Kicking LEs butt!! Exercise & Self Care Log
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Carol, we did indeed come home with a bag of blueberries and some Michigan cherries. We had gotten out into the Meijer Gardens when a huge storm blew in. We spent a few hours in the buildings, then back out to the returned sunshine. It was warm with the compression sleeve on my arms and knee brace on the one knee, but worth the beauty of it all. Trying hard to avoid immediate knee surgery, and will get gel injections towards September, but enjoying the pain free hip. Wanted to share this little quote with all:
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Carol, how did you finally wind up doing with your crutches and your rehab? Best, Amy
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Amy, it's kind of you to ask! On awakening from surgery, the surgeon instructed me to not use crutches after all, and I had zero pain from the first moment I got out of the hospital bed post-op. I was in a crazy-big brace for a month, but it was annoying, not intrusive. PT was wonderful, as they were intent on making sure I could maintain all my range of motion. All in, the recovery was much, much easier than I was told to expect. I'm back to regular exercise, although I do get sore in that certain spot if I overdo the impact, so I have to re-think my my former 4-mile-a-day walking habit. I'm not a fan of what I call gerbil exercise, i.e. hopping on machines like the elliptical in our basement. I guess I'll have to get use to it!
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gerbil exercise,, I love that expression.Back from the beach,, walked a good distance every morning and did about an hour's swimming in the pool yesterday with my nephew. Now to convince myself to keep it up here,, where it's hot and humid,,, or go do gerbil exercise
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ok, I confess to doing gerbil exercise and dearly love my gym and pool~~
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I can stand the gerbil exercise machines if I'm watching a cooking show on tv. Is there something wrong with that combination?
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absolutely not but then again I sort of like the home improvement studely guys~~
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Iris, I too like the house buying and fixing up shows. I must say I also like The Chew cooking show. As school starts up again next week, I will probably find myself on the gerbil wheel more, especially as darkness comes earlier. I will also still have twice weekly water aerobics. I am looking forward to getting gel injections in the knees at the end of the month to try to tame the arthritis beast. I finished up PT last week and had my PT measure my arm as I stopped using my hour of LymphaPress in the mornings this summer. Measurements show no significant change in volume of the arm, so yeah for me...I now can get an extra hour of sleep in the morning! It feels like a victory of sorts.
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As it is too hot outside to walk,, and I got on a good roll walking on the beach every day,,, I went back to the gym today. 1 mile on the treadmill. It's hard to watch the TV's now,, it cranks my neck up too much,, I gotta figure something else out, otherwise my eyes are just drawn up there. And they don't play good stuff anyway. I don't like The View. CNN and old sitcoms. Booo.0 -
Oh, dear, no activity in this thread for a while! I've been out of commission for a while myself, realizing a few months ago that apparently my joints are made of eggshells, as persistent shoulder/arm pain was not getting better with PT and cortisone injection. A week ago today, I had arthroscopic surgery to fix a SLAP tear (labrum tear). Recovery is going well, but living a one-handed life is frustrating! I'm right-handed, and that's the surgery side, and the only good thing I have to say about the experiences is that my LE is on the other side, so no flare worries. But there's actually another frustration, because I cannot reach across my body with the right hand to grasp and tug my compression sleeve or night garment, so I cannot don them on my own. DH has helped so far, but he had to leave town for business today, and so I am stuck mulling over what to do now. I do find that wearing the night garment (a Biacare chip sleeve) almost always conditions my arm so I don't need compression during the day, except during storms, when I exercise, and when I fly. Exercise is out for quite a while, but I do need to fly soon. Guess I'll be asking ladies in the restroom to help me, but if anyone here has any brilliant suggestions for one-handed sleeve donning, I'm all ears. I've no clue how I'm going to don the night garment. Sigh.
I'll be attending the World Congress of Lymphedema, starting a week from today. Will be traveling with DH, as we decided to make a little trip out of it, so I'll have my donning helper for that trip. While there, I'll be visiting every single garment maker's booth to see if there's any product that can be donned without using the other hand, for when work travel starts again. I doubt it, but at least I may be able to put the problem on a few radar screens.
