Hooray!

I'm so excited! I don't know what happened on Wednesday, but the swelling in my fingers continues to go down. In addition, I am able to wear all my wedding rings. And they're SPINNING around on my finger. This is excellent news. I am so relieved! Just wanted to update you all!

A new diagnosis

Had my first physical therapy treatment yesterday for my hand swelling. It is edema, but my PT says that she thinks it's tendonitis rather than lymphedema. Wahoo! The swelling is not bad (she took lots of measurements of my arm, hands and fingers). My fingers were swollen. My wrist was a bit bigger compared to my right hand. When I relayed the symptoms to her and how the pain is radiating up my lower arm right along a tendon, she diagnosed me as tendonitis. So now I've got to do stretches. In addition, they gave me a treatment called iontophoresis. I receive medication via an electric charge. So far it's helping in the area that it was applied. The medication is absorbed directly in the affected area. Today I noticed the pain is less. In addition, the swelling in my middle and index fingers are a little less swollen. They're still swollen, but it has gone down. The swollen fingers may be a direct side effect of the tendonitis. Pray that it's not lymphedema.

Nevertheless, I am getting a prescription for a compression sleeve and glove. I will wear it when I fly next month to Florida. I don't mind. I would rather prevent lymphedema.

So that's it. My next appointment is next week. :)

Grrr.... lymphedema

Grrr... I am so mad. I thought that maybe God would throw me a bone. But instead He teased me with it. Now I've been diagnosed with lymphedema by my primary physician. I've been referred to a lymphedema specialist. I am now waiting for them to call me. I'm upset. I am mad. I am pissed. I don't know why. It's not my fault that I have swelling in my hand. I guess I am mad because I didn't catch the cancer early enough. If I had caught it months earlier, then maybe it wouldn't have travelled to my lymph nodes and I wouldn't have had an axillary dissection. Grrr, still I'm mad. This is going to be chronic. I was being so careful too. But my hand is swollen. I try and kid myself that it isn't, but it is. You can see it mostly around my knuckles.

I won't die from lymphedema, but it can be uncomfortable. I'll have to most likely wear compression sleeves when I fly and do exercises... I think that I have caught it early enough. I just hope that I can get in sooner rather than later so it can be reversed. :)

My doctor is going to call my oncologist to see if it could be a blood clot. He says that sometimes it could be a clot. So I may have to get an u/s of my veins. I doubt that I have a blood clot. There's no pain or shortness of breath. Hmmm...

Other than that... not much to report. I will be calling for my reconstruction appointment in March. Dr. Thakar had me down for a March surgery. I told the scheduler that I was going on vacation and didn't want to do it until afterwards. So the April schedule opens in March. Plus I need to find a new gynoc for the oophorectomy since I want to do both of them at the same time. So things are moving foward....

What does it take??

So I'm a little concerned... my arm/hand has been acting up. I don't know if it's the beginnin of lymphedema or tendenitis. I had some swelling in my fingers. That has since gone away, but it's tight when I bend my wrist. So I made a call to my doctor on Tuesday asking for a referral from him to get me in to see a physical therapist. I haven't gotten a call back. It's Friday. *sigh* So I call back and I wait on hold for 10+ minutes to only leave ANOTHER message. Wonder if anyone will get back to me this time. This is so irritating. I'm almost tempted to text his wife and ask what's up. I want to get my hand evaluated... because it is reversible.

On another note, I got a call from Dr. Thakar's office. They want to schedule an appointment for my tissue expander replacement!!! Yay! That means I have to find a new gynonc.

And... this week has been a pain in the arse. Poor Elaina got the stomach bug. And now I have pink eye. I don't know how I got it. I haven't been touching my eye. I just woke up with it pink. It's not itchy or hurting. So *sigh*.