For Older People with Sense

barbe1958

What a great quilt for not having to match seams!!! It is going to be gorgeous!! But, it is AMAZING that cats have to do this...my last cat is on his death-bed literally (we check to see if he`s breathing when we come back from going out) and yet he will get up to go lie on something I`m making. Absolutely uncanny!! 

QCA

Alyson, the quilt will be lovely, and it has to be Gus's---he matches it!

We continue to be "on call" for new DGS's arrival, which apparently will be earlier than the original time expected.  A week ago DIL was told it would be about 2 weeks and the original due date was Jan. 1, so any time now.  At this point, DIL's not planning to go back to work so it'll be interesting how that goes with a newborn and a 3 year old. She plans to use cloth diapers and is making them herself.  Hmmm.  (I'm planning to buy her a giant box of disposables myself!)

Kathy

SoCalLisa

I used cloth diapers for three boys, two in diapers twice...I would do it again except when traveling

barbe1958

I HATED the plastic pants that went over the cloth diapers so refused to use cloth. I used paper when they were HUGE BOXY and very bulky pads. They are so TINY now it`s like the baby doesn`t even have anything on!!!!!  It hurt me to see babies with the red burn of urine along the line of the plastic pants....so sad and so unecessary. My MIL had to boil the cloth diapers for my exDH as he was allergic to the soap. She wanted ME to use cloth. Not a chance!!!! I hated the big pins, too. I was so scared of hurting the baby when I babysat a child with cloth... 

QCA

I never used anything except disposables with my children and I have no idea why DIL wants to do this.  She said she got the diaper material already bonded to a waterproof coating so she won't need the plastic pants.  I'll be surprised if this idea lasts once she has to start washing diapers, but I'm not saying a word--since I'm the MIL.

Kathy

Granellie

Loooove the colors and their arrangement in the quilt ... and the cat.

I've seen the new cloth diaper style. They're nothing like the ones used on my boys over 40+years ago. I wish the young mother well and appreciate that quite a few less disposable diapers will end up in a landfill.

kathindc

Love Gus' new quilt.  Anybody notice that if you have something out that is the same color as your cat they will get up from where they are and lay on it and will use that to sleep on until you take it away? 

I used cloth but through a diaper service.  It was cheaper than disposables, particularly when my twins came along.  None of my children tolerated disposable diapers.  I would try using them when we travelled.  Gave them terrible diaper rash. I do have to admit that I did pin a diaper to one of my girls (just barely caught some skin).  I was mortified and thought I did some real damage.  A neighbor was going through his residency in pediatrics and I told him what I did.  He had a good laugh and said not to worry, that's why God put all the major organs deep inside us.

purple32

Ladies

PLEASE be very careful about massage. The kind that Chrissy is talking about is RX prescribed and VERY different from the wonderful massages I used to have . Massage CAN actually ' cause' a lymphedema flare or be harmful to your delicate lymphatic system now that you have had nodes removed.

We are ALL at risk for LE, and it is NO FUN.  ( just stop by the  lymphedema threads and you will see !)

I only had 2 nodes out with SNB and NO radiation so I am guessing most of you are at higher risk than I was .

I HATE to be a killjoy, but lease skip the massage and trust me, it isn't worth it ...go indulge in some chocolate ! 

barbe1958

purple, the difference isn`t that Chrissy`s massage is prescribed. It`s because the masseuse knows how to do lymphatic drainage. Most professional masseuses (they have to be licensed in Canada) can do lymphatic drainage. But I would get one who has done it on a regular basis. 

SoCalLisa

I don't have LE, but the physical therapist I worked with after my surgery had a PHD with LE being her specialty

purple32

purple, the difference isn`t that Chrissy`s massage is prescribed. It`s because the masseuse knows how to do lymphatic drainage


YES, I  am well aware of that . I was referring to avoiding " regular" massage, certianly not avoiding MLD!  The MLD is in fact, prescribed  lymphatic drainge for her LE , which we are all at risk for .

I just wanted to clarify for those who might have thought the deep regular type massage was without risk.  It can be serious ....as LE is!

barbe1958

I have truncal LE but only do MLD and don`t wrap as I am too hot at any given time anyway! I was diagnosed by my Onc and not my surgeon. The PT I got was very effective and I have nipped it in the bud. If I continue to be pro-active about restrictions on my left arm I should be okay. I have been diligent from day one about no sticks, BP, carrying a purse or groceries, etc. It becomes a lifestyle and I`ve been doing it for 4 years now. It`s habit.