In the meantime, I find that about all I can do while in the immobilizer sling is type! On a laptop or an iPad, where the keyboards are small and my hands are close together. And totally off topic, but here's a link to show what I've been doing with my time since immobilized https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLb-dHgUXdiT...
While I was home recovering from hip surgery a few months ago (darn eggshell joints...), I realized that a pair of pileated woodpeckers was digging a nest in a tree literally under my nose. From April 15 to June 12, I got the whole story on video, and in the last few weeks I've been working on making little movies out of what the birds shared with me. This time with nothing to do but type enabled me to finish the movies. Blessing in disguise?
And back on topic, is anybody managing to get any exercise in?
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Yes,, I am still going to the gym and walking on the treadmill,, I'm up to 25 mins and cover 1.3 - 1.4 miles. I go at a good pace and pump my arms like a speed walker, so hoping it is helping move my naughty lymph. I try to go every day,,, which generally amounts to 5 times a week, so that's pretty good for me.
Carol-- UGH on having to figure out how to don one handed. That is no fun at all. Glad DH will be traveling with you to the conference. Wishing I was going,,, would love to visit the vendors and talk about truncal issues and the difficulties of getting good truncal compression when you are a uni-boober. But my LE therapist is going, so hoping she will find out some good stuff for me.
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Must check out your bird movies when I'm not on the work computer. I get woodpeckers at my feeders, but haven't seen any nests.0 -
Glennie, I love 'naughty lymph' --so apt! I'll be sure to pester about truncal compression for the uni-boober when I chat with the vendors. I have truncal LE, too, especially in the axilla, so I am usually in a compression shirt most days, but that's not possible for me now, as I cannot put anything on that goes over my head. I need a zipper! You need some way to avoid the 'bridge' effect. Ack! So many design problems, and there really should be resources for them.
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agree, Carol!!
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Carol - I'm sure you know about dycem - but if not, maybe that can help? I use it to get my tribute night sleeve (which looks similar to the biacare) on. It's a tacky material that I put on the table and use to help move my arm through the tight sleeve. I admittedly do use my right hand in the process but maybe it can help some?
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Carol, There are several stocking aids where you place the stocking on a wire frame then slide your foot down into the opening. I would think you might be able to place your compression sleeve on the frame then just move your arm down into the sleeve. Jobst stocking donner video You may need to somehow stabilize it on a table top for best leverage. The OT in me is thinking hard on this one. I have continued my twice a week water aerobics and am now back to work for the new school year. It's not pretty, but I am able to get up and down from the floor with my little preschoolers with my new hip. Some new pain meds on board have helped with the knee pain, so although not 100%, I am able to do the job I love fully. I think oncologists have not really explored just how damaging the chemo drugs can be to cartilage and joints. It would be a good research arena in the future. After having a dozen various chemo drugs over the past 28 years, I can attest that they do cause early damage to joints and cartilage.
Glennie, Good job on being faithful with the dreadmill. Cooler weather will come soon and maybe allow you to walk outdoors again. It is so much more fun than indoor walks in front of junk TV.
Hope that we hear from some more regulars soon.
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ramols, I got some dycem, and it helps but I just cannot get the biacare (or even my older, worn and looser Tribute) all the way up the arm, and the same goes for the sleeve.
Laural, that's an interesting suggestion, and it might work for me at home because DH could mount it somehow for me. But not likely to go into a suitcase with me. Now I'm wondering about the safe limits of cross-body reaching. I'm not scheduled for PT for at least two more weeks, and the folks there will not even answer a question until I show up with the referral (grrr). It's easy enough to bring my left (LE) hand over to my right (surgery side) hand to get these garment started, and I am permitted to use my surgery-side hand so long as it's somewhere in front of my body at waist level, and I'm not putting a lot of force on it. Within those restrictions, I can get sleeve or night garment to my elbow and a bit beyond, but to yank the garments up to the axilla would pull my surgery shoulder to the left a bit, and I just don't know if that's endangering the sutures and anchors. Gosh, literally it just dawned on me that I can call the orthopedic surgeon's office tomorrow to ask... And it sure seems like I could use some OT as I'm waiting for the healing to permit the PT!
