Tuesday, November 1, 2016

Happiest Halloween



Many years ago when we were newlyweds, my husband and I went ATVing in the woods. He decided to cross a decidedly muddy creek. That might have been one of his worst ideas ever. The ATV got stuck in the mud. As luck would have it, the sky was lowering, and tut tut, it looked like rain. He tried to push the ATV out while I tried to drive it out. That did not work. He tried to rock it out while I pushed. Nope, that didn't work, either. We both tried to push it out. That didn't work, either. 

Each time we stood in the mud, another layer of the sticky, clay-like Illinois mud attached itself to our feet. My legs were getting so hard to lift, and finally, we gave up when my feet became literally mired in the muck (I even lost a shoe in it!). He went trudging off to find help while I stayed with the ATV (and my lost shoe? lol).

That's what lipedema feels like: like each step adds a heavy layer of sticky, mucky mud. Concrete. Lead. It's not so much that we are too weak to walk. It's that our legs feel so unbearably heavy that it's nearly impossible.

Every year, we trek around the neighborhood with our kids. We always follow the same basic route: down one road, across the next, up this road, back across that road, up the next road and so on. For the past several years, I've tuckered out at the same point each time, my legs feeling leaden, as though I were trudging through concrete. Or that sticky, mucky creek mud. My legs become too heavy to walk, and I have to head home. I'm overwhelmed with fatigue, and that fatigue can keep me down for the next several days. 

Not last night.

Last night, as we came on that oh-so-familiar landmark, I realized that my legs didn't feel heavy. They DID feel a bit tired, as legs that are not in good athletic condition are wont to do, but they didn't feel heavy. And this morning? I had plenty of energy. Two surgeries and 10 or so pounds (so far). That's all Dr. Buck really did, but that small amount of work has made such a huge difference in my physical well-being. It's just utterly mind-blowing.

I'm halfway through the leg process before we take a break and reassess in six months or a year, but that I've experienced such an astounding improvement makes me think that maybe this might be it. That after the next two procedures, I might be done.


Reminder: These were my legs about two months ago.
Heavily swollen, full of lipomas and extremely painful
These are my legs after two surgeries with eight liters removed --
They are deflated-looking and still lumpy,
but oh-so-much-more comfortable now.


And with compression? Well shoot, they almost look and feel like normal human legs. 






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