A different challenge

What can I say? My left leg is different. You'll see it in the photos - this rather stern, bald-pated look is of me before a ride up in Boulder County, Colorado, in July. I have had a condition known as lymphedema basically since birth, but as with most cases of Primary Lymphedema, it didn't show up until after puberty. Mine came on late, when I was 18. Nobody knew what was causing my ankle and calf to swell during senior year on the wrestling team. Within a few months the whole leg was swollen and getting nasty infections and nobody knew why. I wore ill-fitting compression garments for decades because that's all anybody could advise me, even at the famous Boston medical centers. It wasn't until I was in my mid-Thirties that I finally learned that I had lymphedema. Today I know that millions of people get this ailment as a Teenage, as I did, or as an after-affect of surgery that has included the removal of or damage to even a few lymph nodes. Breast cancer survivors often have significant lymphedema in their arm following a mastectomy. These post-surgery or post-injury patients have what is known as "Secondary Lymphedema". Lymphedema never goes away; there is no surgery and no magic pill. You just have to manage it carefully to keep the swelling from getting out of control.
How I've learned to deal with this condition with greater success since 2009 is, as they say, another story. Briefly, I've learned three new techniques: massage, compression wrapping and proper custom garments (see Juzo). I got my "basic training" in these techniques at Boulder's Health Links Clinic. Now I generally take are of it myself at home. But I do get great support and some intervention from The South Metro Lymphedema Support Group and Judy Culbertson's Physiotherapy Associates. And (to complete the shout-outs) Jessica Henry in Cherry Creek lends a hand (literally) when I need extra help. See National Lymphedema Network for more information about lymphedema.

This new treatment regimen has made my leg much smaller than it had been for the past 40-some years. And smaller is lighter and quicker on the bike. So it's a change for the better. But it requires much more daily maintenance especially after long, strenuous exercise (NLN says that's bad, but I've been cycling too long to give it up now). We're expecting that all these miles will affect the leg, so we're prepared to modify the ride plan if we need to. And do more of the massage and maybe some end-of-day or rest-day compression wrapping.

Stay tuned. I'll let you know how training in these final weeks goes and we'll take you down the coast of Oregon as we post some updates the weeks between Sept. 23 and Oct. 7.

And drop me a note if you have any suggestions or experience on this ride. I hear it's very popular.