I spent most of my kid-free time today catching up on my admin tasks and errands. It felt good to be making at least some progress. I fit a walk in around the errands which was great as the sunshine was good for my soul.
I'm finding the lack of a regular exercise routine quite frustrating. Walking was pretty much the only option today with my hand/arm as bandaged as it was so thankfully the weather cooperated. I may try to create my own yoga routine that I can do when I'm bandaged again.
I took off the bandages about 6p and the great news is that I have fingers, a hand (still a bit puffy) and a forearm again. I can still feel fluid in my knuckles and in the back of my hand, but my fingers are nearly normal and I could get a watch on my wrist. I am amazed at how effective Erika's wrapping was. I'm curious to see if Dr. Theresa will bandage me again tomorrow at my appointment.
I'm encouraged that my arm has finally returned to a state approaching acceptable. Pity it's taken nearly 4 weeks to achieve this result as I think my emotional state would have been less impacted with quicker results. I'm trying to look at this first "episode" of lymphoedema as a real life case study to learn from so I know what to do when it next happens. I'm trying to create my toolkit (therapists, tools (bandages and compression garments) and exercises) so I can use it next time. I'm hoping that Dr. Helen and the practitioners at the Mt Wilga Clinic will add to this when I see them on Wednesday.
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