Well, yesterday was busy and wow, am I feeling it now. I had two medical appointments (one in the early morning and one in the late afternoon). Since both were in the same area, I decided to stay in the area (the area being Newport Beach, so that was nice). After my first appointment, I went down to the beach, met a friend who was about to go surfing and sat on the beach for a while. It was a beautiful day. Then lunch and then some errands and then back for my next appointment. This last appointment was for physical therapy. I have been going for close to a month now to work on both of my arms and shoulders. My right shoulder is in pretty bad shape – what they call a “frozen shoulder”. I guess what happens is scar tissue forms around and in a pocket (that normally has fluid and allows for your shoulder to rotate). There are what they call “adhesions” where this scar tissue adheres in such a way that you simply just cannot rotate your shoulder. Well, that means that I can not lift my right arm up, or behind my back or, well, a lot of things.
Anyway, as I have said I have been going to physical therapy for a little while now and it has really helped my range of motion. But, on one occasion, I had a physical therapist who did some really deep (and painful) work on me and the next day I noticed the greatest improvement in my mobility. Plus, I really enjoyed her, she is bright, is also a cancer survivor and lost her best friend to breast cancer (very sad, the woman was only 39 years old, she had inflammatory breast cancer – which is aggressive and also not generally curable). So Dana (this physical therapist) was/is someone I can relate too. She also spent a lot of time with me the first time I worked with her. The only thing is that she works just two days a week (Tuesdays and Thursdays). I was originally supposed to go to PT on M, W and F. But, I feel I accomplish much more with her – she spends a lot of time manipulating (which equals pain, pain, pain) my arms and shoulders – stretching them into positions that I could never do on my own.
So, because I saw such good results with her in that first session, I have switched my PT days to Tuesdays and Thursdays to have her as my therapist. Well, yesterday, again she spent a lot of time with me. But, wow, am I in pain now. I know it is necessary (what she is doing) but, oh my gosh, the pain today is pretty intense. Wow. Normally they ice people down after treatment to help with inflammation and the pain that results from the work they do on your body. But, I can not have ice because of the lymphedema risk. I have to avoid extreme temperatures in my arms – no super hot water for example and no super cold water – certainly no ice. Bummer. But, I will try some aspirin maybe. I don’t know. Hopefully the pain will lessen over the course of the day or just soon.
I have some pictures and video from the beach to upload here, but, will probably do it tomorrow . . . stay tuned.
Please keep up the prayers for my healing!
L.
cancerfree2b 
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