My Blueberry Story

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cookiegal
cookiegal Member Posts: 3,296
edited June 2014 in Lymphedema

For some reason this reminded me of LE, and why some people don't see my limitations the same way I do.

So I went blueberry picking today. The bridge to the farm was washed out so I had to get take a detour. When I got to the farmhouse they said, "It's late in the season don't expect much, but you can try."

So I got out to the field and the crusty old farmer said,"It's a bad season, last year a hail storm knocked off all the buds, but you can try."

So I took my bucket went to the bush nearest the stand, and there were BLUEBERRIES.

So I started picking and wondered if holding a bucket can cause a flare. Wink

I said to the farmer, "There are plenty of blueberries, for me at least," and he said, "In a normal year you can grab the blueberries by the handful and fill that bucket in 10 minutes." (And I thought cause a flare by carrying the full bucket?)

So what does this have to do with LE?

Well the blueberry bush kinda looks like the lymph system...

and I am like that farmer, I look at my life see how this is not a normal year, my pickings are slim with LE.

But my friends look at my life and see plenty of fruit still there. 

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Comments

  • ellenquilt
    ellenquilt Member Posts: 172
    edited August 2011

    This was a wonderful analogy.  You have a great atittude! Kudos!

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  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
    edited August 2011

    Thank you, Cookie. I really appreciate hearing about your experience and thoughts. She's not just a smart cookie, she's a wise cookie!! 

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  • debbie6122
    debbie6122 Member Posts: 5,161
    edited August 2011

    They should put that in a fortune cookie, love it!

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  • barbe1958
    barbe1958 Member Posts: 19,757
    edited August 2011

    Great analogy!! And do NOT carry the full bucket with your LE arm!!!!

    This journey we are on has made us view the world a little bit (a lot!) differently than others. Some see a bummer season for blueberries. You had the bucket of berries you wanted, so the season was perfet for you. That's what I got out of your post. Sometimes, enough is just that.....enough!

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  • kmpod
    kmpod Member Posts: 234
    edited August 2011

    Kind of puts things into perspective.

    Thank you. 

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  • cookiegal
    cookiegal Member Posts: 3,296
    edited August 2011

    Thanks all. I mean the farmer wants more berries..that's his living. Kind of like I want to do as much as possible.

    But other people see me as just fine.

    Have a great weekend and some good fruit.

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  • BoobsinaBox
    BoobsinaBox Member Posts: 550
    edited August 2011

    Thanks, Cookie! You made a great connection.

    Dawn 

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  • hymil
    hymil Member Posts: 826
    edited August 2011

    Love that story. Perspective is just SO important.

    Reminded me of this one: In the developed world, the rich bit where we have laptops and the internet and food in the fridge, and electricity most days, for us the chief cause of LE is surgery for breast cancer. And we get cross at the surgeons for doing their best. Worldwide however, the commonest cause of LE is not nice clean surgery by highly trained professionals, but a parasitic worm that gets in through walking in dirty water, (because you have flooded "streets", no wellies and no sewers) it burrows in and finds your lymph system, settles down and makes a good living off your body fluids, it grows and grows and grows until the lymphatics get blocked, then you get LE usually in both legs, because there's a massive worm inside of you EWWWW,  GROSS, I would rather have had cancer and its treatments ANY day than that.

    Shows something else about perspective too, that I thought your post would be about high tech mobile phones....  I love going fruit-picking, try to get out at least once a year to celebrate summer.

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  • Nordy
    Nordy Member Posts: 2,106
    edited August 2011

    Cookie - That is SO the truth. Days when I am down about the LE, someone will enevitably say to me, "Well, you should just be glad that you are still here." And it is not that I am not glad I am still here! I am elated! But I want MORE: to be here and NOT have LE!!! But alas, it is all in the eye of the beholder... the farmer wants more blueberries... you see the bush that you are picking from and it is plentiful to you. I get your analogy 100%.

    And on the topic of blueberries - I always have to watch out for spiders in there!!! Although they don't seem too interested in me! And around here, blackberries grow wild - they are a weed! But blackberry bushes are not nice and I have yet to find a glove to pick with that does not allow those nasty thorns to prick through!

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  • Binney4
    Binney4 Member Posts: 8,609
    edited August 2011
    Nordy, have you tried Kevlar gloves? I haven't myself, but they look reasonably comfortable and I'd guess they'd provide real protection. There are also Kevlar sleeves so your arms don't get scratched. None of it is wildly expensive. Just a thought...
    Binney
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  • kira66715
    kira66715 Member Posts: 4,681
    edited August 2011

    I guess I just have a lousy attitude: I do still find my life quite full and rewarding, but every morning when I wake up wrapped, I resent it.

    I'd like not to have LE.

    One of my patients was very worried about her cancer this week, and said "But other people have bad things." and I told her it's not a zero sum game--other people's problems don't negate yours.

    I do adore blueberrys, especially fresh picked ones.

    My wake up call this week was seeing two women my age  who have advanced disease, and one I've taken care of for some time, and she's so tired and sick of it, and the other's husband of 33 years decided he "didn't do cancer"-- and the one I've known for years has very significant LE, but it's really the least of her worries right now.

    Kira

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  • Suzybelle
    Suzybelle Member Posts: 920
    edited August 2011

    Cookie - loved the blueberry story - thank you!

    It reminded me of my bad little dog.  We have 6 or 7 blueberry bushes at our house, and most mornings when I'm picking them, my little dog is right there eating the ones he can reach.  I have to chase him off, begin picking again, chase him off, begin picking again...you get the picture.

    This may not be an analogy of my life with LE, but it's definitely an analogy of how crazy I and all the critters in and around my house are.  Tongue out

    Yay, blueberries!

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