Lymphedema

These are some of the things I have to deal with since I have lymphedema in my left arm. 
When I first went to the physical therapist (and this last time I went) she would wrap my arm after massaging it. I would leave the wrap on for 1-2 days. 

During the day I am supposed to wear a compression sleeve and glove. This gets annoying because of the glove. BUT if I wear the sleeve without the glove my hand will swell. Each of these costs $90-130. The latest one is pink and I got that one from my therapist.

At night I wear what looks like a giant oven mitt. It's made of polartec fabric with some kind of foam. It was very hard to get used to but now I don't mind it. Sometimes I wear it alone and sometimes I wrap it with the bandaging material shown in the first photo. These JoviPak sleeves are expensive: $400-1000. This one is a sample from my therapist so it probably isn't exactly what size I should be wearing but it works for now. The company makes ready fit and custom sleeves. I am investigating a type of channeled foam that I may be able to use. I ordered it and it should arrive this week.

Shoveling is apparently not a good idea...

I like to shovel snow and so I've been roaming around the condo area cleaning snow away from the fire hydrant and shoveling off the neighbors deck. Not a good idea. It caused the lymphedema in my left arm to flare up. I have daily issues with my arm but its usually not too bad. The past couple of days it's been swollen and achy. I'm going to have to go to see my physical therapist and I'm hoping that she doesn't have to wrap it. I wish I could see some sort of lymph vessel mapping of my body. I think there's a study that's done with a dye but I'm sure it' not cheap. It's discouraging to think that I will have to deal with this for the rest of my life.

Punching bag

I finally bought a punching bag! I've wanted one for a long time. It's inflatable and I had to add water to the base so it will rock back upright after being punched. I need to give it a name because as I was beating it up today it tried to fight back and whacked me in the forehead! Ha ha!
This thing is almost as awesome as the Chillow!!

Turmeric

My oncologist did research about how turmeric and black pepper help fight cancer stem cells:

http://www.anticancerbook.com/post/Turmeric-and-black-pepper-fight-cancer-stem-cells.html

Jesse Brisendine

I discovered Jesse Brisendine while reading an article about Paul Walker. Jesse and Paul were good friends.

He is a very inspiring person and I love reading his blog posts, Facebook posts, and tweets.

http://jessebrisendine.blogspot.com

Looking into the benefits of ginger, cayenne & turmeric.

I have been taking a homemade cough syrup every night. It has:
1 T. Apple cider vinegar
2 T. Water
1-2 T. Honey
1/4 t. Ginger powder
1/4 t. Cayenne pepper powder

I've also been putting ginger and cayenne into my green tea.

I'm going to add turmeric to my "health shot" as soon as I purchase some.

All of these ingredients have health benefits. I'll do some research and post about them.

Mmm...barium smoothie

I had to drink a "tasty" berry flavored barium "smoothie" this morning before my CT scan. Then when I arrived at the hospital I was given the same flavor choices: banana, berry, coffee. Had to drink another bottle. 

I put the numbing cream on my port site BEFORE I went today. At least I can have control over that part of it! Ha ha!