What a Day...

Mother's Day.  We spent the morning at my daughter Jacki's house having breakfast with all the moms.  It was wonderful.  My son-in-law Tim, cooked us such a great breakfast and I love seeing Jacki's and Tim's other moms that I don't see very often.  It was a great morning.

I had noticed several days ago a soreness in my armpit on the side where I had breast cancer.  Then Saturday night the crook of that same arm was aching and red.  I have lymphodema in that arm, caused by having lymph nodes taken out, so I figured I had better wear my sleeve to make sure it didn't start swelling.  Any new swelling with lymphodema is permanent - and it can get really ugly.  I'm already self conscious about the size of my right arm and certainly don't want it to get any bigger.

When I got home from Jacki's my arm was aching like a bad toothache so I took my sleeve off to look at it.  I noticed it was bright red and hot to the touch.  That's all it took - it scared the hell out of me.  With lymphodema, a hangnail, small burn, or paper cut can cause a major infection which will be nothing but a problem.  So, I ran down to the doctor and she gave me an injection of a strong antibiotic and pills to take.  Thankfully, today the redness isn't near as bad, but it still aches and the crook of my arm is still red and hot.  I'm hoping that by the end of the day I'll feel more comfortable that the infection is going away.

Here's a picture of what lymphodema looks like - I didn't want to use a real picture as it's really ugly.

I was sad that my son was going to Skype me for Mother's Day from Iraq but this infection scared me enough that I knew I needed to get right to the doctor and there was only a small time frame that he could call.  I love him so much.  It meant the world to me to even know he had the time to call, he's been working terrible hours and hasn't had a single day off since he got there other than the small leave he had at home.  Hopefully I can talk to him soon. 

Hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day.  I am so incredibly blessed to have my 3 children and my sisters and mother.  I love you all!