SoCalLisa

Keeping my arm safe is a habit now too for me..luckily it is my right arm so I started keeping it free when I was in the Navy and we had to keep our right arm unladen to be able to salute or return a salute.

gardengumby

I don't think I know much about LE.  I knew no BP and no sticks, but I didn't know all of the other things you ladies are talking about.  I carry stuff all the time, and never thought about it.  Also, it seems like everytime I do hurt one of my hands (burned the #$%^ out of it last week) it's ALWAYS my left hand (which is my problem side).

So... what are you supposed to avoid to keep from getting LE?

no sticks, no BP, and wear compression when on a plane.  That's the limit of my knowledge - teach me!!! 

Alyson

Morning all as it is Saturday here. DH has gone up the road to the Barbers and then we are going to collect a new table and chairs for the kitchen.

About LE I try not to carry thing as it does flare things up. I do massage most days , like Barbe says it is part of the morning routine though I find it difficult to massage my side. I do tape that area at times which helps.  I often wear my sleeve, I will be today because all my sewing has made my arm sore. And I wear my sleeve when travelling in the car.

Have had great massage for the LE nurse and from the trained LE physios but then had a dreadful experience with one of the experts who tried deep pressure stuff on my shoulder - never again as it cause a real flare. She has gone quite alternate in some ways.

Anyway I must get on with my day hope yours is going well.

Big hugs.

purple32

garden

Yes, no BP or sticks of course.

ALSO-====

Do not lift  a lot

Avoid manicures/ cuticle cutting

avoid ' regular massage' if you may have early onset  LE.

Consider a compression sleeve if flying.

Avoid big bites.

  watch for any signs of swelling, tight rings or tight watches.

Take one visit on the LE thread and you will learn lots more.

Hopefully, you are just fine and always will be.

kathindc

I have a question.  Has anybody who only had the sentinel node taken developed lymphedema?  I'm curious as I only had this done.  My surgeon didn't think this would be a problem but I want to find out if anybody has developed it who only had the sentinel node taken.  Thank you for your help.

purple32

YES kathindc

I did and I also had NO rads which does iNCR the risk.  My intent is not to scare anyone , but it does go to show we are all at roisk.  Just be aware , learn, be watchful, avoid high risk ( like needles in that arm, etc ) and try not to worry about it.

I'm sure you will be fine.

Actually, this will help more than anything I could possibly say:

http://www.stepup-speakout.org/breast_chest_trunckal_lymphedema.htm  Jump from here to their main page

Knowledge is power~

gardengumby

Thank-you, purple.  I did know about the manicures (just forgot that I knew... ) and avoid those (I get pedicures instead...  ).

I don't have any signs of LE and hope to continue to avoid it. 

Did you mean bug bites?  I'd really love to avoid those, but haven't figured out a way to do so.... 

purple32

Yes, bug bites.

Use a safe insect repellant or Avon skin so soft spray.

It may be that the bug bites are only harmful to ppl who *have * LE.  The thing is, there is usually some period of time ( months ?)  when you really dont know that you have it.  It is very subtle and sneaky.

I think you'll be fine!

barbe1958

The whole point is to reduce the chance of infection. Bug bites and cuts can quickly turn into cellulitis in a compromised environment. And, YES, just getting one node out could cause LE. LE has been known to show up 20 years later!!! Don`t hold a heavy purse or crook (bend) your arm with one, or hold your arm bent on the phone or driving. Don`t carry or pull luggage or groceries. Be careful about laundry basket weight and vacuum cleaners!! Gardening can be dangerous due to cuts and scrapes but so can cooking. In other words, get a maid, a gardener and a cook!!!  Seriously.

LE can change your entire life a LOT more than breast cancer did. I`m saying this to SCARE those of you who think you are past it!!!! Just because you don`t have it now, doesn`t mean you won`t get it. This is becoming so serious that they`re saying 30% of breast surgery patients are presenting with LE!!!! Like, holy shit!!! This IS something you can avoid with care. I don`t get infected by bug bites normally, but some people really react to them (they get ugly scars) so that person would have to use a strong repellent. It`s knowledge, which is power. You MUST be your own advocate and learn about your risks. I thank God that I am `just`mildly swollen!!!! Some people end up with machines pumping their lymph fluid for them 20 hours a day with only 4 hours off the machine!! Google lymphadema and look and some of those pictures. I did that for the Canadian thread and pissed off a lot of ladies who thought they were home-free. None of us are. We already beat the odds to get breast cancer, what`s another hell to pay but LE??

