Job Hunting Made...Difficult

Having both lymphedema and coccydynia has made a difficult job more difficult. Yes, I am talking about finding a job. I have to take both of these issues into consideration when I apply for a position. I can't sit for long periods of time because of the coccydynia, and on really bad days the inflammation can be so bad that I have to lay on my side on the couch. Try explaining that to a boss!  The lymphedema is another story.... I can't be on my feet for long periods of time, and at this point I only have a pair of sandals that I can get on my feet.  I will have to start experimenting with my shoes when the weather gets cooler. I also need to put my feet up as much as I can, especially on really swollen days. One more thing that is kind of hard to explain to a boss in a normal work environment.
My options have come down to trying to find a job that I can do from home. I know that not everyone is suited to work at home with all the distractions that can occur. I am very focused, so for me, that is not an issue. Translating my skills that I used at Barnes & Noble to a home based job should not be difficult either. I found a job that I like, but it is a start-up company and it is not really at a position where it will be making money yet. What I really like is that I can do as much work as I want on my own time schedule, and the job is doing internet research, which I love. I really hope that this turns out to be a viable source of income in time. In the meantime, I am still sending out my resume and applying for whatever jobs I am qualified for.

Enough of this serious business...Summer is almost over and Autumn is on the way. Labor Day is the unofficial end of summer and for me that means it is time to start decorating my house in fall colors. I have been working on, I guess you can call it, a pre-Holiday cleaning. I am de-cluttering my house, there are three piles right now, garbage, give to goodwill, and donate to library. I am taking on one room at a time and once this is done my house will be clean and organized again. Not that I don't have a clean and organized house, I am kind of OCD, everything in its place. Every once in a while, I get bored with things being the same and I feel the need to change it up some, and I am at that point right now. Working for Barnes&Noble, I have soooooooooo many books! Twenty-two years worth of books. The last time I got rid of half my books was before I moved to California in 2001, it is definitely time to get rid of books again. I have three book cases full of books

(This is my bookcase after I cleared one out completely. They all looked like the middle one.)

As you can see, it was time to get rid of some books. I plan on clearing out two full bookcases and taking the middle one down to just my favorite authors. At this point, I am at stage two, the two end book cases are cleared, the only one left is the middle one. I hope to work on it over the weekend. I know some people are sad that I am getting rid of so many books, but what good are they doing sitting on my shelf. Someone else can be enjoying them, and the library could really use the donations. The cleaning goes on and one day soon my house will be ready for fall...............

Why is My Ankle Swollen?

Sometime towards the end of 2011 I began to notice that my right foot/ankle area was swollen. I was not too concerned because I had issues with that ankle previously. I had sprained that ankle in 2006, not a bad sprain, but enough to weaken the ankle. I was fine for a few years, the ankle had healed and I had no issues. In December of 2008 I was checking my email,  like I did every morning before I went to work. My cat was sitting in my lap and I guess he must have caused my leg to fall asleep. Usually you can tell when your leg falls asleep, you get that tingling or numbness, I guess it was not quite at that point where I would notice that it was asleep, but enough that some of the feeling was gone in my leg. I finished checking my email and was getting up to grab my keys and jacket to head to work. I got up and stepped forward on my right leg, not realizing that it was partially asleep, instead of landing with my foot flat on the floor the foot was tilted. As I stepped down on it, the foot went all the way over so I landed on my ankle.

 !!!!! The pain was excruciating!!!!  I was sure I had broken it! I was able to drive to work and planned to head over to urgent care as soon as they opened. They were located right near work so I figured I might as well be close. I was not able to step on my right foot at all, I could only step on the ball of my foot. As soon as they opened, I headed over to Urgent Care. They took some X-Rays and determined that it was not broken, just a very severe sprain. There are three levels of sprains:
 Grade 1 sprain is defined as mild damage to a ligament or ligaments without instability of the affected joint.
 Grade 2 sprain is considered a partial tear to the ligament, in which it is stretched to the point that it becomes loose. 
Grade 3 sprain is a complete tear of a ligament, causing instability in the affected joint.^[3] Usually bruising will occur around the ankle.
I had a level 3 sprain. They wrapped my ankle and gave me some crutches to use. Now I have to tell you that the crutches were never going to work. I have no coordination at all, and I could not get the hang of using the crutches. I decided that limping on the ball of my foot was going to have to work.  By the next day the bruising started. My entire foot and ankle on both sides was completely bruised and swollen.