I do remind myself that this too, shall pass, and I am mindful and respectful of the military vets and others who must live with missing or compromised limbs forever. Mine are truly minor frustrations. If my LE flares for lack of compression or MLD for a while, I will at some point regain my ability to manage it again.
Thanks to both of you for puzzling over this with me!
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the dreadmill,,, LOL, Laural! I am so looking forward to cooler weather!
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It's me! the phantom non-exerciser. I have good news to tell all, I joined a gym and they said they would do the PAL program (designed for us lymphers)with me. Tommorrow I start and we will see if they keep their promise. The gym is very specialized with MD, cardioligists, physiologists and all the other important people whose names end in gist! This is costing me a whopping 200 a month for 8 visits and I signed up for six months so I really need to be serious about this.
91 year old "at home" Mom, kept me busy with full time nursing care for three months but now I have finally busted loose from her apron strings and she doesn't need as much care. I am celebrating my freedom until she needs me again, Yeah
Carol, I understand you want to go to the mannequin store and trade in three if not four of your limbs! What is your rotator cuff up to now..and your hip,,,and your knee? Ugh ...sucks so much don't it? My hips and back still hurts from 3 summers ago. DANG! DANG! DANG!
The rest of you...it's time to turn the page and start moving! COME ON ALL!
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Hugz, it's wonderful you're going to be able to do the PAL program at the gym, and yep, that's pricey, but it souunds like you will get terrific value from it. Hope so!
I am not having fun at all lately, that's for sure. I had my first post-op consult yesterday with the surgeon and learned that the damage he repaired was much more extensive that my DH had understood when he got the immediate post-op report--a 90% tear of one of the rotator cuff muscles, plus a labrum tear, plus the impingement we all thought was my only problem. So, drat! I'll be laying low in the exercise department for a while.
I hope everyone else who checks this thread is getting some movement in!0 -
Carol, shucks anyway. A rotator cuff is so painful. I may have meantioned before that around age 35 I tore one after getting out of bed and reaching for the clock above the stove to check the time as I wasn't wearing my glasses. Maybe I slept on it funny before I reached out as it sounds like such a gentle movement but indeed it did tear. Well it took a full ten years before I could throw a ball or play some gentle badminton. Mind you I didn't do physical therapy for it. I am very prone to soft tissue injuries and frozen shoulders and well the whole gamut.
How on earth are you putting on your garments? Last time I read you were getting a dycem. What about the slippie I was talking about in the grr thread. It is a godsend truly. See if there is a you tube demo on it if you don't know what it is. It would make DH job so much easier as the parachute slippie material makes that sleeve slide on so easy. Are you able to do any upper body training then? I think of you often and of course all the rest of you. I'll try to post more now that mom isn't in immediate need.0 -
Hugz, I got a slippie, and it does help DH put my sleeve on. But doing it by myself is still a no-go, because I cannot reach over to grab the top and pull it off! I have tried all kinds of contortions but I haven't figured that part out. So, no sleeve when we are apart, which is unfortunately several days each week. I can get the night garment on and off, using dycem. My biggest fear is flying without the sleeve, starting next week when I will be on 8 aircraft, so I am mulling over whether I will wear the huge oven mitt then, which poses a wardrobe problem & sure would be a conversation starter, especially with the sling on the other arm. The wonderful Margaret at GO Travelwear is making me a custom compression tee with a front zipper, which I hope is ready for me by this Friday. Just in case it's not, I ordered a Wearese tee, which I'm told I probably can step into. Most of my LE issues are try calling, so a shirt will be a big help. My gosh, how do permanently disabled folks deal with such issues?0
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Hugz: wow, that gym is pricey, but if you got them doing the PAL program, sounds really good.
Carol: been thinking of you with the flying and the arm issues. Hope that zip front gets here in time.
Been walking on the treadmill at the gym, up to 1.5 miles. Not every day, but I no longer beat myself up if I miss 3-4 days,, ,I just get back over there,,, so that's progress.
LE appt now,,, she's back from the Lymphology conference, so hoping she has new stuff for me!! Truncal is a pain!!
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Carol, how about a tongs to hold the top of the sleeve while you pull the Slippie out?
