The most exciting thing about today doesn't happen until 7 p.m. tonight when Lowell and Emily land at the Orlando airport. They are staying until Monday and will go to Universal Studios to see the Harry Potter land as well as three of the four WDW parks. Tonight we are going to Raglan Road at Downtown Disney for a late dinner. We have been waiting for this trip for a long time. It's their first time down here to see the house. I can't wait!!
It's also an exciting day because at 8:30 this morning I am going to have my first mammogram since the breast cancer diagnosis. My last one was April of 2010 and it was normal, followed by the lump I found two months later. Well, this should be interesting today. I think it's going to hurt more than normal on the cancer side. I don't know that I trust anything it shows now anyway since lobular cancer doesn't show up on mammograms. The procedure now is for me to have mammos every six months on the affected side for two years and just once a year as always on the unaffected side.
After the mammogram, I go to the Physical Therapy center for the last time. This is most definitely my last trip to the lymphedema therapist. She's been amazing at treating me and teaching me. I will come out today with a complete arm wrap of the 9 bandages, done by her for the last time. After today, it will be up to me to wrap at night when I feel it is necessary. At my appointment on Tuesday, we filled out and signed all the paperwork to get the Flexi-touch machine. The wraps are custom made to my measurements, so when it's ready the company will be bringing it to the house to deliver it and train me on how to use it. I don't have any idea how long that will be, but most likely it will not be until mid-September when we get back from all the wedding festivities. I hope I can maintain myself well enough between now and then with just my own manual drainage, compression sleeve, exercises, and occasional wrappings.
Time to shower and get dressed so I can get this exciting day started!
Becky,
ReplyDeleteI am excited for you for today. I hope that you have a wonderful time with your son and his girlfriend.(I can't remember if she is his fiance or not)If you start having problems with your arm before the machine comes will you be able to call the lymphedema therapist back and get some more help? Your insurance would cover that I hope. I will be praying that everything goes wonderful with your arm though while you get ready for your very exciting time in your life going through the wedding.
We are having a good summer at our house. We have been playing a lot of Wii this summer and that is fun. My right arm and chest got very sore with some extended sessions of Wii 100 pin bowling. I was wondering if I had some lymphedema in my chest cause it seemed swollen to me. My oncologist wasn't worried about it and it got better with some pain meds and rest. I am going to start up again with the Wii soon cause it is so fun. If it gets too sore again I will go to my pcp and ask for some physical therapy. I had some physical therapy last year that was a lot of fun.
Our cancer care support group isn't very much fun at all. I am thankful for the last session that I really enjoyed and I am thankful that Kim is still in my group.I even wrote Allison and asked if I could choose to switch back to the other group. Of course she said no. I am so thankful that I can still write to you.
Have a great day. Sorry this is so long.
Becky, that's really cool that you are having your son visiting.
ReplyDeleteRhonda, I had no idea you asked to leave the group. I told Allison I was thinking of leaving too!
Kim
Kim,
ReplyDeleteI feel better that you wanted to leave the group too. I truly am so glad that you are there at least. I am not going to leave the group for now because it used to be so very good. It definitely is not as good. I hope that you are doing alright. I am so glad that I have your e-mail in case you decide to leave.
Becky thanks for letting me use your blog to talk to Kim too. I feel very at home on your blog. Hope you had a wonderful night with your son.
Hi Ladies,
ReplyDeleteI love the comments here and don't mind you using it, but keep in mind lots of other people read it even if they don't comment. Only write things you don't care about having strangers read. My cancer group is more active than I realized because I don't get email notifications of new posts. I haven't looked at it for weeks because I've been traveling and so busy. Today I logged in and found lots of interesting posts. These are women who are all in the midst of active treatment with lots of questions and concerns. I really need to get back there and try to post. It's hard now that I'm so busy at home.
Becky,
ReplyDeleteI am glad that your cancer group is active. I hope that you can continue to enjoy it. Have a great day with your son today.