So sleepy

Okay, so this weekend was kinda crappy and I didn't get the results I wanted to today.

Measurements:
Thigh - Same, which is surprising because we've only been wrapping the lower leg. This means the fluid is moving up on its own.
Mid calf - Up 2 cm.
Ankle - Same
Foot - Same

Yesterday they didn't have room for me. They are so unbelievably busy all the time. I was also half asleep when they called and told me what time my appointment was for today, so I had to wake up super early today and verify the time.

My wounds are almost completely scabbed over. They are going to be beautiful scars in no time. After they finally scar over, I can get in the damn pool and lose weight. Stupid fat cells and their water retaining ways.

So they had a an observer come in and watch them wrap me up today. I think its great that more people want to go to school for massage and wrapping. They honestly save lives. It must be wonderful to make people feel normal again.

When I got home today, our power was out, so I just went in my room and fell asleep. I kept waking up because my heel was burning. I think that means the wraps are too tight and my circulation was getting cut off. I have a feeling that I'm gonna have to wake up in the middle of the night and unwrap. Unwrapping takes like 30 minutes because I have to completely roll everything back up. *falls asleep all tangled up*

Also, that "gel pack" is honestly just a bunch of cut up foam in a net stocking with both ends tied up. I wish I knew why it was called a gel pack. Maybe I'm just not getting it. :P

Steps Backwards

I needed people to leave my mom alone this weekend. I needed her to not be exhausted beyond belief. I needed people to leave us the hell alone for ONE day. I needed her to have just a little free time to help me wrap my legs because I can't do it alone. That's all I wanted. But my grandma is really stuck on trying to renovate my house so we can sell it. My mom works all day and comes home and has to work on stripping wallpaper, or pulling up carpet, or painting walls. So yeah, she's exhausted. She can't stay awake to help me wrap my legs.

I didn't make any progress this weekend. Infact, I took a few steps back.

Day 4

I haven't gotten up at 8 in a long time. Groan. Anyways, I noticed a few things while de-mummifying myself. I forgot the foam! How could I forget the foam? So as you know, after the bandage padding material is added, the other stretchy protective legging/wrap thing is put on. On top of that they add this foam material. Muy, muy importante* for compression.

After de-mummification, my lower leg is noticeably smaller and my thigh is noticeably squishier.
On a bad note, my wound bled like crazy and I'm worried the skin around it is getting yeasty. May need some Diflucan soon.

Results of wrapping lower leg for 1 night:
Thigh - Up 4 cm
Mid Calf - Down 3 cm
Ankle - Same as before.
Foot - Same as before.

Today was light on massage and quick on the wraps. They did, however, add something new around my ankle. They called it a "gel pack" and it was supposed to better support the front part of my ankle/leg. It wasn't your typical gel pack and it looked really odd. I have no idea what was inside it and I can't even find a similar picture of it on the net. I'll take my own picture and find out after tomorrow's unwrapping.


*I hope I spelled that right...

Day 3 - Let the wrappings begin!

My measurements:
Thigh - 67 cm
Mid Calf - 53 cm
Ankle - 26.8 cm
Foot - 24.5 cm
Everything is the same except for my thigh.

Standard massage today: shoulders, neck, face, pits, sides, and lower legs.

My wounds have granulation tissue on them! Heal babies, heal! I need you to heal so I can go to the pool and lose 4 years of fat!












So they started wrapping my lower leg today. Boy, what a freakin' process. I have a protectivelegging covered up the lower half of my leg to prevent sore spots and rubbing.

-First they start with the toe wraps. Each toe gets wrapped around twice. Each. Individual. Toe.
-Then a bandage padding material is wrapped all the way up to my knee several times. Overlapping each layer.
-Then a stretchy legging is placed over the bandage padding materials.
-And finally open weave wraps, similar to these, are wound in a certain pattern all the way up my leg.

I can't wear normal shoes on that foot, it blows. I had to wrap my foot in a plastic Wal-Mart bag until I could get some surgical booties. So attractive.

