The Lymphedema Fashionista

I have heard over and over again from providers that compression works best while exercising and moving. I’m honestly not sure if it makes a big difference for me, but regardless, staying active is extremely important for all around health. As someone with physical disabilities, my exercise options are a little limited, but I have still been able to find activities that I have grown to love. The first is swimming . I am lucky enough to have had a swimming pool in my backyard my whole life. As such, even before cancer, swimming was something I really enjoyed and did all summer long. I joined my high school swim team a year-out from finishing cancer treatment and swam competitively for the next three years.  The thing I love most about the water is that many of the limitations I experience on land aren’t there in the pool. When I was recovering from my hip surgery, I couldn’t walk without crutches for a little over a year, but in the water I could swim freely and rebuild some of my stren

One day at an appointment with my oncology team, my NP mentioned that even though my legs are different sizes, you would hardly ever notice due to parts of my outfits that would catch your eye first. It was kind of a strange compliment, but it was also kind of true. A lot of my outfits have a trademark “distract factor” that actually help in drawing attention away from my swelling. My legs might be visibly different sizes, but who’s going to notice that when there’s pom-poms on my pants?! Or funky red Dr. Martens boots on my feet?  The purpose of this post isn’t to make you feel like you need to draw attention away from your swelling or compression though. Rather, it is to encourage those who think dressing as neutrally as possible is the only way to hide their lymphedema to still have fun with their fashion.  You don’t have to focus on blending in just because you have swollen legs or arms; you still deserve to express your style on your own terms. Even with lymphedema, you can dress

You may have noticed from previous posts and picture that in addition to dealing with lymphedema in my left leg, I also have a leg length discrepancy of 2+ inches.  Between the size of my extra-swollen foot and internal and external shoe lifts, my family and I like to joke that I’ve got a lot going on in my left shoe.  For a while after my hip surgery that led to my discrepancy, I was able to get by with just an internal lift in high top sneakers or boots. As my discrepancy increased beyond an inch though, it became clear that I needed something more.  Over the past year, I have spent a lot of time working with an orthotist and my doctors to come up with a functional shoe-lift design. There have been many failed attempts and moments of frustration, but I recently had a boot with a sloped lift done, and although it’s not exactly perfect, it is the most functional of any other design I have tried by far.  Aside from my boots, I have a pair of New Balance running sneakers with a built-up