Lipedema in the world

By Tatjana van der Krabben


The theme "Lipedema in the world", to me, is living my life in such a way that the lipedema doesn't own me. I only have so much energy to burn in a day. Certainly true. Sometimes the thought that something will cause my legs to hurt can make it tempting to pass. It's a balancing act, where I sometimes push on, because the very thing that may cost you energy, could also give you some energy.

Like last November. We had one day only to gather up all the ladies to do a short info & awareness film on lipedema. That's ambitious and we needed ALL day. Yet, we all had a fabulous day and as you can see in the image from the opening scene, we had so much fun.

By the end of the day I looked something like this. Not too bad, right?

It took me five days to recuperate. My body was unwilling to accept that I had pushed myself so hard, well beyond my limits. However, in my mind I still felt like a million bucks. That's what you see in this picture. So, all I can say is that it was totally worth it! Both for the cause and for me personally.

How about 'city trip' and 'theme park'? It pretty much equals sore legs. Still, I wouldn't want to miss it. Last year I had a great time in New York and Disneyland Paris.

 

To me, a city trip is about making choices. It's like every day life: you pick the things you really want or need doing and leave the rest for another time. Of course that sounds quite all right when you refer to doing the laundry versus making the beds. It's different when you're planning something fun. Luckily, there are many ways to work around it. I used to walk throughout the day. Now I take a taxi more often, but you could also try a bus or boat tour to see some sights without pushing yourself too hard. I also plan my route more carefully to avoid detours. If I really don't feel like making choices, I save up a little longer and plan an extended trip. With a little help or creative thinking you can still cover a lot of ground.

Theme parks are even more of problem, because beside all the walking you also need to plan your meals. After all, they mostly offer junkfood, which makes my legs ache even more. Last year, I brought quite the survival kit of homemade gluten-free and sugar-free carrot muffins, nuts and homemade kale chips, among other. That covered most of the lunches and snacks. For dinner we went to a buffet style restaurant. Normally I tend to avoid those; the endless queuing and the kids getting all restless from other kids running around usually annoys me. However, this type of restaurant is a perfect solution to a menu problem. Instead of explaining what you can't have and try to persuade them to make alterations to their fixed menu, you simply pass those items by at the buffet and pick what you do want. If it wasn't for those darn tasty croissants at the breakfast buffet, I would have gotten by on my best behaviour!

I have quite active hobbies: snorkeling and looking for fossils. A fossil hunt is not really agreeable to the legs, I'm afraid, but, again, I wouldn't want to miss it! I used to go to a site 45 minutes by car from where I live. I had to dig and sieve the sand in my makeshift

soil sieve with just the right size mesh to catch what has my fancy. Pretty heavy and hard work, but I use a manageable little garden shovel and mostly sit down when sieving the material. Like that I could keep going for several hours! It clears your head and there's that treasure hunt vibe. Too bad that site is closed now. Last year I went to a particular stretch of beach for my fossil shark teeth fix. We made it a family day trip. It was great. I hope to repeat it this spring and find me some teeth, of course! I've got some serious withdrawal symptoms here.

Of all the things that I love to do, snorkeling is the only thing that is actually good for my legs. I travel to tropical places, whenever I get the chance and take a dip, always on the look out for something I've never seen before or something funky like a shark or moray. Tropical places come with tropical heat, but provided I take a good swim twice a day, I sail through almost effortlessly. It being a hobby, going in twice a day is easy! Especially now that the kids are no longer toddlers you need to watch like a hawk near any water.

I love the beach. The breeze and the water on my skin, sand between my toes, a good book... It's my little slice of heaven. Even when parading around in a bathing suit for anyone to see, yes. At some point I got tired of fussing with a pareo or tunic. It does help that the people in the places I visited the last couple of years are quite appreciative of curves. I'm the pale one that sort of fits in. Thanks to that I became my own standard again after a while and stopped worrying about other people. A sauna, the beach at home, the pool: I'm now fine with all of it. The best souvenir I ever picked up on my travels!