Are We Done Yet?

Hello my dear friends here in J Land.

Well, where to begin? First, I need to let ya'll know that I am finally feeling like a human being after my hysterectomy. I am not on hormones, so the hot flashes are fun, but over all I am well. Second, I had my physical therapy evaluation and I have started the wondrous torture of physical therapy massage, lol. I had hoped to breeze through it, get the sleeve and go. You know, get in, get out of there, no looking back kind of thing, right? Oh how wrong I was! LOL. But honestly when do things ever work out the way our minds see it? Never!

Bottom line is that I obviously do have lymphedema, and I will need to wear the sleeve a little more often than I really want or thought I would have to. (For the time being, I need to wear it 24/7) But when did anything ever go as planned? Exactly what I was thinking too! So what's one more thing added to my plate, right? I will need PT twice a week for the next 4-6 weeks and then they will do a reevaluation.

Part of the problem is that I am also lacking range of motion on my left side. Of course this is no surprise knowing that I am missing muscle on that side due to the mastectomy. I am not one to ever want to stop but I really need to now I think. I guess I have just been so busy living with it these last 17 months that I hadn't stopped to realize how extensive the damage really was, not to mention that my doctors were not listening to me either. The problem with having diabetes and cancer is that the doctors tend to use it as a crutch for everything else. Like my nerve damage. My problems kept being blamed on my diabetes even though my endocrinologist kept saying no. I have been diabetic for 26 years and I am in good control and have no long term problems from my diabetes either. True my blood sugars ran a bit high during chemo, but over all they were not out of control. Somehow I just ended up falling through the cracks.

So in the scheme of things I went without treatment until now. I knew it was bothersome, but I had just relied on my right side so much to compensate for the loss that I was used to just managing it on my own. So this will be good for me. In the end hopefully the PT will help me regain a good fluid motion with my left side and get a grip on the lymphedema as well.

So now I get to go shopping for my sleeve. Yes, I said shopping. Whew Who! Yippee I Yea! Who knew there were choices involved? LOL :). Apparently there are two shops here in town that sell these sleeves and they come in different colors and prints. Yea! So I get to go shopping for a sleeve and look like a 'lymphadiva' when it is all said and done, lol.

Just one more piece to putting me back together again I suppose. What does the old nursery rhyme say 'All the kings horses and all the kings men couldn't put Humpty Dumpy back together again'? Well, they were living in the wrong century baby! LOL. By the time they are all done with me, I will be a whole new woman!

Love to all,
Christina