I had about a month of the intensive phase of dealing with lymphedema therapist appointments.
I continued doing my arm exercises and then went in for massage appointments. She also taught me self massage. The self massage was to "pull fluid away from the affected area into unaffected areas to create collateral lymphatic pathways across watershed to normal function lymph nodes." Doing this massage I could sometimes feel the water traveling up my arm. The first time I wore the glove home I felt so much water going up my arm it was unnerving.
The creating new pathways part is exciting to me. I thought I was just stuck managing the damaged lymphatic system that I had. Bodies are amazing, not surprising considering Who made them.
After the intensive phase I moved into the maintenance phase. My arm still swells sometimes, but I know how to get it back down. I am also working on helping it swell less often.
I continued doing my arm exercises and then went in for massage appointments. She also taught me self massage. The self massage was to "pull fluid away from the affected area into unaffected areas to create collateral lymphatic pathways across watershed to normal function lymph nodes." Doing this massage I could sometimes feel the water traveling up my arm. The first time I wore the glove home I felt so much water going up my arm it was unnerving.
The creating new pathways part is exciting to me. I thought I was just stuck managing the damaged lymphatic system that I had. Bodies are amazing, not surprising considering Who made them.
After the intensive phase I moved into the maintenance phase. My arm still swells sometimes, but I know how to get it back down. I am also working on helping it swell less often.
No comments:
Post a Comment