Is there a doctor in the house?
Apr. 3rd, 2026 01:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
baroque_mongooseWell, in fact there were several this morning. Our church has more than its fair share of doctors, including at least one GP, one A&E specialist, and one respiratory specialist. But, this morning, we were having a joint service with another local church; we always do that on Good Friday, but usually it's at their place, and their place counts as "local" only if you have a car. This year, however, it was at ours, so I'd have gone in any case, but I happened to be rota'd to sing. And when you're up at the front singing, you get to see the entire congregation, which meant I instantly spotted the lady in the very obviously hand-knitted red cabled jumper. Yes, you can get machines to do cables, but they make flat pieces which are then cut and sewn. They don't do proper shaping, which was what we had here.
So, of course, after the service, I had to go and ask her if she knitted it (she didn't; someone else did), and that was when it turned out that she was the GP who saw me about a year ago, if I recall correctly. I had had a mild panic because my left boob had suddenly become noticeably larger than the right one; however, by the time I actually got into her surgery, they were the same size again, and since then the left one has been going up and down in size with such abandon that a) it's very clear it's nothing more sinister than a slightly dodgy lymph node on my left side, and b) I've had to buy two different inserts to even myself out. Most of the time I wear the smaller one these days, but sometimes I don't need one at all, and sometimes I need the walloping great big one. Fortunately, it seems to have become a lot more stable, and I rarely need the big one - it can be a little uncomfortable when it over-inflates to that extent.
If you have a similar problem, it's good to know that there are little exercises you can do to help; I don't bother with these unless it does actually become uncomfortable, because the rest of the time I can just stick an insert in and rely on the fact that it'll drain itself naturally after a while, but they are here: https://www.wsh.nhs.uk/CMS-Documents/Patient-leaflets/Lymphoedema/6773-1-Simple-lymphatic-drainage-breast.pdf It's also the case that a lot of people are uneven anyway (and, indeed, I quite possibly was before this came to my attention, but it's harder to notice when you have less on top). This is where the inserts come in. I get mine from a company called Evenly; they're expensive, but they're comfortable, they're natural-looking, and they don't tend to slide around in your bra. They cover anything up to three cup sizes different. Even at the worst I'm never quite that bad, so I have one that deals with anything up to one cup size different, and another that goes from one to two.
Anyway, she asked me how that was doing, and I replied cheerfully, "oh, still going up and down like a yo-yo, obviously nothing serious the matter." Exactly where this leaves my bra size is a question for the ages, but the same bra still seems to fit all right wherever I currently am on the insert scale, so riddle me that.
It is indeed a small world!
So, of course, after the service, I had to go and ask her if she knitted it (she didn't; someone else did), and that was when it turned out that she was the GP who saw me about a year ago, if I recall correctly. I had had a mild panic because my left boob had suddenly become noticeably larger than the right one; however, by the time I actually got into her surgery, they were the same size again, and since then the left one has been going up and down in size with such abandon that a) it's very clear it's nothing more sinister than a slightly dodgy lymph node on my left side, and b) I've had to buy two different inserts to even myself out. Most of the time I wear the smaller one these days, but sometimes I don't need one at all, and sometimes I need the walloping great big one. Fortunately, it seems to have become a lot more stable, and I rarely need the big one - it can be a little uncomfortable when it over-inflates to that extent.
If you have a similar problem, it's good to know that there are little exercises you can do to help; I don't bother with these unless it does actually become uncomfortable, because the rest of the time I can just stick an insert in and rely on the fact that it'll drain itself naturally after a while, but they are here: https://www.wsh.nhs.uk/CMS-Documents/Patient-leaflets/Lymphoedema/6773-1-Simple-lymphatic-drainage-breast.pdf It's also the case that a lot of people are uneven anyway (and, indeed, I quite possibly was before this came to my attention, but it's harder to notice when you have less on top). This is where the inserts come in. I get mine from a company called Evenly; they're expensive, but they're comfortable, they're natural-looking, and they don't tend to slide around in your bra. They cover anything up to three cup sizes different. Even at the worst I'm never quite that bad, so I have one that deals with anything up to one cup size different, and another that goes from one to two.
Anyway, she asked me how that was doing, and I replied cheerfully, "oh, still going up and down like a yo-yo, obviously nothing serious the matter." Exactly where this leaves my bra size is a question for the ages, but the same bra still seems to fit all right wherever I currently am on the insert scale, so riddle me that.
It is indeed a small world!
