Ever since the pandemic has been going on, I’ve basically left the house to go to doctor appointments or walk the dogs. Or physical therapy (PT). When I go to PT, I see a lymphedema specialist. Why? Because they stole some of my lymph nodes on each side! Meanies.
I had two on the left and three on the right removed. What do lymph nodes do? Well, stuff! To the Google!
Apparently they help keep you from getting sick. So, so comforting. And apparently they’re shaped like beans. And there are hundreds of them in your body. They do a lot of social distancing, except in the neck, underarms - where mine were removed from - chest, belly, groin. My PT specialist squishes the ones in my neck, across my chest and does a thing on my belly. This last time we also squished the ones in the middle of my chest more. “Squish” I’m sure is the technical term used in classroom teaching about lymph nodes.
To continue. They are part of the lymphatic system. They work with your spleen, tonsils and adenoids. What do people with no tonsils or adenoids do, I wonder? Do they have to squish too? Deep thoughts…
They are near the surface and kind of are connected by vessels. No veins, but I suppose we can just call them lymph veins. Why not? They move fluid around your body that is clear and watery. And there are cells! Yes. Cells. Lymphocytes. B-cells and T-cells.
T-cells. Brought to fame via the AIDS epidemic. AIDS kills CD4 T-cells that help protect you. Back on track now - I could probably research more and go down a rabbit hole here trying to figure out the mechanisms and progression of the disease and also why it took so long for it to be taken seriously. I digress.
B-cells. Basically, they put a little orange flag on germs to let the immune system know that they need to go. It’s not really orange, but just humor me.
T-cells. Multitaskers. Some go after the germs. Some are administrators and keep track of immune cells. It’s good to know if you need more of X immune cell and that some of the Y immune cells can be decommissioned.
In short, the reason your doctor grabs your neck every chance they get is that they’re looking for swelling. If your lymphatic system isn’t working right, or is, uh, backed up, they start to congregate and cause swelling. That is my medical explanation.
Because they stole some of mine, my system will probably need a little bit of help forever to drain and move stuff around properly. I’ll have to be very cognizant of swelling in my arms and legs, and I’m slowly learning how to do a little bit of the massage myself. Probably slowly because darnit. I prefer someone else to do the massaging. I do feel better after I get things moving more. I will probably get sleeves to wear on airplanes - assuming anyone ever flies again - to help prevent swelling, but so far, it looks like my system is adapting fairly well. I still do have swelling under my arms, but that’s due to healing and all the fun that goes with that. The most important thing is medical-related. I should not have my blood pressure taken on my upper arm and I still need to figure out where I am to get blood draws. Light pressure on my upper arms is fine, but I nee
d to avoid the crushing pressure of a blood pressure cuff or a tourniquet for a blood draw. Blood pressure can be taken on the lower arm, and so far it's been entertaining to see the
wildly different readings different nurses come up with!
I do have an issue with my right underarm hair though. Someone pulled that one way down and my underarms are lopsided. Oh well, not going to worry about that. Just save it for a party trick! Hey, look! My underarms are weird!! Wait until you see my chest!!! I’m good to go shirtless now, by the way. No nipples? No problem! Hahahaha!!!