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| Keeping the river clean |
Humans are lucky. Almost all the grunt work happens without our knowledge. Oh sure, we can tell our bodies NOT to do something. We can hold our breath. Wait our turn at the bathroom. Swallow a burp--or maybe make it bigger. Most of our bodily functions don't need our conscious thought. This allows our brains to be very busy with lofty ideas. Like writing songs and blogs.
But sometimes our bodies say, "Hey, Pal. Pay attention!" Maybe you get a fever. A sore throat. The runs--as in running to the bathroom. In my case, last March, my arm swelled up to twice its normal size. I had what most breast cancer survivors dread--lymphedema.
Now I HAD to think about my arm. And the lymphatic system. Which I knew very little about.
Blood gets all the glory, right? The heart is the subject of countless stories and songs. We feel it do its work. We see blood when we are careless with the kitchen knife--or embarrassed by being careless with the kitchen knife. But lymph? What even is it?
Lymph is a colorless, watery fluid. It travels through our bodies in a network of vessels somewhat parallel to our veins and arteries. The lymphatic system has no pump like the heart. The contraction of our muscles keeps things flowing. The lymph carries white blood cells to and from our organs. It also picks up the trash. Dead cells, bacteria, viruses, and yes--cancer cells. These bits that our body recognizes as NON-SELF would build up in the gap between the cells if the lymphatic system didn't carry them off. At various points along the way, nodes filter those NON-SELF particles from the fluid. Eventually they get pissed or sweated or breathed away. Our bodies can take out the trash without extra help--unless there's too much trash or something presses on the pipes. Then there's a problem.
When I had my mastectomy in 2001, several lymph nodes were removed from my arm pit. Many others were scarred in the radiation treatment. Lymphatic fluid still flowed through my arm. Until lots more NON-SELF cancer cells started clogging up the pipes. And those pipes were narrower because the source of those cells--the tumor--was pressing on the pipes.
So I got my body some help. Thanks to the oral chemotherapy, the tumor shrank. There were fewer cancer cells. Lymphatic fluid started flowing normally again. My armpit is still missing a few nodes, but I do have over 600 more throughout the rest of my body. Taking out the trash.
My arm is back to normal size. My wonderful physical therapist doesn't need to see me anymore. I can lift weights. I have resumed some household chores. (Thank you, Lee, for picking up the slack without complaint. You're an unsung hero too!)
I have a new appreciation for this critical part of our body.
So . . .
Put a little love in your lymphatic system!
How can you heal a clogged lymph node?
Everybody's got a hungry lymphatic system!
I want to live, I want to give. I've been a miner for a lymphatic system!
No? Well, okay. I guess the lymphatic system will continue to be an unsung hero.
