Tuesday 2 December 2014

Day 453: Lymphoedema update

I had my weekly lymphoedema treatment today with Carol, one of the lymphoedema physios at the hospital. Just robe clear, I have chosen to do weekly treatments in the hopes of getting this condition more under control. My treatments consist of either laser therapy to break up the fibrotic tissue that s ems to be developing just below my outer elbow or a lymphatic drainage massage. Today it was the former, which takes roughly an hour. There's no pain or discomfort; it is just time-consuming.

The good news is that my arm is slowly getting less swollen. At the moment it even looks fairly normal aside from the elbow. My L-Dex measure (a bio-impedance system that measures the amount of fluid) was down to 37 from my initial presentation of 77 and aiming for a normal range of -10 to +10 my pre-lymphoedma measure was -0.1).

The big question I am constantly asked is "how long do you have to wear the garments?"  Unfortunately, there is no answer. The advice I've been given fro all who treat me is to wear them until I've had a minimum of 6 months without swelling. Dr. Theresa said she'd like to see my L-Dex get to a maximum of 20 before we put in any criteria pertaining to swelling. Until then, I will wash and wear the fetching sleeve and glove daily and my quilted sleeve at night (to keep the fibrosis at bay).

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