10 Awesome Benefits of Having Lymphedema

To raise awareness of lymphedema, I thought I’d share the top 10 benefits of having the condition. Yes, it’s a different sort of list, but we may as well bring our party attitude!

10. Meeting New People

Because I have lymphedema, I get to meet new people all the time. Sure, they may be nosy shop assistants or random strangers asking, “what have you done to yourself?” but not a day goes by when I don’t get to speak to a fellow human being. It’s great if you want to practice any social skills like restraint, biting your tongue and giving people the benefit of the doubt.

9. Being a Voice for Change

Usually, I’m the voice for a change… in temperature. Sometimes it’s a simple as saying, “Could we please turn up the air conditioning?” or sometimes it’s more complex, like orchestrating a shift in large groups of people, to get me to the chair near the door/fan/open window.

8. Opportunities for Work Experience

In the area where I live, there are no publicly funded lymphedema services. None at all. So if you don’t have the means to pay for treatment, you don’t get any treatment. And this isn’t unique to my area. We need to get out there and be lobbyists, activists and representatives. Excellent skill development.

7. Lifelong Pampering

Not many people with chronic conditions are lucky enough to be prescribed massage. Well we are, and I hope you’re all grateful for this. I don’t want anyone complaining about how expensive it is, or how we don’t even have a Medicare number for this. I just want you to lie back and enjoy the experience. It won’t get any knots out of your neck, and you will have to follow it up by squeezing back into that compression garment, but hey, you got your “me time.”

6. Soft as a Baby’s Bottom

Don’t you love the end of the day when you can rip off the compression garment and feel the cool air on your affected limb? Haven’t you noticed how soft and smooth your skin is? It’s definitely worth the thousands of dollars you pay each year in compression garments. And it comes with a bonus feature of SPF 100+ so you’re sun safe too.

5. You, and All the Other Elite Athletes

Everyone’s seen sportspeople on TV but no one’s ever seen someone with lymphedema on TV, so how are they to know the difference? Use it to your advantage and lie through your teeth. Next time someone you don’t know asks what the compression garment is for, look them straight in the eye and tell them you’re an athlete. Not everyone looks like Serena Williams; you could be a medalist for curling for all they know, so say it and own it.

4. Legitimize Your Concerns

Your concerns are legitimate and you can act on them. It is bloody hot in that and even more so when it is bloody hot. You deserve to get the seat next to the air conditioner, skip the queue for gelato or do anything else that’s going to get you cold stuff in hot weather.

3. Provide Social Commentary

In other words, whinge if you want to. You’re justified. You’d have to be pretty thick skinned – no offense – to not be bothered by the constant comments. If someone wants to say something ridiculous, then feel free to recount the conversation endlessly. Embrace the outrage. It’s impossible to educate every man and his dog about your condition, and you certainly don’t want to waste your breath on someone who was really only “making conversation.”

2. Pool Your Resources

Or make the pool your resource. Better still, if you have flexible working arrangements, ask your manager if you can work poolside. Swimming has enormous therapeutical benefits for lymphedema. Not only is it exercise, but it’s cooling and the gentle pressure of the water mirrors the gentle pressure of a lymphatic drainage massage. What? You’re having trouble fitting in a regular swim with your other medical appointments, your self-care routines, and your work and family commitments? Well, maybe that’s your own fault for not having a pool at home.

And here it is [drumroll please], the top of the list, the ultimate advantage to having lymphedema…

1. You’ve Got Drive

No sarcasm here. When everyone else is playing “hot potato” with their steering wheel in this hot, hot weather, a little tug of my compression sleeve and I’m cruising like a boss.