It took about a month to be able to walk on my foot normally again. My ankle was weakened by this experience, so much that I had to get an ankle brace to wear when it really started giving me problems. 
Since my ankle was weak and occasionally gave me problems I did not really think anything when I began to notice occasional swelling in late 2011. The swelling was only occasionally and was gone within a day or so, so it did not seem too bad. I assumed that I must have stepped on it wrong and irritated the already weak tendons. The new year rolled around and I still had the occasional swelling, I don't think I really thought anything was wrong until early March. Now the swelling seemed to be occurring more frequently and lasting longer. It was still only in my right foot at this point, but I finally began to realize that this was not from the sprain. For one thing it did not really hurt. I also noticed that my right shoes were giving me problems and the top of my foot was really irritated when I wore them. Sometime around the end of March I noticed that my left ankle was also starting to swell. OK, now I was concerned. I still had no health insurance, so I applied for a few, but was turned down due to pre-existing conditions. There was a pre-existing conditions insurance, but I needed to have no insurance for 6 months to apply. So going to a doctor was out at this point. Time to do some research. I researched my symptoms and one thing kept coming up, Lymphedema. 

Lymphedema refers to swelling that generally occurs in one of your arms or legs. Although lymphedema tends to affect just one arm or leg, sometimes both arms or both legs may be swollen.

Lymphedema is caused by a blockage in your lymphatic system, an important part of your immune and circulatory systems. The blockage prevents lymph fluid from draining well, and as the fluid builds up, the swelling continues. Lymphedema is most commonly caused by the removal of or damage to your lymph nodes as a part of cancer treatment.

There's no cure for lymphedema, but it can be controlled. Controlling lymphedema involves diligent care of your affected limb.(Mayo Clinic)

Now it began to make sense. I had lymph nodes removed as part of my surgery. From all that I was reading, lymphedema usually starts to occur about two years after surgery, and this was two years so it was right on time.  Lymphedema can't be cured, but it can be managed. I began to try and learn all that I could do to manage it. 

There's no cure for lymphedema. Treatment focuses on reducing the swelling and controlling the pain. Lymphedema treatments include:

• Exercises. Light exercises that require you to move your affected arm or leg may encourage movement of the lymph fluid out of your limb. These exercises shouldn't be strenuous or make you tired. Instead, they should focus on gentle contraction of the muscles in your arm or leg. Your doctor or a physical therapist can teach you exercises that may help.
• Wrapping your arm or leg. Bandages wrapped around your entire limb encourage lymph fluid to flow back out of your affected limb and toward the trunk of your body. When bandaging your arm or leg, start by making the bandage tightest around your fingers and toes. Wrap the bandage more loosely as you move up your arm or leg. A lymphedema therapist can show you how to wrap your limb.
• Massage. A special massage technique called manual lymph drainage may encourage the flow of lymph fluid out of your arm or leg. Manual lymph drainage involves special hand strokes on your affected limb to gently move lymph fluid to healthy lymph nodes, where it can drain. Massage isn't for everyone. Avoid massage if you have a skin infection, active cancer, blood clots or congestive heart failure. Also avoid massage on areas of your body that have received radiation therapy.
• Pneumatic compression. If you receive pneumatic compression, you'll wear a sleeve over your affected arm or leg. The sleeve is connected to a pump that intermittently inflates the sleeve, putting pressure on your limb. The inflated sleeve gently moves lymph fluid away from your fingers or toes, reducing the swelling in your arm or leg.
• Compression garments. Compression garments include long sleeves or stockings made to compress your arm or leg to encourage the flow of the lymph fluid out of your affected limb. Once you've reduced swelling in your arm or leg through other measures, your doctor may suggest you wear compression garments to prevent your limb from swelling in the future. Obtain a correct fit for your compression garment by getting professional help — ask your doctor where you can buy compression garments in your community. Some people will require custom-made compression garments.