Off my soapbox now....

Isabella4

Oh well, it's nearly Christmas.Will be sooo pleased when it is over this year.

I have just completed all my shopping, now have the marathon task of packaging everything. I have everything laid out in rows in my spare bedroom, it's now making the effort to shut myself in for an afternoon and get on with it. I am really wishing away the rest of this month, and have no interest in the festivities at all this year. I shall be pleased when I have done my duty, and spent the day with DD and g/children, I can come back home and shut myself in , stoke up the log fire and sit on my own, eat when I want, watch what I want on TV, and read a couple of books. 

I have turned down 2 invitations....just do not want to get caught up in some more family celebrations. The sales will be all starting on the Internet on Boxing Day so I can amuse myself looking for a bargain or two.

I have already gone a little mad whilst shopping for Christmas presents on the computer.....managed to hit one or two early sales, and bag myself 2 coats and a skirt ! The skirt will be a miracle for me. I only seem to put them on for funerals! The coats are both in my sewing room, various hems unpicked, to be shortened at the bottom and the sleeves....trying to get them done for Christmas. 

DD has arranged a psychic evening at her house, 2 or 3 days before Christmas. I am going to this...will be a first for me! Should be interesting. DD and her friends have been interested in this for a few years now, and so far I have managed to squirm out of all invitations to join them...but..I thought this year 'why not?' They usually go to the psychics houses, but DD decided she would get a group of her friends together at her own house, and put on some food and wine...then she was having trouble making up the numbers ( they need a minimum of 20) So I decided I'd go see what its all about. Apparently each person gets 2 private 'readings' with these crazy people....and DD is at great pains to tell me how accurate the readings are !!!! (Last year DD had a reading , and supposedly her grandmother 'came through' and told her to clean her windows, they were dirty, and DD said she didn't know how grandmother knew about these dirty windows ) No doubt the psychic had walked into the house and noticed dirty windows!!!!! I just cannot see how Dd and her friends get so wrapped up in all this twaddle ! So I should be in for an interesting evening !

Isabella.

barbe1958

Sounds FAB Isabella!!! And isnt`her house a heritage house???? Much older? Can`t wait to hear what transpires. When is it?

Leah_S

Isabella, if nothing else it should be interesting!

About the LE - be careful! Listen to Barbe's advice. I have one more piece to add. You know those tiny cuts you sometimes get on your hands that you sort of rinse off and ignore? No more ignoring. Wash them carefully (antibacterial soap is best, but regular will do) and then use antibiotic ointment and cover them with a bandaid - plaster to our English and Aussie friends - and keep an eye on them. It's probably a good idea to do that with bug bites on the affected side.

Leah

kathindc

Thank you ladies for enlightening me.  I figured who better to ask than those of us faced with/possibility of getting LE.  I tend to lurk here and on other boards but you all are a great source of information. 

Isabella4

barbe...my DD has a listed house...meaning ancient, and cannot do anything structurally to it without permission. I was told it was the oldest house in her village. At one time I would have been sat at my pc rooting away to find the history of the place, but as I get older I just cannot be bothered to do anything I don't really want to !!! There are so many things I want to do and am finding hard work, without making my brain work overtime.

I am still locked in battle with my next farm neighbour. A lot of my spare time now is spent trying to sort out his misdemeanors with various departments. I seem to have become the mouthpiece for about 8 other families who are, like me, complaining their sox off about this man. We had out first get together 2 weeks ago, round my kitchen table, the whole area is upset by his goings on. He has been a thorn in my side for over 30 years, always flouting the law, and ALWAYS seeming to get away with it. Basically, he is a farm, which means livestock keeping and crops from the land, as every other farmer in the area is. But , no, he has built up a massive industrial estate on 4 acres of his land. This has stabling for 100 horses (licence needed here, he hasn't one ) 3 monster indoor horse jumping arenas (no licence) a petting farm...no licence. A farm shop, no licence, a coffee shop, no licence,  a garden centre, no licence. Then he has a range of large buildings he rents out to builders, scaffolders, a car garage, a car body workshop. He is taking load after load of commercial waste, piling it all up to epic proportions, then setting fire to it. again . he has no licence to do this. The mess we are all getting from his fires is awful, because he takes load after load of plastic offcuts, which rain black smuts down on us all.

