Ok I do not usually put pictures on my blogs but with this lymphedema I really feel the need to do so. First let me say typing when you are undergoing lymphedema treatment is very hard so if my blogs are not as frequent lately I apologize. I have a great lymphedema specialist named Tiffany at TLC in Dallas. She said it was ok to use these pictures and her for my blog. She did think it was odd that my husband was taking pictures of my getting wrapped for the first time but hey he was there to learn … Continue reading →

When I start talking about getting this lymphedema treatment I am really not very happy about it. First I had to find a specialist trained in Lymphedema. While I was doing this I found out things about this that I did not know. For instance I did not know that there is no cure for this and only maintenance and reduction of the swelling is possible. Basically forever I am going to have to fight this and potentially have to wear the compression sleeve forever. When I did my searches I found that this treatment comes in four parts the … Continue reading →

So if you start to develop lymphedema you may start feeling like your affected arm is heavy. There are a few symptoms and some are hard to describe. It is quite a weird feeling to have your arm feeling like you have weights attached to it. I have found that when I lay on my arm my fingers get all tingly and my arm just hurts all together and I hate the feeling. My left arm recently started to swell and it is now doing what I call a play dough type of feeling. If my arm lays on anything, … Continue reading →

Ok so you know that I was diagnosed with breast cancer going on 6 years ago and shortly after I was diagnosed my doctor went back in and put a medical port in under my collar bone and went ahead and removed a large group of lymph nodes from under my left arm. I had asked the doctor to only take out a couple but he went rather aggressive and removed 22 lymph nodes. I really did not want that many removed because me being me I had done a lot of research on it and I knew the more … Continue reading →

My new Booby pal is due to have her biopsy on Friday. She said that her doctor wanted to wait until her monthly visitor came to see if the lump was still there. Well considering it has been there for over a year my guess is that it will be there before, during and after the visitor leaves. I am not 100% sure that she did not want to wait on the biopsy. I know she is scared to get it done, I was too. I wanted to take her by the shoulder and say look you could potentially have … Continue reading →

As I mentioned in my last entry my friends sister is facing the possibility of breast cancer and was worrying about paying for a mammogram. Many people may not know there are organizations that help pay for these lifesaving tests for the under and un-insured. When I heard that I began to find organizations that serviced her town. The first place I called was the American Cancer Society their counselors were amazing. I gave them her information and within minutes I had a list of 5 organizations that offered free mammograms and if need be further diagnostic testing. After I … Continue reading →

The last short film depicted in the Lifetime movie “Five” went back to that little girl Pearl from the first movie about her losing her mother. Pearl became an oncologist specializing in the treatment of women’s cancer. She lost her mother at a time when breast cancer was not discussed. She was the oncologist for Mia, Lili and Cheyenne. When her daughter was about the age she was when her mother lost her battle with cancer Pearl herself was diagnosed with breast cancer. She had to decide what she should tell her daughter and how she would tell her. She … Continue reading →

Did you see the movie “Five” on Lifetime? If not you can watch it online now by clicking here. The movie followed 5 stories of how breast cancer affected different women. So far I have talked about Mia, Lili and the first one Charlene but the fourth story was about Cheyenne. She was a 29 year old exotic dancer whose lump was noticed first by her husband. The story shows how many women feel no matter how old or young they are. She was facing bilateral mastectomies and she was trying to adjust to the idea of sexuality post-surgery. This … Continue reading →

Hello again, I am continuing talking about the movie “Five” on Lifetime. The next film was called Lili it followed a strong independent woman who wanted to face the cancer diagnosis on her own; or so she thought. She wanted to go to the surgery to have the lumpectomy without any family or friends to be there. When she was waiting in the waiting room prior to surgery and saw a man waiting. Now when they first focused on him you thought he was there waiting on a friend or family but when Lili asked he said that he too … Continue reading →

Hello again I am continuing talking about the movie “Five” that is a Lifetime movie directed by 5 fabulous women. If you read my last entry I was talking about how a little girl named Pearl in 1969 was affected by the loss of her mother to breast cancer. The next short film was “Mia” this followed a woman who was given the stage 4 breast cancer diagnosis. It showed a different perspective, one of a woman who thought her only future was a certain death. She lived and traveled like there was no tomorrow because like many woman facing … Continue reading →