lymphedema
-
Holy plot twist, Batman!
I can hardly believe it’s been eight days since that last post, or what has happened in that time. Turns out I was correct to be concerned about not ridding myself of copious amounts of fluid; after two one-hour sessions per day with the Lympha Press on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of last week, I Continue reading
-
Magic beans…
Tuesday night at 8:30 p.m., my Lympha Press package arrived via UPS. I wanted to wait until I was clear-headed and in daylight to read the directions and figure out how to set it up, so I got up yesterday and unboxed everything. There was a lot of paperwork that I fortunately don’t have to Continue reading
-
(Lack of) initiative
I was watching TV last night, and a commercial came on—one of those Big Pharma pitches for some medication that would miraculously clear up whatever persistent condition from which you are suffering—and something about it struck hard. This was the one where the lady has thyroid eye disease and has lived for most of her Continue reading
-
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
-
Maintenance
I have been somewhat sporadically binging episodes of the TV show Elementary, starring Jonny Lee Miller as Sherlock and Lucy Liu as Watson. As all Holmes fans are aware, the man was a drug addict, but in the contemporary version he has become sober and is maintaining his sobriety, first through rehab, then with the 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.
MEdoubleLL 