My thoughts on living with lipedema and lymphedema…and other stuff


Medical

  • And now I wait.

    Kaylin showed up on Wednesday with the correct size and model lymphapress (plus the extensions) for my right leg, and I was finally able to have my test. The sensation is not unpleasant—there are chambers inside the envelope and, starting with the foot, it inflates and squeezes in an eight-part series up the leg to Continue reading

  • In which I rant a bit…

    The saga of the squeezie pants continues. The company who makes them sent the lovely Kaylin (yes, Gen Z, 5 feet 10 inches in heels, thin, blonde, a little ditzy, and wearing a fabulously chic black pantsuit) out on Monday to perform the Medicare requirements, which are to take measurements of the leg(s), put the Continue reading

  • I’m up…

    I came across this meme recently on Facebook and immediately saved it for myself. Although I am not Norwegian, I completely agree with their sometimes low standard for daily check-ins: Things have transpired, some good, some bad, some that just are, since I last posted. The visiting physical therapist with whom I had a conversation Continue reading

  • A mixed bag

    These home health care services from Medicare have been a mixed bag of bandages, advice (good and bad), and more weird requirements. I have a nurse visiting every other day, who photographs whatever open wounds I have (several are finally healing up, despite still being horribly swollen) and then bandages and wraps my right leg, Continue reading

  • Jumping through hoops

    I thought I would update what’s going on with the quest for “squeezie pants.” I got a call from one of the nurses at the wound care center this week, telling me that although they had received my paperwork from the other doctors who treated me for lymphedema and had submitted that information to Medicare, Continue reading

  • A positive experience

    Well, the squeamish dermatologist did me a big favor. I mentioned in my previous post (“The indignities we endure,” June 13) that she didn’t seem interested in looking at, touching, or pronouncing on the state of my lower legs, i.e., the lymphorrhea about which I visited her on my doctor’s recommendation…but then she mentioned a Continue reading

About Me

I started this blog to talk about a genetic, fibrotic fat-storing (some say autoimmune) condition called Lipoedema, which is something I began to experience in my 60s, although some see early onset at puberty, or post-pregnancy, or at menopause. The other “L” condition from which I suffer is Lymphedema, as a common secondary effect of the fibrosis that blocks lymphatic drainage. Despite the fact that one in 11 women suffer from lipoedema, most doctors have never heard of it, so on top of the pain and embarrassment of this extremely obvious malady, millions of us are out there being fat-shamed for a condition that isn’t contingent on diet or exercise for its growth. This blog was intended to share my reactions.

I have, however, reserved the right to discuss “other stuff” here and, increasingly, since January 20th, 2025, that is politics, because what else, after all, are we legitimately obsessed with in this age of fascism in these United States of America? So while the “theme” of this blog may be confusing, it is my blog, where I can talk about whatever I wish. You are not constrained to read the parts you don’t like. But I feel compelled to write about them.