Loving life with Lymphedema

Dress , Dress in Plus , Hat , Tote , Sandals , Earrings , Necklace I had to start this edition of #ootd with this outfit.  The other day when I was wishing I had signed my kids up for more camps this summer, my husband told me to have some "Mommy Time" and come back after the kids were in bed.   Life has been so busy I still had some exchanges to do from my birthday . . in March.  I never go to the mall unless I HAVE to try something on ot I need to exchange something. I am so glad I waited until now so I could find this dress and this hat.  The dress is a light cotton that I am hoping to transition into fall with leggings, booties and a sweater. The sunhat I have been eyeing forever and I was even more surprised how much I love it in person!  Everyday I'm feeling more confident showing my compression.  I really do owe it to the online community of amazing Lymphedema Warriors!  Thank you for flaunting your compression, encouraging and ...

Pantsuit/Romper , Similar,Romper , Sandals , Purse Necklace , Black Bracelet , Gold Bracelet , Sunglasses Date Night! And this Mama needed one for sure! This summer I kept seeing Pantsuits/Rompers (whatever you want to call them.) But after numerous try on's I couldn't find the perfect fit for Bertha . After the hilarity of my dressing room failures I took my sweaty self home empty handed, searched Amazon and found this holy grail of rompers. It's super lightweight and unlike a lot of rompers, super easy to take on and off and wide enough for Bertha. Dressed up or down it has been a staple in my summer wardrobe. Swimshorts , Similar swim short , Capri Style Sandals , Similar top , Similar top , Hat , Cup The dreadful part of summer to me is walking around with my wet compression stocking after being in the water. It rubs and chafes my other thigh. This year I searched and found my solution, long swim shorts. It was surprisingly difficult to find what I ha...

I have had Lymphedema since 2007 and in that time I had only one Cellulitis infection which landed me in the hospital for a week in 2015.  After that I went back to having no infections and loving life with lymphedema . . ok cringe, but I had to.  I don't know why it's a minor pet peeve of mine when a character from a show or movie says the title in their script.  Ok getting off track. Many of you know the past few years I have been battling cancer again.  After surgery and a recurrence I started my year going though Keytruda .  When my tumors started to grow I was apart of a trial which had me in the hospital a week each time.  After my first hospital stay I developed Cellulitis.  I did a round of antibiotics which cleared it up.  Unfortunately after my second week in the hospital like clockwork I came home and had another Cellulitis infection, visiting the ER each time.  I ended up having five infections in the course of 2 months. T...

So I have to be honest the first time I heard about the Superhero Stance (or Power Pose) was on Grey's Anatomy, but after looking into it, it is a real thing.  "The Benefit of Power Posing Before a High-Stakes Social Evaluation." was a Harvard paper written by Amy J.C. Cuddy, Caroline A. Wilmuth and Dana R. Carney from Berkley. You can read it here:  https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/9547823/13-027.pdf?sequence=1 I don't know about you, but showing off my lymphie leg in public would fall under a "social evaluation" for me.  Looks, comments, whispers and questions.  There came a time where I decided my insecurity of these things would not hold me back from living my best life or break my confidence!  Trust me it still is a struggle at times, but I remember EVERYONE has an insecurity and really people are more focused on themselves than those around them. My daughter is also getting to the age where she is noticing her body and that other girl...

Guess whose back, back again, Allie's back (and Bertha ) tell a friend.  Hello my lovely lymphie and lippy ladies!  To catch you up to date I have been healthy, my tumors have remained stable and I am not currently doing any treatment, yay!  Now that summer is here life has slowed down a little bit and I of course wanted to come back to share my support with showing off my lymphie leg during the magical season of summer.  Thank you to those of you that reached out to check in with me on my hiatus. I know it's summer, but here in the NW it's barely started.  There have only been a few days with  in high temperatures, so my daily uniform until recently has been these T aryn Zella Joggers , t-shirt and Birkenstocks .  I have basically lived in these amazing sweats, they were my second skin during our camping trip and I count the hours when I have to wash and air dry them . . . maybe I should invest in a second pair? They have held up well with no fading...