I am officially up at school! I attend Brigham Young University-Idaho which is located at a much higher elevation than I am used to living in being from Southern California. Usually when I drive up to high elevations like this my leg tends to swell up more than usual and is sore for a few days after the fact, but this trip has been more pleasant than normal which I attribute to having had my surgery. The size of my leg is still pretty similar to before having the surgery but not have that tight, achy feeling all the time has been nice. After a day of walking and having my leg down it does start to tighten up a little but nothing like before and all I have to do to get it back to the way it was is sleep with my leg elevated.
I just ordered an elevation pillow this week so I should be getting that soon. I've just been using stacks of pillows, but this pillow is made specifically for elevating your leg and has these edges to keep your leg from sliding off which I think will be great because I have been waking up a few times a night to fix my pillows for the past 3 months which is less than great. I've been staying with my sister who lives in the area for the past week and a half until the 15th when I can move into my apartment. The semester doesn't start until the 18th so I am a little early, but it gives me time to settle in before school starts. Things seem to be going good for me lately so I hope that continues throughout the semester as I am still in the process of healing and getting use to my changing leg. It's been a good week! I'm still not seeing any major changes in my leg, but I feel like I've accomplished a lot. Last Thursday I went to the beach with my mom and my brother which was fun and relaxing. Of course I didn't get in the water because my skin graft isn't completely healed yet so I had it covered, and I'm not ready to be walking around showing off my weird ankle in a swimsuit yet to be completely honest. That was a good day though. I love the beach!
I also started working out for the first time after my surgery on Saturday. I've never really been into working out even before I was diagnosed with lymphedema, but I've been laying around a lot since the surgery! I thought it would be good to try to get in shape and let me tell you how sore I was.. sitting down was painful. I don't know how people do it, but I applaud you if you're into the whole fitness thing because WOW I don't think my surgery was even that painful.. then again I was on some pretty good pain killers after that. My leg did start to get a little hard by the end of last week, but I have to admit that was probably my fault. I had been slacking on the whole elevating my leg thing so Monday night I decided to wrap my leg lightly with my wrapping kit to see if that would soften if up. I only kept it on overnight, but it did the trick, and my leg felt a lot better. I have also been wearing a light compression garment that my doctor approved which has definitely been better than wrapping my leg with an ace bandage every day. It's much easier and fits under clothes as well, and I got these super awesome socks from XPANDASOX which are super cute, comfy, and stretchy which is perfect for my lymphedema leg but also fits my other leg just as well. They even fit over my compression garment. I would highly recommend them if you are in need of some good socks! If you haven't heard of them you should check out their website, www.xpandasox.com, and some pictures below. Until next time! |
AuthorHi, my name is Sydney, and I have Primary Lymphedema. I created this blog to share my journey, and I hope that by sharing my story I can help those who are on a similar path. Archives
April 2017
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