FLUFFY-FLUFFY & THE GREAT LYMPH CAPER

MEET FLUFFY-FLUFFY...

if you think she bears a strong resemblance to me and my jelly belly you would be correct...

i am fluffy-fluffy and i am a lymphatic mystery.

long ago, i wrote about the antics of my lymphatics (refresher read here) and i'm pretty sure that since then i have belly ached about my puffy status. my lymph massage therapist(s) have often referred to me as boggy, puffy, and other such professional medical terminology.

over the past several months, there is been a lot of lymphatic fluid collecting in my abdomen and my puffiness has soared to new heights. according to my therapist(s), i have now acquired a new status...

i am fluffy-fluffy and i suffer from fluff-itis.
their medical terminology astounds me.

i now have 2 different therapists working on me twice a week to try and drain the fluid from my belly. these fluid filled sacs are subcutaneous (meaning right under the skin) and can be manipulated and moved around my abdomen. you know what they remind me of? the moon jellies we find at the beach we used to frequent. they are the same shape and consistency.


when my therapists move them around, i can feel them moving. it is gross and weird. sometimes in the quiet of the massage room, as i am being worked on, i will whisper to my therapist(s),
"what is that?"
after a moment of disturbed silence, they whisper back, "i don't know...maybe it's an alien. i'll try to push it out of your navel."

no thanks! this is not the movie "Alien" and i am no sigourney weaver!

if my moon jellies are massaged long enough, they will begin to drain into my lymph channels and you can actually see the swelling in my abdomen go down. if i go too long between massages, these sacs of lymph begin to harden (called fibrosis). the fibrosis need to be massaged to 'break it up'. this is very painful. if the fibrosis are not broken up, i get a back log of lymph fluid in the rest of my body. for lack of a better word, i become waterlogged - meaning my face, legs and arms start to swell and astronomically puff up. this swelling can cause a weight gain of 10-12lbs in a few hours.

so weird.
so gross.
so irritating...
and
so mysterious.

apparently no one, not my therapists, nor DR H, nor DR A have ever felt the likes of anything like my abdominal moon jellies. no one can really figure out what is up with my moon jelly belly. it is a cause for concern as there are many different conditions that could be causing my abdomen to fill up with fluid.

DR H wants to get a thorough investigation underway.

there is a whole list of medical sleuthing to do in order to try and uncover this great lymph caper.

stay tuned for the adventures of Fluffy-Fluffy as she embarks on a medical odyssey in a noble quest to deflate her fluffiness.