Micheal Phleps looks like ME

cup·ping

ˈkəpiNG/

noun

noun: cupping

1. (in Chinese medicine) a therapy in which heated glass cups are applied to the skin along the meridians of the body, creating suction as a way of stimulating the flow of energy.

It is not a new therapy actually it is over 3,000 years old but Michael PHELPS - Olympic | United States of America does it and people go crazy! Fact I have been doing cupping for about 4 years now. When I was doing it years ago a woman handed me a card for spousal abuse telling me I was not alone and there was help for me. I was yelling to her “No No it is a treatment”. I do not think she understood what I meant though.

I went to a massage therapist years ago who tried to work my back for the aches of surgery and my arm from Lymphedema  and Axillary Web Syndrome (Cording) . Patrick Fuller took one look and calming told me I was a mess, which I already knew. He suggested cupping, I had seen many friends getting this so I figured -why not, it won’t hurt (or will it). My back as destroyed from surgeries and having my breast removed, one arm has cording the other lymphedema so I just wanted relief. Yes, I wear my sleeve but this is life long and needs maintaining.  The cupping I do is when they light the glass jars and stick them on, he leaves them there for about 15 minutes. I sleep while they are on. They can apply them and pump them on although I do not like that style as much, I think most athletes do this type. 

Photo credit www.themollyproject.org

Cupping gets the blood flowing and lymph system moving which can only help in lymphedma right? When you have cording the pain from the twisted “cord” is so intense you want relief but relief is popping that cord OUCH. What cupping does is loosen the webbing so the massage therapist can work it out with ease. From medication and surgeries your body harbors so much toxins, cupping releases them from your body. Now add MS to my mixed bag. Cupping decreases my pain, helps with digestive issues, increase blood flow and circulation (ummmm so important), and detoxification. It WORKS! After a session I want to schedule another so I can still feel pretty good. The trick is keeping up with it. This for me is like taking my medication I have to stay on top of it.

My family was not a believer so my 16 year old son needed his back worked from running he had a horrible knot. Patrick was working on him when he felt it, he told Ben he could scrap the knot out which was going to be painful and take a long time to release or he could get cupped. Ben choose cupping and he loved it. The pressure is relaxing and soothing. There is no pain involved and when he was done Ben felt amazing, He made a comment that he felt like he was standing taller and he was! See the cupping broke the knot up and relaxed his muscles so when he stood he was not hunching in pain. Ben was sold!

Now I know everyone is reading about the swimmers and gymnasts and other athletes doing this so they want to try it. You should for sure but my advice is to make sure the person you choose is certified and experienced. This is not for an a newbie to try. ASK YOUR DOCTOR! Please make sure you clear it with them. You will love it but make sure you are doing it right.

I do thank the athletes for drawing attention however if one more person asks me if I am doing “that Michael Phelps” thing I may scream! Next they will all start wearing tiaras…...

FYI the big spot under my tattoo is when my cording starts. When I left I could place my arm down without any pain!

we don't get over we get through

I hate when people say "you will get over this", that is a load of crap no matter if it is cancer or death or heart break. If it is real, caused you pain and you suffered then getting over it is something will never happen. I for one never got over my mother's death or any of my friend's passing what I did was I got through it. My girlfriend's son died tragically last year and that was the first thing I said to her "you will get through this" never over. How can you get over something that changed your life 180 degrees?

The reality is cancer never for a second lets us get over it. For those of you just starting out don't freak I swear it gets better but the fact is it is always somewhere lurking to remind you. Sometimes it comes up with maybe a sharp pain in your chest, doc calls it phantom pains I call him a LIAR that is real pain right there. Or it maybe a friendly reminder with that doctor appointment that you have to go to every 6 months, add the scans and blood work every other 6 months with a little scananiexty and BAM right back in. How can you get over something you are in? Is it ever out  of your head I mean really out of your head? No but you have to find a way to push through it to get to that new place of normal.

Getting over something means you do not have to deal with it but every time you get dressed there you are naked truth of what happened months, years, weeks or whatever before. For me with my wonderful keloid raised scars, lymphedema, and cording I am dealing daily with the physical reminders of what I cancer is telling me to "get over". It is my job to push pass these stupid dumb obstacles. And it is not easy these reminders of how cancer changed our lives, what we can not do any more. How it altered our body and distorted our views of our self. But we must push through and adjust our mind, body and even our spirit to this new life.

I know that my family and friends are sick of the complaints of pain and don't really get the scan nervousness for that I turn to my cancer friends. I swear I would be lost without an email from Seporah, a text from Lisa or Jaime, a tweet or an IG post from all my pink sisters and do not get me started with Facebook messages. We lost two sisters this week and their death hit us all hard. I sat here and cried for two women I only "met" through the cyber world but I loved, connected with and considered family. My cancer family was crushed. They get it. How do we "get over" that? Can we just get on after losing such amazing friends? No way but we must push through to a new day. Together we must send love, light and raise the middle finger to cancer because I do not have a cure! They are there for the push and sometimes I do mean they are trying to push me right off the road into the fast lane. They know when to give a shove or pull back they can tell cause they have been there. They are getting through themselves not getting over anything.

So saying "get over it" is dumb. You get over a fence or a stream but cancer oh hell no. When you have deep scars, death of friends, side effects, insomnia, weight gain, muscle loss, physical pain, hair loss, hair growth in friggin bad places, toe nails falling off, mishappen boobs, numbness....how can you get over? Then there are those fabulous moments when you have a "cancer free" day, hour, 3 hours. You go about your business and then you realize that you are free of this crap, but then your arm swells cause you pulled a hang nail and your lymphedema activated. SHIT!  But you straighten your tiara, slide your pretty bedazzled sleeve up, smile, put a dab of gloss on and say

"Don't tell me what to do! I am getting through this my way"