Tomorrow's appointment is at 10:00 AM. I get to take the wrap off and shower before my appointment and they put it back on. On Monday my whole leg will be wrapped, all the way up to my hip. Hooray. :\

Day 2

My measurements:
Thigh - 69 cm
Mid Calf - 53 cm
Ankle - 26.8 cm
Foot - 24.5 cm
Down 1 cm in each place.

Today was good. I feel lighter and looser and I feel like I have more stamina. 2 solid hours of massage on my shoulders, neck, face, pits, sides, and they even started on my lower legs. After all the water movement from the massage, I gained the cm back in all places. That's good, though. That means the water is finally moving up and out! Go lymph nodes, go!

I have to wear support hose on my left leg. Luckily the thing is toeless and I can wear them with flip flops. I need to find some sort of lose slipper to fit over the hideous wraps I'm about to wear. Yaaaay.

So I need to lose weight, that's obvious. I was instructed to start out really light, working mostly on upper body strength. When my wounds finally heal, I can start going to the handicapped pool and walking around in the water. My two guardian angel nurses told me the weight would probably melt right off. After being in hibernation for a good 4 years, I'm really excited to get active again. Also: NO. MORE. SODA.

I need to keep my legs elevated over night. I'm going to either cover an old suitcase in blankets and pillows or wrap two couch cusions and a few pillows in some blankets. I'm going to snore like crazy, but atleast my legs will be up. :P

So yesterday I put the machine thing* on each leg for 1 hour each. I did the deep breathing before and after each leg. In bed I laid upside down with my feet against the wall while I watched TV. Similar routine tonight. Adding a little upper body work out. I plan on walking up and down our side walk for a solid 15 minutes, even though I think its going to kill me.

Another appointment tomorrow! 2:30. I think we're wrapping tomorrow, woooo.

*Teh machine!!!

First day of Lymphedema care!

I met with the two Lymphedema nurses at the Highland Oncology Center today. I'm always a little embarrassed when I have to bare my legs to new people, but they were both incredible women and made me feel completely at ease. I can't even describe how it feels to know that I will finally be taken care of.
First thing first, the redness around my old wound and my new wound is troublesome. They won't even begin to massage or wrap my lower leg until I've had a few doses of antibiotics for what looks like a new case of cellulitis.
Moving on to measurements. They measure mid thigh, mid calf, and ankle. I'll eventually get my measurements uploaded on here.
Finally to the massage. This massage is amazing. You can actually feel the fluid moving up through your body.
The major parts of your body that you want to massage are the: neck, armpits, sides, hips, and behind your knees. When massaging you want to use a scooping motion, always directing up towards your head. The reason being is your trying to make new channels and pathways up to the main lymphatic clusters.

The nurses stressed using a "deep breathing" technique along with the massage.
The technique:
You take both hands and firmly press down on your stomach with each inhale.
With each exhale, remove your hands. Kind of like how a jack-in-the-box springs out.

I have really high hopes for this treatment and I can't wait to see the results.

I survived - 4 Years Later

Let me just start out by explaining how I got Lymphedema.
4 years ago to this day I was in a car accident. My friend passed out at the wheel. No, we weren't drinking or doing drugs. I know that's what you are thinking! But we weren't, we really weren't.
I can still see her head hitting the steering wheel. I can still see my shin bone sticking out of my skin. I can still see my toes bent completely backwards.
Apparently we had clipped a trailer carrying DJ equipment, which in turn spun us around and caused us to hit an Escalade head on. That's right, a big fuckin' useless Escalade VS. our crappy little GrandAm. The motor from our car basically fell into my lap and crushed me. I broke my right hip, my pelvis, both legs in numerous places, and several toes.
The surgery fixing my right thigh/hip scarred and damaged my lymph nodes. The lymphedema started out as cellulitis and it was eventually treated with antibiotics. However, the fluid build up never went away and actually got worse.
Lymphedema made my traction* wound impossible to heal up. I've had the same wound for 4 years. I went through 2 years of wound care before my doctors/nurses even thought of lymphedema.