I guess I have LE now??

Lainie, if it is indeed LE, the good news is that you can continue your activity and even lift those weights, only you will need to approach it a little differently and take some added precautions. Best advice is to pause the working out until your LE is stable and you and the therapist understand how that arm responds to weight and activity. The great news is that if it is LE, you caught it very early, at its most easily managed stage. The strange arm feeling is a bug hint to me that LE is the culprit, but the therapist will tell you a lot more than the L dex numbers, and you will get an answer.



Everyone has such a different experience with LE, so my experience cannot be generalized, but I can share that my LE is mild. I follow LE exercise guidelines and work out, including strength training, I am an avid kayaker, and in general I live my life as I wish. Sometimes I overdo and get aches and swelling, but I can handle that. Others here are not let off quite as easy, with more advanced LE that is harder to treat, but let us be optimistic that yours is of the mild variety.



There is indeed lots of griping here, but I like to look at it as a very safe place to let off frustration, where everyone understands why we want to let off steam. It's not that life with LE is all bad; just that here is a great place to commiserate about the parts that are bad.



I hope you will post news after your appointment. I am typing on my phone so not game at the moment to drop in tons of links for you, but others will so you can learn more about the practical business of dealing with LE. You have friends here if you need us!

Lainey, learning to wrap is one of the best "tools" you can have for managing LE with confidence going forward, so all good! If you have a DH or friend who can accompany you to therapy to learn wrapping along with you (take notes and/or make a video of it for you) that's a huge help. If you do a video, have your cohort stand behind you and shoot over your shoulder as the therapist wraps your arm, so he/she gets the perspective you'll have when you do it yourself. You'll be amazed how well wrapping works to reduce swelling. But it does take practice (and patience) to learn. Also a sense of humor helps, and so does a supply of chocolate. Keep us posted!

Be well!
Binney

Don't forget youre allowed to biff the bandages at the wall when it all turns pear shaped lol. On the satisfiaction scale:

Pros - no damage done

Cons - none .

LOL, Re the vacuuming ... and the good side? you always feel better looking at a nice clean room ... only thing you have to do is remember to do it just B4 spitting the dummy  and admittedly your spontaneity rights take a hit so thats one of your choccies each...deal?   

Hey, hey, Lainie! We refer to ourselves during this claustrophobic period as Wrapped Wonders. I will confess to still occasionally needing an ativan when the compression blues get to me. Short of that, though, here's a whole bunch of practical ideas for dealing with treatment: the "How You Can Cope" page from StepUp-SpeakOut.org.

http://www.stepup-speakout.org/How_You_Can_Cope_with_Lymphedema.htm

The section titled "Getting through the day with a wrapped arm" has over-glove suggestions for when you need to keep the thing dry but still use your hand. The good news is that with time and experience it actually gets easier to navigate while wrapped, so the awkwardness and stiffness you're experiencing at the moment won't always be so monumental.

This get-up is not exactly comfortable (though it does support the tissue and that can feel like a bit of a relief), but it shouldn't be painful. Pain indicates a need to re-wrap, add some padding, or otherwise make adjustments. A good therapist is like a guide through this rather dense period--don't hesitate to ask her any and all questions that occur to you (keep a list!). Before long you and DH will have it down to a science!

As for puppies, you're so right--they view these things very differently than we do. To them it's a playground.

Hugs,
Binney

Lainey, Welcome....and if you get fed up with the wraps then you can give them to Carol and I because we are saving them up to have a "mass wrap" which will include all the "doctors in LE denial". We are hand wrapping up the docs in dirty bandages and sticking them ontop of the Seattle space needle. We have been planning a long time and have asked for volunteer docs to head off the "mass wrap"....No docs have volunteered.  i wonder why?

You got to keep your humor with LE. These board help with that! 

Hi, Lainey! All over the place is where we all are when we're trying to understand this stupid LE! Wrapping is the surest way to keep the swelling in control until your garments arrive. If you re-swell the garments won't fit when you get them and you'll have to go back to wrapping to get it down again before you can use the garments.

Unless your therapist has checked the fit of your OTC sleeve, you're better off not taking chances with it, as a poor fit can cause problems. You don't mention hand protection, but you definitely don't want to wear an OTC sleeve with no hand protection, which can cause new swelling in your hand.

It's awfully hard to be patient with continued bandaging--ugh! But hang in there for another week and you'll avoid some really discouraging potential problems. As for the 4th, if you're not planning to be wrapped do make sure you're protecting your arm in other ways--sun and bug protection, stay cool, and be careful of all those outdoor activities (like volley ball, say) that you're not used to.

Gentle hugs,
Binney