Sleeve and glove

I kept my appointment at Radiology Wednesday but the techs asked me to reschedule, since I still had my arm padded and wrapped. They need to do the measurements and marking with the sleeve on, explaining that there could be a difference in soft tissue placement between the padding and the sleeve.

The sleeve and glove arrived Thursday evening and the lymphedema therapist put them on for me Friday, giving me some tips on donning these tight garments. And boy, are they tight! She actually has a pale lavender one that she uses to demonstrate. That brand comes in lots of colors and patterns like college logos, flower petal designs, etc. Mine is just a plain tan skin color.

You can’t tell from this photo but the sleeve extends from the wrist to just under the armpit, which takes some careful maneuvering and energy to get on. The elastic material is a little hard to keep a grip on and the therapist suggested I get some gardening gloves to help with gripping. I did that this afternoon so I expect putting the sleeve on tomorrow will be a bit easier than it was today. The glove goes on pretty easy, no problem there.

I will wear these during the day (except for bathing) and remove them at night, re-wrapping the hand and arm at bedtime to prevent swelling from returning during the night. I asked about just sleeping in the sleeve and glove, but that’s not recommended for a variety of reasons.

Now that I have the sleeve I’m scheduled to return to Radiology Monday afternoon for temporary marking and a CT, then will go back one more time a week later for permanent marking (tattooing). Actual radiation therapy will start some days after that.

Since I had not seen my family doctor Jimena Burnett since January, I made a FU appointment for a checkup of blood pressure, etc. I’ll see her on Monday morning. She gets copies of my records from the other docs so she’ll already be familiar with all that.

All in all I feel pretty good these days, getting my energy and stamina back slowly but surely. I am very grateful for all the prayers, phone calls and emails!