Looking down from Google maps, we can count 130 vehicles of one sort or another, all this on a little quiet farm. He has just extended and extended , concreted FOUR acres over, the traffic to and from this lot is amazing. The authorities have an enforcement order against him to shift out everything but agricultural things, rip up all the concrete and buildings, and return the four acres to grass. This should have taken place by October 9th, just gone. It hasn't. Nothing has moved. The thing that upsets all his neighbours is the incessant traffic. He has a civil engineering firm parking over 30 massive trucks on his farm overnight. They start to go out at 3am, and will be in and out until 7-8 on an evening. He has ruined 3 smaller roads around here, they are mud tracks now, all the road surfaces cracked up and broken.....we are told there is no money in the authorities budget to come and repair these roads....our cars are a disgrace, and I am pretty certain he has been cropping chains I have been putting on my private road to keep this traffic off. I regularly find my gates swinging open, and waggon tracks in the mud, as my private road leads to a short cut across his fields to his farm. I have stopped buying chains and locks anymore ....can't keep up with the expence of replacements. Luckily for me my house is actually tucked away down a little lane, so I don't get the massive waggons at 3 am, passing so near to me...but 3 of my neighbours who are squawking about this noise have only 5 yards between their houses and the thundering waggons.

So I am sort of shouting up for everyone at the moment. I am actually nearer to the farm in question than anyone else, as the crow flies, so seems I got the job!  This is the neighbour who last year was caught having big supermarket trucks coming to his farm in the dead of night, and storing their stolen loads in his farm buildings. There were 3 truck drivers involved. I rang the police about 1 am one morning....you DO NOT find 3 supermarket trucks coming down very small unlit farm roads at that time of night !!! The best of it was all 3 truck drivers got jailed....my neighbour didn't. I just could not understand this. One of the police actually told me they'd caught my neighbour red handed unloading the trucks with his fork lift truck at 1.30 am !! There were washers , fridges, small electrical goods, cigarettes, and pallet loads of food. all being stored on a farm....yet 3 go to jail 1 doesn't. Just does not add up.

I am rapidly getting sick of the whole situation, sick of all the 'phone calls and letter writing...each time I think I will hide away and sew, and listen to the radio, there'll be a 'phone call, and someone will be getting on to me to tell me yet more things that are going on. ....or flagging me down as I drive by !!

Time to go to bed, and get my shower. My heating has been on the blink all week, its so cold upstairs now....waiting for another engineer to call NEXT Friday ! They are so hard to get, and so dammned dismissive on the 'phone, I bet if I said I needed a whole new system they would come galloping. I can keep lovely and warm downstairs with log burning stoves, but upstairs is like going to Iceland !  Lots of ice and snow forecast early next week. I shall just curl up on a couch downstairs if it gets much colder.

Isabella.   

purple32

Just one final thing from me on the LE since this all began with the topic of massage. I just fel  it really needed to be clafiried as MLD and " regular" Massage are 2 different animals.

I dont want to beat a dead horse, so I will only post a link, for anyone which may be confused or need info on the difference.  Generally speaking' regular' massage is NOT a good idea for LE pts.

Hmmmm....link will not paste!  I would say if you are interested, go to

massagetoday.com
from there, I would guess just search lymphedema

Wren44

Isabella, I don't know how it is there, but here the next step would be the newspapers. If they plaster it on the front page, the authorities are likely to take action. It really sounds miserable.

chabba

Or the TV.

Alyson

isabella you do manage to get yourself involved in all sorts of escapades don't you?

Today we had DS's birthday lunch, BBQ on his back lawn. Returned to him the statue of David which we have repainted. He was given it as a 21st present by a group of his friends. Then after gracing several flats it appeared in my garden where it resided for 5 years while he was overseas and so we thought it fitting that it returns home to him now. I am not sure that he agrees and his fiancee certainlydoesn't though neither of them was really surprised to see it back. It had been a topic of discussion the previous night evidently.

Must get to bed.