Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Lymphedema Update

Yesterday I had an appointment with the physiotherapist at the clinic. As we walked over to the examination cubicle, she asked me how I was doing. I told her I was feeling ok but my back and shoulders were really achy. I told her that sometimes I’d wake up in the night all sore and uncomfortable. As I was talking to her, I felt a little embarrassed because I know that if I was vigilant on doing my stretches and my exercises, I probably wouldn’t be having these problems.

Anyways, she was very kind to me. She said the best thing you could do is stop sitting around and start moving … something as simple as walking could do it. She said while I’m walking, I should swing my arms too. 

She said … unfortunately, most of us have a poor sitting posture, allowing our shoulders to fall forward. This stretches out the shoulder muscles at the back and weakens the front shoulder muscles. This causes the aches. Well, I’ve decided to get moving and walk more.

Once we finished up with that, we got on to the business of measuring up my arm to see if the lymphedema is worse or better than my last visit in January. Well my measurements were up a bit but no biggie. I’m on chemo and we decided that the fluid is going to fluctuate because of that. 

My existing sleeve and glove are all stretched out, time for a new set … my my, does the time go by fast or what?


2 comments:

Levi said...

Can you order two garments at once? if so you can switch on and off and get more use out of each one. I've had lymphedema since I was born and they only had treatment (if you can call it that) in the last 30 years or so.
Good luck with this stuff.

Bernie said...

I only wear my sleeve when I find my arm aching. I only have a bit of swelling and somedays are worse than others.....I can tell when my rings or watch get tight and I have to put them on my other arm and hand. I find by wearing my sleeve a few days the swelling goes down. I agree with the exercise, I absolutely need to walk more and stretch my arm more.
......:-) Hugs