The Lymphedema Experiment

I can still sleep for incredibly long periods of time. It’s amazing to me when I will wake up and look at the clock and realize I’ve been asleep for 10 or more hours. I keep thinking that the desire, the need to sleep that long will eventually subside, but I am not sure when! During the week I get up by 7am to take Peyton to school, but that will be ending on May 3rd when she turns 18 and gets her license back. So just one more week of getting up early! However, I have work to consider, and I need to start getting to the office at about 8 or 9, unless I have an early or late evening meeting, so I will need to continue to rise earlier on the weekdays. I am not a morning person. Never have been. Before the cancer I went to work most days at 6am. Mike and I would meet for coffee at 5:30 at Barracudas, then off to work from there. Because of that I got the reputation that I must be a morning person if I voluntarily go to work that early, but the truth be told, I went in that early for a few reasons. First, I got to start my day by seeing Mike and I got a great cup of coffee. Second, I could always get a great parking spot at work and third, I could get a lot of work done before everyone else starts showing up and the phones start ringing. My job is dictated by meeting schedules so there is no set schedule that works for me everyday, but the early shift seemed to work best for me in my life “before.”

The good part of working the early shift is that technically, if you leave after 8 hours, you get to go home mid-afternoon. That is awesome. When you get home by 3 in the afternoon, you still have a whole day ahead of you to spend however you like. Getting tasks done at home, fiddling around in the yard, spending time with your family or friends. There is a lot to be said about working that early shift. The disadvantage is if you don’t leave after 8 hours and you stay and just keeping working and working, you end up at the office for 10-12 hours a day…which is actually what I used to do most of the time. However, I am committed to finding balance in my life this time around and discovering a place where there is a 40 hour workweek and time to enjoy my life outside of work. Maybe that will end up being an early shift again, and maybe not. As I slide back into my job, I will know and will work it out with my boss. He has been one of my biggest supporters and has my best interests in mind. I know I can trust him to guide me back into a sane working schedule.

I tried an experiment yesterday with using compression on my arm. The sleeve and the wrapping at night just didn’t seem to be making a difference in the lymphedema. I felt the swelling wasn’t getting any better with the compression sleeve and glove during the day and the wrapping at night; and that stuff is all really uncomfortable. So I decided to take it all off for a day and see what happens. By last night when I went to bed I saw no remarkable difference between wearing the sleeve and glove and not; my arm was not any more swollen at the end of the day than it usually is, so I don’t know if the daytime compression is really effective. However, this morning when I woke up my fingers and hand were so swollen they were almost numb. You know how your arm and hand feel when you lay on them and they fall asleep? That is close to how this felt. My arm and hand tingled with pins and needles. The swelling in my hand was obvious by just looking at it. Normally the veins and bones stick out of the back of my hand. Right now, it’s a nice smooth raised surface. Fingers plump like little Vienna sausages, wrist bones covered in puffiness. Although I am sure I will receive some grief from my physical therapist for my little experiment, I think I learned that the daytime compression is not as critical as the nighttime compression. As much of a hassle as it is, I need to take that time before I go to bed to wrap my arm. For whatever reason, I swell at night. Go figure. Most lymphedema patients swell during the day. I just gotta be different.

Peyton and Katie went off to Canada again yesterday to watch our Tri-City American’s play Vancouver in Game 6 of the WHL playoffs. If they win this game, the series is done and they play Calgary for the right to go to the Memorial Cup. Crazy and fun girls. We were shopping yesterday afternoon and they started talking about going to Canada, and I told them if they could, they should. They are young, why not take advantage of it. We found them a cheap hotel and off they went. They are driving back tonight after the game, so they’ll be tired for work and school tomorrow, but they are young and can handle it. Go Ams!!

Mike and I enjoyed an evening of ballet last night presented by Mid-Columbia Ballet. It was absolutely beautiful. We are so lucky to have such a quality amateur ballet company here in this town. The show had everything from the youngest kids in the Junior Company to the incredible talent and artistry of the Senior Company’s principal ballerinas. I am proud to be a part of that organization (I serve on their board) and think the community is very lucky to have that kind of excellence in the arts.

The sun is shining out there and I have yard work calling my name. I overdid it last week when I worked in the yard, so I am going to go much easier today. Mike knows I did too much last week also, so he will probably be watching me closer and gently but firmly shutting me down when it becomes evident that I am getting tired. And when that happens, well I’ll take my perch on my chair on the porch which oversees the backyard domain and I’ll become part of management and just tell everyone what to do!

Wow. What a great day to be alive!