It's taken five weeks

Monday was five weeks since I stepped off a plane returning from Europe and that is how long it took for my arm to come back to normal. That is the problem of flying long distance with a limb at risk of/borderline lymphedema. And that is wearing a compression sleeve on the flight, for most of the trip, and much of the time since I have returned.
In contrast, my feet, which are not lymph-compromised, swelled for five days after my return. Last year I wore compression socks on my long-distance flights, and they didn't swell at all.
And admittedly, this year my arm swelling was worsened by the fact that I was ill and so unable to do lymph massage on arrival after my flights, both in Europe and here, and then again for weeks after the flights.
But still. Been awful. Always the fear it won't go down, the fear that I have lymphedema plus the damn irritation of wearing the sleeve, especially in a heat wave at the height of summer here, and so not being able to wear most of my clothes...
Be that as it may, I am super duper lucky. Love my arm for finally coming right. Now off to Lesotho for a few days, where it is likely to be even hotter than here and The Lymph Lady2, whom I have been seeing since The Lymph Lady has been away, plus recovering from an operation to first one and then the other of her arms and so cannot heal if she works now, says I must be careful of sitting in the sun. But then I always wear a hat and use sunblock which is permanently in my handbag (purse).
We are driving down to Lesotho tomorrow (I am flying back as have to be at work on Monday) and she said I should wear the sleeve for a car trip longer than four hours but have never heard of that and never had hassles before. Also been reading the The National Lymphedema Network  website for prevention tips and it doesn't mention anything re car trips.
But I will of course take my compression sleeve and, should my arm not feel ok, will consider wearing it.
So lazy today - guess the warm weather doesn't help that - but my friend is here from New York and that is not an everyday occurrence so gonna get outta my gym gear from this morning, get into the shower, get dressed and go off and meet her as the next time will be on Monday, the night before she leaves. (This sounds like I haven't been seeing her - have had a great time seeing her even though she is here because her elderly mom is ill.)
Happy festive season to you all!

A different kind of lymph massage

Since the week I finished radiation two years ago, I have been seeing The Lymph Lady. I don't have lymphedema but am high risk for it and in the past while, as in the last month, my arm has not been good because I travelled long distance (from South Africa to Paris and then Budapest) and also because I was ill before I went (sinus and tight chest and had to go on a nebuliser, even on the day I flew out) and also when I came home, and so could not do lymph massage. I did it a few time while on holiday before I became ill again, but started again on Friday.
So my arm has been a little haywire and I wore the compression sleeve for most of my trip but as it was the dead of winter, well, really only autumn but freezing for me, it didn't matter much as I also wore gloves.
Anyway The Lymph Lady is away. More than that, she had first one op on one arm and then another on the other arm and so cannot work else it won't heal. And she is unavailable till January 23 although she did see me briefly to measure my arm cos I was panicking. 
So I saw Lymph Lady 2 today. My goodness. Have seen her before as a physiotherapist. Lymph Lady Original is an occupational therapist. It appears (and I am talking here from what I can see from a website) is that she is Casley-Smith trained, which is one form of lymph treatment. Lymph Lady 2 might have a different training. It took place in Germany recently. She also did a nerve/neural stretch which Lymph Lady Original told me should never be done without movement (my biokineticist had done it on my arm).
But the most astonishing thing about Lymph Lady 2's treatment was how rough it was. Instead of gentle yet firm movements which move the lymph, this was an aggressive assault on my body, penetrating deep into the lymph nodes in the groin area, and aggressively manipulating the lymph nodes around my neck and on my back and...
Amazingly, my arm felt remarkably better afterwards, a more noted transformation than I have felt with The Lymph Lady. But now I am sore under my armpit, possibly as a result of yoga tonight. And when I did a hanging dog pose at yoga tonight, my arm hurt the same as with a neural stretch, and so I had to come out of the pose.
Am very curious to hear about others' experiences of manual lymph drainage massage.

Cannot believe haven't posted for a month!

Sjoe! Been hectic and still am. Went floating down the Danube, busy writing a story about it now and haven't stopped for one second, not even on the cruise which was fab but not one bit relaxing. (Guess that is also me, always doing this and that.... )
Anyway, had the usual hassles with my arm when travelling abroad. It swelled up a little, and in fact I spent most of my holiday wearing a compression sleeve. Tomorrow see The Lymph Lady - just to be measured, as she has had an op on her arm and cannot do the massage till next month - and that will determine if I can take it off. But must say it does feel fine now, and it's evening, so intend not to wear the damn sleeve tomorrow.