Just being ordinary

Well, I'm trying to act like a normal or ordinary person for the next few days.  But, for me, it's almost overwhelming.  I have to do a few things and, luckily, I know when I have to do them.  If I didn't have a vague schedule to follow, I'd be having a major meltdown. I have to be home this morning to let in a repairman from Verizon.  Then, I'm scheduled to go out to lunch this afternoon with a friend.  I have to keep mentally reminding myself of that because Wed is not our normal day for lunch. Tomorrow, I have an appointment with my shrink and I have to discuss the possibility of seeing an addictions counselor.  I'll probably be trying to contact physical therapists who do manual lymphatic drainage (MLD) sometime tomorrow afternoon since my doctor doesn't know any to recommend. Fri I have to go for blood work in the morning and dinner with my wife and brother at night. I know this sounds mundane, but I usually just go to lunch on Tues and have nothing else to do all week except go to the pool.  I can't do that this week due to a slight medical problem. I'm also sending copies of family DVDs to several relatives but that project has no time constraints.  So, I have notes posted around my computer work station reminding me to do it. I appologize if I've been at all rude in any of my remarks this week.  It's easy for me to get overwhelmed.  I had somethings I had to do on Tues, and, now that they're done, the pressure ( what pressure you may be asking?) is starting to ease.  I thank God for taking care of me and I also thank Him for modern psychiatric medicine.  Otherwise, I'd be in an institution or out on the street.

Do you have Outlook?  Or some kind of computer organizer that will give you a a "pop up" or other indicator when scheduled tasks are due? I put my entire schedule into Outlook - due dates (at work), meetings, reminders, wife's birthday, anniversary, doc's appointments, weekly bathing schedule, etc... I review it at the beginning of the week to see what is in store for me.  I get a "pop up" a little prior to the item's due date.  If I can't get to it then, I can set it to remind me again in 10 minutes, 2 days, one week, whatever.... I would seriously "screw the pooch" without this organization system.  May I suggest that you look into something similiar? I'd sure like to go to the pool today!  It's 4 am, and I gotta go catch a 6:45 to Seattle to freeze my ass off 

Hey Bob Don't worry so much about things you may or may not have said. Most of us guys here can't remember things much farther back than 3 hours or so. Just do what you gotta do to keep things straight. We're all here to help in any way we can. Have a good day. Doug

Hang in there, Bob!  I agree with Doug, most of us aren't that thin-skinned! CB.

Hey sjbob, Hope and pray things will get back to normal for you soon.  Stress can lead to a lot of different problems.  I noticed you were looking for a therapist that does manual lymphatic drainage therapy.  Sorry I don't know of any in your area but I do know how hard it is to find someone to do this.  I spent nearly 2 years looking for someone.  Some said they could but all I got was a huge bill to pay.  During this time my legs swelled up to about 3 or 4 times their normal size.  Finally while I was in the hospital having my WLS I met a therapist who knew what she was doing.  Unfortunately the hospital I had surgery at was about 3 hours away so I could not go to her after I got out of the hospital.  Luckily she was able to refer me to a wonderful therapist about an hour from my home who has done wonders for my legs.  They are way way down now and I am able to walk again.  There is truly an art to doing manual lymphatic drainage therapy.  I wish you all the best and I do hope you find a great therapist.  I will be praying for you.

OK, curiosity has gotten the better of me, I just have to know:  "Manual lymphatic drainage"  please explain. I get the concept of limbs swelling from too much fluid -- I myself have some problems with fluid retention and take lasix for it, but I guess I'm probably on the minor side compared to some guys.

Dan, I will try to explain as best I can.  There is a difference between lymphatic fluid and water retention.  In my case my legs would swell so bad I would get open sores and yellow fluid would drain out of them.  The lymphatic system is separate from the vessels that carry water.  In most cases fluid pills will not help very much with lymphedema.  The therapist actually does a massage known as Vodder massage.  There are other types of massage but Vodder seems to be the most efficient.  What they try to do is move the lymphatic fluid up your leg.....some people especially cancer patients have it in their arms.....to about your navel where the center of lymphatic system is located.  After the fluid gets there it is taken to other parts of your body, especially the heart, where it deposits the nutrients that your body needs.  Eventually the remaining fluid is flushed out of your body.  Not all massage therapist are trained in manual lymphatic drainage.  In smaller rural areas such as I live in they are hard to find.   I have lost about  12 to 15 liters of fluid out of each of my legs since I had WLS in September.  I hope this gives you a little better understanding  of manual lymphatic drainage.

To further elaborate, lymphedema is a protein rich fluid.  I had had open sores and was given a sequential pump to use but they didn't tell me about the MLD.  I had used the MLD before I had the WLS and they are not mutually exclusive.  I got my lymphedema as a result of a staph infection on my right ankle.  Using the pump without the MLD forces the fluid from the lower extremity, but since the passages in the middle to upper lymph system have not been massaged, the fluid is deposited in an area with less resistance.   I kept complaining to the people at the wound center that I felt the pump was only pushing the fluid to my thighs which were already enormous.  All they cared about was my lower limbs.  I can pick up a chair where there's an indentation in the swelling in the back of my leg.  I've gotten up from a table in a restaurant and lifted the front of the chair high enough that it fell over backwards.  That's embarrassing.  I can't wear regular big pants because my thighs are so huge.  So, I only wear sweatpants ( I guess I could get custom made pants if I were rich).  I seems that most sweat pants have more room in the thigh area than regular pants.  My waist size has gone down but I can't wear smaller regular pants because of this problem.

I just wanted to add that I did find an MLD therapist who's less than 5 miles from my home.  She'll be calling me within the next few days to start treatment.