Tuesday, July 26

Wow!  I am glad I asked, great story!  

Of course now I want a guided session with a local aboriginal shaman, too. 

We lived in AK for 2.5 years.  Had my fill of bears in the yard.  We don't have many here.  8K steps of pain. poor you.

130.6... up .8... about what I expected from my newly packed leg. Yesterday's experience with the lymphedema team was mostly positive. They were a bit concerned about doing lymph draining massage with the chronic DVT diagnosis and only three weeks on blood thinners. They did do a wrap, but kept telling me there is typically not pain associated with lymphedema. That has never been my experience. The minute the wrap was on, there was relief. The compression reduces the constant throbbing and pulling of my skin. I'll change the wrap today and tomorrow, and see them again Thursday. Hopefully, I can have a massage before the "professional rewrap".  They want me to remain out of work this week, and are thinking I can return half days next week. I'll see them next Monday and Wednesday.

I hope that everyone else facing challenges can experience the relief I am. I am grateful for my progress, and can actually picture myself getting back into my walking routine. Hopefully the pool will be a possibility soon too !

You're doing great my friend. Total trooper!

I am glad treatment is moving forward!  Good for leg and brain!

I think the underlying cause of lymphedema makes a difference as far as symptoms go.  I am pure node removal in upper limb and never have pain although skin tightness isn't exactly pleasant.  My DVT patients describe symptoms as you do.  The LE peeps are pros so they are taking your entire history into account when it comes to how they treat. 

Long before we met, I have kept my eyes open for a review article that explains what is going on in a chronic DVT patient when they are having swelling.  Seems like is more than just excess lymph and I would like to understand the biology of it better so I can understand drug treatment (if any) better.  By the way, diuretics are never considered treatment for lymphedema, they simply do not affect lymph. So when someone perceives LE relief with diurectics it again makes me wonder what is underlying cause of swelling.

Bodies are complicated :) 

I'm  doing research on chronic DVT and the effective/ ineffective collaterization of veins. I have more questions than answers, and some of what I'm reading is pretty scary.  Please let me know of any good references.

Hello happy campers!  I'm still at 115. 

A successful day of traveling yesterday, and we are now camped at a beautiful spot by Flathead Lake in Montana. Bailee is still loudly protesting travel days, even with sedation.  To amuse ourselves, we counted his meows for the last 6 mins and did the math.

18 meows x 10 = 180 per hour

180 x 4.5 hrs = 810 meows

yup, that sounds about right. From now on, DH and I plan to share the sedation

Waiting for my little household to rise so I can go RIDING!!!

Peace out

Cab caterwauling, oh my!  He is such a handsome boy, tho.....

For what it's worth, if anything: the sedation could actually be the issue for the kitty. There have been studies done on transporting dogs and cats sedated and not. Seems the sedation can exacerbate the animal's anxiety. The vets believe this is because the animal does not have the ability to understand and accept the sedation. You might consider a kitty sized kennel for travel days and even check into seeing if they make Thunder Shirts for cats. (A garment used for people with autism to help them through stressful situations. They make them for dogs now and I have heard very positive things about their use. Not sure if they have them for cats now, too. Worth checking into.) 

Devon we've tried pretty much everything except the Thunder Shirt.  They do make them for cats but Bailee would need med. dog one anyway because he's so large. His chest measurement alone required med. dog harness!  

Now that you mention that reaction to sedation, I remember one time we were euthanizing a cat and that fighting reaction happened. It was a total nightmare.

We don't see any difference in his reaction between sedation, non-sedation, cat pheromones,  also anti-nausea meds.  We've also tried kenneling covered, kenneling with vision, and free roam. Absolutely no difference. With that in mind, I think I'll go without drugs next time and see what we get. We've also tried letting him travel in the RV. Worked reasonably well once but not all the second time. So maybe the Thundershirt is the only other option. Rob is skeptical, so I'll have to buy it without him.