I like the Christmas Jesus best

Treating cancer is a little bit like saving money by buying stuff ('cause it was on sale). Sure, you get rid of the cancer. But in the process, you break a bunch of other stuff that wasn't broken before.

Today I met with a physical therapist for a lymphedema evaluation and to discuss the now limited range of motion in my left arm. Lymphedema is a common result of axillary dissection, and the rate of suffering from it significantly increases once you've had greater than 7 axillary lymph nodes removed. Because I'm now lacking 21 of mine it's a good idea to a get a baseline evaluation - even though I'm not experiencing any symptoms. The eval was helpful in that it also goes over ways to prevent developing symptoms. That includes wearing a compression sleeve when flying (I hope they come in different colors!) and avoiding repetitive motion. The PT's best example of this was scrubbing the bath tub, so I'm gonna say I'm off bathroom cleaning duty for a while. 

Impact on range of motion is also a pretty common side effect from a mastectomy and axillary dissection. So where my left arm used to move 180 degrees like it's supposed to, now it's closer to 120 degrees (lifting to the side) and 150 degrees (lifting to the front). To what do I owe this pleasure? Oh, just a little something called lymphatic cording. Which means I've got 4 weeks of physical therapy to look forward to. 

UPDATE: I just found that the other name for lymphatic cording is Axillary Web Syndrome. Here's a pretty good link explaining it. Also, I'm adding Spider-Man to my list superhero powers.

Now right here is where I was going to whine and complain about that. But decided instead to share this with you. Moxie as little baby Jesus. Enjoy!



So maybe that's not actually Moxie, but a very convincing likeness courtesy of a Christmas card I found at World Market.