When several of these treatments are combined, this therapy may be referred to as complete decongestive therapy (CDT). Generally, CDT isn't recommended for people who have high blood pressure, diabetes, paralysis, heart failure, blood clots or acute infections.

In cases of severe lymphedema, your doctor may consider surgery to remove excess tissue in your arm or leg. While this reduces severe swelling, surgery can't cure lymphedema. (Mayo Clinic)

(this is actually my foot)

Well, I bought some compression socks and found some videos on Youtube that showed me how to massage my lymph swelling. Summer tends to be the worst time because the heat may cause more swelling than during the rest of the year. These are the summertime instructions! :O

Many people with lymphedema find that their affected limb(s) swell more in the summer because of the heat. It's important to stay cool. If possible, be sure that you are in well air-conditioned places while indoors. Try to limit the time you spend outside during the hotter parts of the day, between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.

If you do get hot, you need to try to cool your whole body as soon as possible. Cool or lukewarm showers or baths work better than very cold water. If you're hot, but it's not possible at that moment to get into a shower or tub, at least cool off your affected limb by wrapping a cold wet towel around it and elevating it with support. To avoid getting your compression garment wet, place a plastic garbage bag between your garment and the towel, encasing either your limb or the towel. Some people prefer to cool off by dampening the garment itself. If you do this, be sure that the garment dries in a reasonable amount of time and that there is no chafing of the skin, especially at the joint creases.

Drink lots of water, even more than you do in the winter, to help keep yourself well hydrated. This makes it easier for your body to regulate its temperature. Even if salty foods don't normally affect your swelling, they may be more likely to in the summer. For crunchy snacks, go for fresh raw vegetables instead of potato chips.

Wear light, loose, non-constricting clothing. Not only will it be cooler; it is also better for the free flow of your lymphatic system. Because of the tendency of lymphedematous limbs to swell more in the summer; clothes and underwear that fit well in the winter may be too tight for summer wear. Check each day to be sure that the edges of your clothing do not leave indentations in your skin. Do not wear the item if it leaves indentations - it can constrict some of your delicate superficial lymphatic system. Moreover, looser, non-constricting clothing will allow more air circulation so that perspiration and moisture won't be trapped next to your body. http://www.lymphnet.org

So management of this issue was going to be something that would take time and planning. This was not going to be easy. I had already determined that most of the shoes that I own had to go. I would not be able to wear them again with the swelling. I was down to a handful of shoes and I did not even know if those few would work. They tended to be the roomiest of my shoes, so I would wait for fall and see if they worked. The only shoes I could really wear at this point were my sandals. They have velcro for both straps across the foot so I could make it as loose as I need it to be. Now having my shoes loose is presenting another problem for me, my feet keep cramping. Foot cramps tend to happen when you wear shoes that don't really fit right, your foot has to work extra hard to keep the shoe on. Since I could not wear my shoes where they fit snuggly, I will have constant foot cramps when I wear shoes. 

So this is where I am right now. I deal with the issues of both Lymphedema and Coccydynia. I guess they are a small price to pay to be cancer free, but my life is more complicated now. I can't just get up and go somewhere, I always have to think about what kind of circumstances I will come across and will I be prepared. Time will tell how this all works out....

Pain! What Could it Be?

I had been noticing a pain in my butt since I finished treatment. At the time I was still recovering from the side effects of my surgery, loss of muscle tone and pain in my right hip. I had also been told about side effects of chemo and radiation. As far as I could tell, I had no side effects once the treatment ended, or so I thought. 
At first I would only experience pain when I sat on hard surfaces. Sitting was not too bad, but when I stood up there was pain. I was going on the assumption that this was related to my loss of muscle tone and I just needed to get back into shape and the problem would resolve itself. I mainly noticed the pain when I was sitting in the lunchroom at work; the chairs were folding metal chairs. The pain really didn't bother me at any other time at that point so I did not really worry about it. 
Once I was laid off, I spent a lot of my time on my computer looking for a job. My computer chair was well padded so I did not have any issues with the pain and I pretty much forgot about it. As the year went on, I began to notice that I was beginning to experience pain occasionally. I had just replaced my computer chair of 10 years with a new chair, sadly the old one broke. The new chair did not have as much padding as the old chair, so I began to add pillows or a folded blanket to make up for the padding. As the year was ending the pain of sitting in this chair was increasing. I began looking for another chair, this time with more padding.
Around March of 2012, I found a chair that was reasonably priced and had decent padding on the seat. I bought it for myself as a birthday present. To top it off, the chair was blue, my favorite color.

