Hats off to any that wrap

Is it cheating if I use my kayak paddle to launch my shapewear?

Freestyle, yay!!!

I am now in my 8th months of wrapping 24/7.  Thankfully, for the last 3 or 4 months, I have been able to wear a day sleeve or Tribute with wrapped hand, so I haven't had to do the whole arm.  

The good news is that all of the hard work has paid off.  My therapist said my hand was late stage 2/heading to stage 3 at its worse, and is now solidly stage 2.  Although my finger and hand hasn't returned to pre-flare size, all my measurements are down between 1-3 cms.  (1 cm might not sound like much, but in a finger, it is a huge difference!).  My wrist and arm measurements are now SMALLER than it was pre-flare.  In fact, in places, my upper arm  is > 4 cm smaller than it was a year and a half ago.  (My eeyore-esque physiatrist says it is just that I have lost muscle mass, but my LE Tx and I disagree ... I may have lost some muscle mass, but my arm is definitely "sleaker") 

I've learned a few tricks along the way that I would like to share. First, I use new gauze each time I wrap.  It works better to contain the swelling, it is less frustrating to put on, and it eliminates the extremely annoying process of washing/flattening and rerolling.  Most importantly, since I started using fresh gauze every day, my fingertips and cuticles (which became raw to the point of bleeding after a few months of 24/7 wrapping) are in much better shape. 

I use gauze that is folded in half length-wise, and my second trick is that I convinced my husband to do the folding and rolling!   (Why they don't sell prefolded gauze is beyond me.)  

My third trick is I use 3 rolls of gauze on my fingers, not 2.  This means I don't have to use as much tension on the gauze, and I can put extra layers of gauze in the troubled/fibrosed spots and between the MCPs.  

My fourth trick  is that, over the finger gauze, rather than using a 4 cm short stretch bandage on my hand, on easy hand days, I can just use (custom) dorsal & OTC palmar solaris swell spots under a piece of TG soft tubular bandage

 http://www.lymphedemaproducts.com/products/tg-soft.html

and over the TG soft, a Farrow gauntlet 

http://www.lymphedemaproducts.com/products/farrowwrap-lite-ots-hand-gauntlet.html

The compression is perhaps a bit less even than a short stretch, but it is a lot faster to put on and take off than a short stretch bandage.  

Any day now I should get my custom day garments.  I pray that they fit so I can stop wrapping during the day.  Frankly, at this point, I would be satisfied if I could not wrap for even a portion of the day.... KS1

My day garments arrived yesterday evening!  Here's what I wrote late last night about them on another thread (where I was asking questions about dorsal swell spot pockets):

"When I went out to get the mail, my new Juzo custom silver expert garments were sitting on the step waiting for me. Because I swell during the day, I have a rule that I always try on new garments first thing in the morning. But after 8 months of 24/7 wrapping, they were like a plate of luscious warm brownies tempting me. I finally gave in and tried them. The fit isn't perfect .... The opera length glove is a bit too long, and the axilla-to-finger tip glove is a bit too short (and extremely difficult to get on!). a few of the fingers are a bit tight at the tips (different fingers on the two gloves, even though they are supposed to be identical). But, they are much better than the previous attempts, and I am so excited I can't sleep. " 

After trying on the garments last night, I rewrapped my hand being especially careful that the gauze covered part of the fingernail because that's where the fingers were tight.  This AM, I put on the fingertip to axilla glove/sleeve combo,  the finger tips aren't too tight, and it feels pretty comfortable overall.   It's probably a bit shorter than optimal, a bear to get and I won't know for sure how well it contained the swelling until I take it off tonight, but right now, I am ecstatic!!!   KS1

Hi Hugz there is 4cm wrap.  I just got a new set this week (Comprilan) and the one I use on my hand is 4cm.

Hugz, I don't use the 4 or 6 cm on my hand.  You mean the short-stretch bandages, right?  I have 3 different sizes, the largest being probably 6cm, but the smallest is I guess 2?  I actually just contacted the supplier I got it from to see what specifically I had bought since I'll need to get more at some point and what I have now has worked out well.  Smallest on my hand, second smallest starts at the wrist, then the rest is bigger.  

I use the gauze finger wraps and 1.5 inch brown short-stretch for my palm.  

hugz - Yes, 1.5 inches.  The PT I saw this summer gave me bigger ... I don't remember the size and it was way too big.  I ordered the smaller and it works a lot better!   

Granted ... I've only worn the wraps out in public for short periods of time ... I haven't been able to stand it longer than five hours when sleeping but mine don't slip off ... the wrap starts at the nail bed and goes down ... I've had them fray but not slip off that end ... but I am not expert  and I've only wrapped a handful of times.  Hope you get some answers, hugz.  Sorry I can't help.  

I measured my little wrap - it's 3cm.  I was thinking about it, and realized I can't find the box to order more because I didn't buy it, my CLT gave the little fellow to me in the clinic.  Looks about the same as the others.  

Hugz, I've never heard of it. Long-stretch is ACE. And no padding doesn't make sense to me, considering the nature of the lymphatics. So I'm really interested in what your therapist says about it. Keep us posted!
Binney

I thought I'd bring this wonderful thread back to life, as I've had a continuing email conversation with one of the vendors that was at the NLN, and they are looking for five people to test drive and report impressions on their LE bandages. They are new to shortstretch (well, since 2010) but have decades of experience making medical wraps for boxers and other 'combat sports' needs.  What is most interesting is their prices, which are very low.

The website is http://www.ambraleroyonline.com/catalog/c24_p1.html to see the bandages. If you need bandages and would like to try some out, the company will provide a sample pack to five people, simply asking for feedback afterward. I do not wrap, so I cannot express an opinion, but the cost of wrapping supplies is huge for some in our community, so if these bandages perform as needed, it would be great for some of us to do a review so we can add them to our list of good resources.  If you'd like to do the sample review, the company asks that you send an email to mick   at    ambraleroy    dot    com  (I'm avoiding putting the actual address in to fool the vicious spambots, but I'm sure all our LE humans here 'get' it), and you can explain that you read about it in this post.

Carol

By the way, I just edited my earlier post to correct the email address I included.  The company really is looking for product reviewers, because they're somewhat new to LE.  Read about it above.