I've Been Gone For a While, But I'm Back

Let's do a restart!

Hi Everyone,

I’m sending a short letter to you to let you know I haven’t forgotten about you, and I’m ready to start again on this Lipedema quest.

For the past couple of weeks, I was in Arizona taking care of my very ill mom. She ended up passing away on January 26th. Her passing was very peaceful, and I was able to get my brother and my daughter to come down to be with us, so she had loved ones around her. We couldn’t have asked for anything better.

My husband also drove down from Oregon, and spent time with us there, for his always wonderful support (I have the best husband, btw). We arrived home a couple of days ago.

It’s been emotionally hard for me. My mother and I didn’t have the best relationship. But I was happy to get her home and on hospice care, and take care of her until she peacefully left us. It was the best gift I could give her.

Now that I’m home, I started back on my regimen; anti-inflammatory diet, using my Flexitouch for lymph drainage, and getting some dog walks in for exercise.

(As a side note, I wrote in my last letter that I couldn’t take my lymph machine on a plane. My rep called and let me know that is wrong. The machine can be taken on air travel trips. There is a TSA card or something that I’d need for it. I have to talk further with my rep about it.)

Since I was down south taking care of my mom, I had to reschedule my FCE—functional capacity exam. This is the last piece to the puzzle for getting my preauthorization sent in to my insurance. My scheduled appointment is now on March 3rd. I should also have completed 12 weeks of physical therapy, so that will make it even more concrete—hopefully.

I left off with the promise to write about the conservative treatment to help manage lipedema and lymphedema. I’ll start writing about this in my next newsletter.

Part of me wants so badly to just make the surgery appointment and get this over with. I can’t tell you how many times this goes through my head on a daily basis. I was on a Facebook group the other day, and a woman talked about how she finally got approval for her surgeries. It took her a year.

That is just (expletive!!) unacceptable.

We shouldn’t have to wait that long for surgical approval. We deserve better.

I also wonder how long it will take for me to get approved for liposuction. I will be hand-holding my preauth request and make sure I’m involved in every step. I won’t be waiting a year. I’m not that patient, and as a nurse and a case manager, I know how to bang down doors when I need to. Yeah, it’ll be interesting.

I’ll keep you updated on the progress.

Take care,

Michelle

If you’re interested in watching me talk about caring for my mom in her last days, here’s a 2+ minute video.