Ups, downs, and back up again...

My apologies, it's been a while since I've posted to this blog - work has been a bit mental, plus I had a slight setback - but I'm all back on track now.

I started physio a couple of weeks after the cast came off, and I have to say, Hayley, the six-year-old who's working with me (well, she's probably in her early twenties but she looks about six!) has helped me make a real difference. Within four weeks (that will be six weeks after the cast came off) I was back using weights with my lymphoedema exercises, and rapidly regaining flexibility

And then I entered the glory-hole to get the catbox out to take Cody to the vets, and in doing so dislodged some suitcases - put my left hand out instinctively.... - oops, sprained the damn thing! Bloody, bloody painful, almost thought I'd broken the damn thing again, but the pain was very sharp and localised, and I could still move it in certain ways so I was pretty certain that wasn't the case.

Anyway, I slammed on the glove and some tubigrip, swallowed some paracetemol (apparently ibuprofen would have been better because it targets inflammation) and took the cat to the flippin' vets. And rode it out for the next two weeks till my next meeting with Hayley, by which time I was just about back to the point I'd been at when she'd last seen me, though the range ot flexibility had gone backwards a bit.

The good news is, despite all this, I am back in my smallest size 1 sleeves. The haematoma around my wrist is almost gone, so I wear an integrated sleeve/glove about every third day. All I have to do now is remember to do some physio exercises evey day to keep stretching the tendons out.

It's annoying and a bit painful, but the pay-off is I get full mobility back and can live life normally again. Which is all I ask, and so it's worth the inconvenience.

The only loser, if I don't, is me.

Can't think of a picture to go with this, so I shall post something from my wedding, to prove that you can have lymphoedema and still go without a sleeve occasionally - and feel great!

Cast off!

I have been counting down the days to tomorrow when I finally get this darn cast off.

Getting back to normal won't be a breeze: there is a fair bit of swelling, comparatively, above the cast, and its been noticeably tight and uncomfortable under there for the last week, so I'm expecting it to actually swell a bit more once it's released.

But I can hear Eunice Jeffs in my mind... and it will all be about paying attention to the key basics:

• Compression - I shall wear my "younger" sleeves, and see about getting a few more from Barts


• Exercise (the Compliance part, as some call it) - Lymphoedema routine morning and night, without fail, and build the weights back in very gradually. Fitness training with Tim can get back to normal but we will not do arm exercises for a couple of weeks, just to see how it goes.


• Be healthy generally. It is no surprise that when I go on holiday, and go diving, I drink less, eat healthily, sleep plenty, relax, and spend lots of time outside - and even though I only wear my sleeve evenings and night, and even with long flights - my swelling is always the same or less than when I went away. There's a lesson there!

On which point, it's time I was in bed

Too young for osteoporosis?

I had a dexa (dual energy X-ray absorptiometry) bone scan today to check my bone density. Mr Marston, the consultant of the fracture clinic at St Mary's, referred me in the light of my "history" - steroids at 18 with the Hodgkins chemo, early menopause from the breast cancer 9 years ago.

The phone call to ask me to book an appointment was quite amusing - she said I'd been referred to her department to book a scan, but given my age she was a bit confused as I was - wait for it - too young for osteoporosis. Thats too young - not often you hear that past 40 about much.

I explained and she was happy. Such joy :-)

I did have one through Barts a while ago but we must be talking at least five years ago. That one was fine, so it will be interesting to see if there is any change.

I mentioned it to Tim (Tim Hagon, my personal trainer) and he said weights work is good for fighting osteoporosis. Which I normally do at part of my lymphoedema exercises, and will get back to as soon as this cast comes off.

Simon says...

Simon Irwin is my osteopath. He is about 28 I think, ex-rugby player, great bloke to talk to while he's cracking your spine and pulling you back into shape.

He also does sports physio stuff and, amazingly, has done a course on Lymphoedema. So I was looking forward to a good chat with him on my visit last Wednesday. Here's a rough guide to his advice as I remember it (I was very reassured I am on the right track):

• Keep the arm raised whenever you can
• Being in the cast is good in that you can't swell any more than that
• Cut down a sleeve and keep it on the upper arm down to where it meets the cast. (I did this as soon as I could stand the pain - about a week after the accident, and tend to keep it on day and night)
• Do your lymphoedema exercises and stretch as much as possible (this is a gradual process, but I was back at full stretch I think about the end of week 2)
• Move the fingers as much and as often as possible. Massage them gently with moisturiser
• Jogging is fine. Do what you can, but don't push the limits, just be sensible

And when the cast comes off, he reckons it will take twice as long as normal to get back to where I was. I think that's conservative where I'm concerned, but only because I want to do some diving end of December so will be pushing to get back to fighting fit. Simon's main suggstions were...

• Swim as much as possible, its great all-round exercise and will get the arm working well
• Build the weights back up gradually (I do half my lymphoedema exercises with 2kg weights) - get a lighter set of weights to start with, if necessary. (I think I will just gradually increase the proportion of exercises I do with the weights, which is how I started with them in the first place)
• Accept that, even though the muscles were strong before the accident, they will have lost a lot and will need to be built back up gently and consistently. And it will take longer than for someone without lymphoedema

So there we have it. Obviously Simon is not a specialist, but I have a feeling Eunice would not disagree with much. And it was so great to have the reassurance!

The itching catches up

Finally, its itching. Everyone has been asking, how do I cope with the itching? To which I say, it doesn't itch.

Until today, that is.

I suspect part of the trouble is the fact that I have started jogging again the last few weeks - only two sessions a week, and I don't exactly do much, but obviously I sweat, and I guess it builds up.

The lymphoedema swelling comes and goes, and I imagine is also a key contributing factor - it tends to swell to fit the cast, which means there is no room for the skin to breathe. Heaven knows what state my skin will be in come October 15th when the cast comes off - I keep imagining it all rotting underneath. It certainly smells a bit now - like cheesy feet. Not very pleasant.

I have just taken a couple of paracetemol/codeine capsules in the hope it will ease things: it was also twinging a bit - not sure whether that's down to the tendons or not, but maybe I've pushed it a bit too hard the last few days. It certainly took a lot more than usual when we were babysitting young Alfers on Saturday (as did most of the muscles in my body, I felt like I'd spent ten rounds in the ring not a few hours with a baby nearly ten months old!)

So, doing my normal lymphoedema exercises morning and night is more or less back on track - I have been really shocked how easy it is to lose the habit though, after - what - eight or nine years I would have thought it was pretty ingrained, but in the first week of breaking my arm it hurt to do anything, and after that I found I just kept forgetting - didn't even think about it! I've had to really work at it - if I get to the office and realise I forgot to exercise, I make myself go into the corridor and do it.

Hmm, arm under cast does feel hot and sweaty (and still very itchy around the wrist, maybe it is the bone healing?), though fingers are not too swollen at the moment. Painkillers have kicked in - I guess it just needs a rest. Time for bed then :-)