At first it was great, the chair was nice and padded and so comfortable. That did not last long, the pain was back, and it was getting worse. I began to do some research to try and find out what was wrong with me. I searched for my symptoms and would cross-check the results with cancer treatment. I knew that the pain was related to some aspect of my treatment, either the surgery or chemo/radiation. I finally found what I was looking for and it made sense. 
Coccydynia. That word is a mouthful!
Coccydynia, commonly called tailbone pain or coccyx pain, is a fairly rare and relatively poorly understood condition that can cause persistent pain at the very bottom of the spine. This part of the spine is the coccyx, or tailbone. Coccydynia is felt as a localized pain and will generally feel worse when sitting or with any activity that puts pressure on the bottom area of the spine. (spine-health.com)

Coccydynia symptoms may consist of one or all of the following:

• Pain that is markedly worse when sitting
• Local pain in the tailbone area that is worse when touched or when any pressure is placed on it
• Pain that is worse when moving from a sitting to standing position

I had found the cause of my pain and the reason for it was radiation. I had radiation to four points of my abdomen area, front, both sides and the back. Well I realized that the radiation point on my back was right at the coccyx. Radiation damages bone and cartilage.

The coccyx is at the very end of your spine. It seems so small to cause so much pain. When it is damaged, like mine is, it moves. So when I sit down, the coccyx bone will move either front or back which puts pressure on my spine and is painful. The worst pain comes when I stand up and the coccyx bone moves back into its original position. Now that pain is pretty bad!

This is an image of a coccyx bone that moves. Now that I knew what the problem was, I needed to find  a solution. The first thing I could do was to get a special cushion for coccydynia. 

This is similar to the one I bought. It has a cut out to take the pressure off the coccyx. I can tell you that it does help, but only for a little while. I can usually sit for a couple of hours before the pain becomes bad enough that I need to get up. Sometimes sitting with my back arched helps, but that puts pressure on my back muscles and causes them to hurt. I have my good days and my bad days. Sometimes the inflammation is so severe I need to lay on my side to take all pressure off the coccyx, and sometimes I can even feel pain while laying flat on my back.  The next solution would be to get a cortisone shot in my coccyx, I have personally never had a cortisone shot, but I have heard that they are pretty painful. Since I still don't have insurance, that is off the table for now. The final solution for coccydynia is surgery to remove the coccyx. Now that would be a last resort. For now I will try to make the cushion work and give my coccyx a break when I need it. 

I had thought that when I finished my treatment that I was done and there were no more surprises for me. Well learning that I had coccydynia became one of my surprises, but there was more to come......

New Year and a New Idea

The holidays are over and it is now 2012. I still don't have a job, but I did come up with something new that I wanted to try this year. Playful Kitten Jewelry was almost a year old and I wanted to start a new line of Cervical Cancer bracelets. I did not want to add them to my PKJ facebook site because I wanted to market them differently. I started a new Facebook page that I called PKJ Cancer and Awareness Jewelry. I planned on donating 10% of the sales to the National Cervical Cancer Coalition. After talking to my friend F who had just gone through Kidney Cancer, she suggested that I also do some Kidney Cancer Awareness bracelets. I did eventually want to expand to do bracelets for other kinds of awareness, but figured I would start with Cervical and Kidney Cancer for now.

