Things are coming along...

Hi everyone!! Well as the title says, things are coming along. I had my first physio appointment last night. It started out with a small lecture on lymphodema. It is a swelling in the arm that can happen anytime for the rest of my life. The lymphnodes that were removed are the infection fighters for your arm. So I was told to imagine that my arm is wrapped in saran wrap and that for the rest of my life try not to break the seal - no cuts, bug bites, hang nails, needle sticks, blood pressure taken etc. I am also not supposed to carry my purse or backpack with that arm. The list is quite extensive. Then we went into the gym to do our exercises. Needless to say that I wasn't do them all correctly. I found out how very important and serious it is to do my exercises twice a day and to try and gain mobility with each session. I was very sore driving home and proceeded to have myself a good little "pity party" when I got home. Jessica was very sweet and gave my one of her favorite stuffed animals to make me feel better. I know that Sandy wants to help but unless he can do some of the exercises for me there isn't much for him to do. I guess just make sure that I do them so that I don't regret it later.

Today I started to fix my attitude and went to the gym and actually startd RUNNING again. Hurray!!! It wasn't much just a few minutes of running and a few minutes of walking for 40 minutes. I felt great accomplishing that. Running didn't bother my legs or lungs but my incision area is hyper sensitive so that the movement created by jogging hurt. I knew it was going to hurt so I stiffened up and that made me run like a robot which made things hurt more. So I will need to start working through that whole process. I willl try to run outside tomorrow and see how that goes.

I am supposed to have all my mobility back in 6 weeks. And let me tell you that from where I am right now, that seems like a huge feat. When I get my mobility back is when I can start doing weights again - January. But I have a bit of a challenge. My good friend Karen is going to start working out with me in January after a 6 year hiatus. So come January we should both be at the same starting point - that would be at the punny 5 pound weights - together. I look forward to working out with her and being back in good shape by summer.

I also need to tell everyone about someone wonderful who has really taken the cancer cause to heart. That would be my Auntie Carol in Edmonton. She has many people in her life who either have or had cancer and so she decided to shave off her hair and raise money for cancer!! I am so proud to say that she has raised over $2900. She shaved her hair off and looks as wonderful as she always did. Thank you to her and her family - Uncle Chuck, Chad and Sean - for their support. What an amazing thing to do!!! I know I wouldn't have had the courage or unselfishness to do that. I guess we can exchange hair styling tips at Christmas!!

Well time for me to go.

With love, Carolin