn't helped me much either-seems like I just move so slow on the days where the temp/humidity hit over 100. This weekend was nice though only in the low to mid 80s. I'm sure just a tease but I'll take the relief it gave me.

Hopefully, you'll get a little relief from the heat too so you can get out some and not be so holed up in your house-when I do that it seems that I don't move around much and lose the motivation to get out and end up sleeping a ton. With the gas prices being up I've cut back on days I actually go out to only go when I can pile up my visits and errands. This summer it has helped going to the pool in the neighborhood but when that closes I'll have some days that I don't go out at all and will have to schedule things for me to do around the house so I don't have too much idle time where I'll get into the too much sleep pattern.

How is your MLD going these days? I'm having a time with it because my fingers and hands have been so achy lately that I can't do it as long as I use too but I do use the towel and ball technique that you told us about long ago. any other tricks up your sleeves recently?

Miss you a whole lot Lisa, glad to hear that you are taking care of yourself - and keeping cool it this dam heat - glad we are not having hot temp right now - my air in the bedroom decside to make all kinds of noise now - so I hope the heat stays away for a long time cause the fans are doing a wonderful job

Pat how have you been? are you being good - I can see that you are not - cause you don't know how to be good. Right


Silkie I hope you are still taking care of him - I know how he can get.


take care all of my family

joy

Hi Ya Joy

Actually...I've been so good, that at night I don't even have to turn on the lights....'cause....my halo shines so brightly

Good to hear from you

Pat

Hey Pat,
That halo of yours is so bright I can see it in N.Y.! I was wondering where it came from. Warn us next time so we can put our shades on and not go blind! Keep it shined!

Hi Lisa,

Sorry to take so long to reply to your post....and your questions...hopefully you'll see this.

I have been struggling big time lately (especially financially).

Have filed for SSI/SSDI, interim assistance, medicaid, food stamps....all of that fun stuff. Just got approved for interim assistance.

I am not online nearly as much now because I simply cannot spend the time at the computer like I did. I sleep a lot. Sometimes its depression or inertia, but a lot of times it is because of my health problems, too.

I went to the ER recently and it looks like I may need gall bladder surgery...which is scary because of all of the swelling I am experiencing in the abdomen and the chronic pleural effussions. I really need to get that swelling down before considering any surgery, but I don't have the means to do that. And, I really don't think I could bear too many more of those gall bladder attacks. That's pretty severe pain. I'm on a low fat diet now to help prevent future attacks.

As for any new "tricks" up my sleeve. I have been trying to figure out a better way to "massage" my back. The middle of my back aches so much sometimes. I've been thinking about doing something with the floater tubes that they use in swimming pools. Haven't figured it out yet. My exercise ball isn't cutting it. It's hard to get the right angle or the right amount of pressure.

I did come up with a solution for my need for more garments, though. I tore apart my tribute garments which were made to fit from my ankle to just above my knee. I have them safety-pinned together now into one great big piece.

Plan to add zippers so I can add or subtract pieces according to what body part I am going to use it on. I am trying to get relief from my back and chest these dys and my right thigh swelling is bad. I do not have adequate garments for either of these areas.

Julie

Julie,
sorry to hear of all your troubles-you it seems that we are all advancing with our swelling areas no matter how hard we work at managing our LE. I have swelling in my back and shoulders so bad too that I just ache with no relief. I have been trying to do mld on the areas I can reach and then try to use a towel on the areas I can't.
I hope the rest of your permenant aid gets approved so that you will have the money to get the medical help you need. I know you are scared of surgery because of the unknown of what surgery will entail and disrupt your LE management. I thought I heard that gallbladder can be done with laser surgery-if that is true then maybe the incision would be small so you can get relief from the attacks. My sister had them and I remember how painful they were for her, right before she had hers removed. I'll pray that everything works out for you and I would love to hear from you more often when you can write. I'm not on much anymore either, not sure why but for some reason as soon as I get in front of the computer I get too sleepy, so I cut it off and get up and do something else. Take care Julie!

Julie,
You and I are matching in style!!! I have my sleeve safety pinned to my vest. Did not get them at the same time. I tried to put a zipper in, but it didn't stay. So safety pins work great!
Best of all the best to you on getting all your financial situation solved.
God bless!
Susan B.

hi donsuzbee,

thanks for the kind words...it really does help. So, I'm not the only safety pin woman, huh? And I thought I was an original!!!

Lisa,

I had kind of given up a bit, Lisa, that is the thing. Trying to get it together and fight a bit more, you know? My LE goes way south when I do that because I do the bare minimum, but the truth is that my LE has never been properly managed. My LE therapist believes that the doctors haven't figured me (my case) out yet.

About the gall bladder thing, will find out more about that thursday. My sister-in-law, who is a surgical tech said that they might not want to do laproscopic surgery on me (through the belly button) because of my size. I am hoping that I can avoid surgery. At this point, I haven't received clear info from the doc saying that it is definately gall bladder, but that's what they think it is.

Once I get my computer operational, Lisa, I will email you privately, too.

Hugs,

Julie