 I did some research and found out that Cervical Cancer ribbons were teal and white and Kidney Cancer was orange. I was able to find a supplier that sold the ribbon charms and then I needed to order some teal and orange beads in various shades for variety. I had no trouble finding teal beads but orange was more of a hunt. Once my materials arrived I began to make some bracelets. I wanted to start with an inventory of twenty bracelets for each cancer type. My friend F would promote the Kidney Cancer ones in her Kidney Cancer groups and I would try to promote mine in my Cervical Cancer groups. This sounded so much easier than it really was. You can mention the site and the bracelets but you can't make people come and buy anything. I knew this site was still a good idea and I would just need to find a way to promote my page and get people to come to my site. In the meantime I still had lots of ideas for Playful Kitten Jewelry, and I had to start getting ready for Valentine's Day. 
I know the holidays just ended but when you are selling holiday themed items you have to start selling them at least a month in advance of the holiday. I started with a bracelet and two necklaces with heart charms. I took a fun promotional picture to post on my jewelry page and I posted it on my personal facebook page. I could not believe it when someone wanted to buy all three pieces! Now that is the way to start off the year!

I quickly made some more Valentine's themed items and just as quickly sold a pair of heart earrings. I was hoping that this was indicative of the way the rest of the year was going to go. It was February and I knew my window was closing on Valentine's Day sales, the next holiday was St Patrick's Day. I had green beads and I saw some cute Shamrock charms in the store, so I decided to make some cute items for St Patrick's Day. 
Well March came and no sales on the St Patrick's Day items, but on March 7th, Playful Kitten Jewelry turned one year old! I could not believe that I had been in business for a year already! The sales this year were already looking better than last year, I had hope that the business would continue to grow.
March 14th is my birthday, I am blessed to be able to celebrate another one cancer free. Now that the holidays are over and I had settled back into the normalcy that was my routine I began to notice things that were not quite right. What was wrong with me? Were these long term side effects or something new?

Christmas Time Again!

I love Christmas! Now that Thanksgiving is over it is time to start decorating for Christmas. First the house needs to be cleaned, I am still getting tired pretty quickly so I break it all up. December does not start until Thursday so I have a week from Thanksgiving to clean and decorate. I spend the weekend cleaning the house thoroughly, taking down all the fall items that I had up since September and putting them away. I had also started bringing up my Christmas totes and the tree so I could just decorate when I was ready.

I decided to follow the same pattern as I had last year. I got the tree set up and the lights put on day one of decorating. That really wiped me out! First I had to anchor the tree to the wall with fishing line so it would not get knocked down. Then the reaching and pulling and twisting those lights really tired me out and my back was hurting. I knew that was it for day one, and the tree looked really pretty with just lights on it. One of these days I was going to have to get a pre-lit Christmas tree, they are so much less hassle!

The next morning I started unpacking the totes. It is kind of like Christmas morning just unpacking the decorations. I always seem to forget all the cute stuff I have until I unpack it. I try to sort everything into piles and then decide what will be going where. It took a few hours to sort and get everything put out, the only thing left was to decorate the tree. I use a red and green velvet bow on top of my tree and I like to drape the long tails of the bow through the branches. Then I start putting on the ornaments, the smaller and more delicate ones at the top of the tree and the larger plastic ones on the bottom. I would avoid plastic ornaments but I know my cat will be knocking those off and I don't want anything that will hurt him.
Finally I was finished! Everything looked so festive, it makes me feel all warm inside just looking around. My cats are happy too, they come running out and lay under the tree like a couple of furry presents. Now I can rest.
December always seems to go so fast. I remember being a kid and Christmas could not come fast enough, now that I am an adult, I wish it would last longer. Everyone seems a little nicer this time of the year, except if you are out shopping! I like to do my shopping online to avoid that! This year most of my gifts were handmade considering the fact that I was still unemployed.
Another reason I love Christmas is the cooking and baking. I was cooking some delicious cool weather foods that are so comforting. It is so hard to stay on a diet at this time of year. I also did some baking, I used to make my Grandmother's butter cookies, but they are too much work for me now. They require making the dough and letting it chill, then having to roll out the dough and then frost them afterwards. I did not have the energy for them, but I found a recipe for drop butter cookies. All you do is make the dough and chill it then grab a spoonfull of dough and drop it on the baking sheet, add sprinkles or colored sugar and bake. They taste almost as good as my Grandmother's recipe with half the amount of work.
All good things come to an end eventually and Christmas came and went as it always does. I was at the end of my severance pay and I would now be relying on unemployment and my savings. I wonder what the new year will have in store for me......