It's still way too hot here to walk outside, so I'm doing my cork-popping at home (marking laps around the house with a bowl of old wine corks). One day a week I go with a friend to the mall before the stores open, and we do three or four miles in air-conditioned bliss. Good way to window shop too, no temptation to stop and shop! Might be a good option for winter for those of you who live in colder climes--just a thought.
High fives all around,
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Binney, mall walking is so smart, and the best part is that you're doing it with a friend. As for the cork-popping, does the prospect of adding to your lap quotient deter you from umm...adding to your cork bowl?
In my frustration description, I meant that once I have the sleeve on, I can't get the sleeve off. I can get the slippie out, although to your point, it is hard to keep the sleeve from moving as I do so. I find that leaning hard against the wall or a door, while moving my arm downward to yank the slippie out (it's loop is on the doorknob) helps, but the sleeve does still move a bit and sometimes I need to adjust it back up, which I cannot do.
The tongs are a brilliant suggestion, which I will try when I'm home tomorrow night. We shall see if I can get the end of the tongs into the sleeve, which is not a given, as I truly can not / should not let my right elbow move out in front of my body, and I should not be applying any force to that arm. I wonder what kind of angle I'll need to put my surgery arm in to be able to catch the sleeve cuff with the tongs. I hope to find my old, old tongs from first apartment eons ago, which are the kind that have a little bend at the business end.
I wish there were a social media group of occupational therapists who treat LE, so i could ask them how they have helped solve this problem for patients with RIBC or with a missing 'unaffected' (by LE) limb. I suppose this dilemma is rare, but I have to believe it's been solved in the past--or should be, especially for people whose issues are long-term.
Glennie, I love your comment about just getting back to it instead of beating ourselves up when we miss an exercise session or two. And bravo that your therapist went to the World LE conference. Any chance she'll share her observations with you? I'm still planning to write up some notes and post a link in this LE forum, and it might be interesting for you to hear a therapist's perspectives, too. There was a spirited debate over whether MLD is worth the time, money and resources, i.e. the therapist's MLD provided in therapy. Some conference scientists shared one study that said not worth it; compression only does just as much to reduce volume as MLD. A couple of therapists jumped to the mike and gave heartfelt rebuttals. I suspect this debate will continue.
Hoping to get my notes in order this weekend (but armsling means typing with constricted movement, and typing tires the arm and shoulder, so I'm a bit in slow motion with projects like that).
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Carol!! Understandable that you are slow typing,,, no worries,, we look forward to your notes when you can share with us.
There must be a way to do this one-handed. SOMEONE must have come up with something by now.
Yes,, I am trying to organize my thoughts about what my LE therapist said,,, will start a separate thread for that.
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Carol: and she told me that the next World Conference in 2017 is in Turkey!! What??? Why not London or Paris???? I can't imagine going to Turkey.
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Carol: Sorry you are having such difficulties. To avoid bending your arm to get sleeve positioned, perhaps a long handled reacher might help such as this Long handled reacher You would need to decide how long a reach is needed to keep your right arm straight and still reach the problem areas of the sleeve.
I am still in water aerobics twice a week for 2 hours each session. My pain level is down greatly, so for now, the knees are on hold. The hip is well healed and I am able to get on and off the floor with my little ones, as well as sit in the wee bitty chairs when needed. I am back to walking now that the weather is cooling as well...even dragged the DH along this past weekend for 3 miles.
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Didnt make it to the new exercise class. Choose last minute to start next week and vacation instead. Will keep all informed on starting my program.
Carol. As soon as Binney suggested tongs I immediatley thought of the reacher that Laural said. Maybe DH could gently bend them without throwing off the grasp.
I think once we have the problem solved with the one arm doning issue it should be considered in step up speak out search area. Many of us will have shoulder arm problems in the future and may need this info.
Kudos to all those movers and shakers.0 -
Just looking up on net for doning stuff. There is fitting lotion that is made with silicon to help ease with doning and it doesn't leave skin greasy. Going to surf to see how one armed people dress.
Edited to add:
Carol
Ok just back from surfing. Not much out there for taking sleeves off one handed. I found one product called medi 2 in 1 on you tube. It looks gentle enough but carol I wonder if it is still too much reaching with your surgery hand.check it out.
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