Solidea Night Wellness

Solidea make wonderfully soft compression, the texture is delightful and so comfortable against the skin.  

As I had been advised to keep wearing compression after surgery, I decided to try these "Night Wellness" stockings for wearing at night, to give me a rest from constantly being in tights. They cost £28.90 a pair and you can purchase them from Solidea or via Pebble UK.    They come in black or pale pink.  They are very light compression, 12-15 mmHg.  

They look attractive on, so are a good confidence boost if you don't like wearing ordinary compression at night but do feel you need some support sometimes.  

They definitely keep my legs a little warmer at night.  It is a comfortable warmth and I have enjoyed wearing them on spring nights, but I don't fancy trying them on a hot summer night!  

They are quite a dense opaque black, with the word solidea in white at the top and a grey foot/heel section.  They have a nice purpose made edge on the foot and I find they don't move too much in the night.  The foot band is quite elastic so you will be able to move and place it easily.  It looks nice as it has been woven to be open toed so has no loose threads.

They stay up very well overnight.  You can see I do get the elastic squashing in a little but I don't find it uncomfortable.  You can see below that the marks where I've turned the top over are not red or sore.  You can also see the way they are held up, loads of little elastic threads.  These little elastic threads did seem to break easily so I had to go up a size (I was near a size boundary as you buy these based on weight and height) after breaking quite a few threads in my first pair!  I am concerned about how long they will last before I break too many threads to keep them up!  

I would suggest that if you are near a size boundary you go up a size like I did in the end.  They should last longer and the word "Solidea" will look less stretched out on your thigh.  

Overall these are a nice addition for wearing if you are perhaps having an active holiday and feel like you need some night compression, or feel your legs would benefit from a little extra warmth or support at night.  

Sigvaris Diaphane CCL 3 & CCL 2

Sigvaris Diaphane are a range of tights designed for the French market I think.  Their compression strength is measured using the French AFNOR standard (as opposed to the German RAL standard).  AFNOR is a lower mmHg than RAL so a class 3 Diaphane is 20-36 mmHg and a class 2 is 15-20 mmHg.    

The Diaphane are very easy to put on and take off.  They are very light and thin and have an actual waistband rather than a slot where a length of elastic is threaded.  That is a real benefit as it makes them look and feel more like normal tights.  These would genuinely pass for ordinary tights, albeit ones with somewhat of a coarse weave.

They are very easy to put on as they are quite thin and light fabric.  You must still wear gloves as because these are quite an open weave, they are easy to ladder or tear.  I have managed to snag them on the inside of my shoe, the trim on my other slipper when putting my feet together, on my bracelet etc.  They are the flimsiest compression I've had so far.    

Because they are so open and easy to put on and off they are great for busy days and make you feel very comfortable in wear.  They do not crease in the back of your knees or form any uncomfortable folds because they are not as dense a fabric as some more "medical" looking compression.  These feel a little harsh/dry textured - the texture makes me think of nylon rather than the soft feeling of a thicker pair of tights like the Sigvaris Comfort.  

They are quite good for comfort in the heat - especially around the groin as they do not have thick seams anywhere.  

The compression is very mild in the panty section so in the months since surgery I have gone from CCL2 to 3 and still needed some M&S thigh control pants under them.  On their own they are not enough for me to do sports without some aching, but they were OK for that pre-surgery. 

These are the class 3 closed toe Diaphane tights.  Class 3 only come in "Dune" or black on prescription.  

This is a shame if you are pale skinned like me as the "Natural" shade they have in class 2 on prescription is a paler shade and looks more natural if you don't have a tan.  The shot with my shoes included a notepad to help show how warm "Dune" is.  

 These are the class 2 "Natural" shade in open toe.  You can see it looks a little less tanned.  The close up is of the same pair of open toed tights, and shows the shade a little better.  

You can see the wisps of threads where the open toe tights are made by effectively removing the end and seaming the foot section.  I found the wispy bits looked annoying and the tights moved up under my foot and would cut in a bit so personally I wasn't impressed as there was no grip at all to keep the open toes in place.   

The Diaphane in class 3 (right) have a v shaped panel inserted in the centre of the area over your stomach, whereas the class 2 just have a single centre seam (left).  The panel perhaps reduces the effect of the compression/seam on your tummy as they are very comfortable and light to wear, even after eating a large meal!

Places to eat in Lübeck

You can walk around Lübeck happily looking at places to eat - all the usual restaurants from Italian to chinese etc.  We just wandered around and were always able to find something good to eat.  

It seemed like people don't tend to eat late - the restaurants seemed quite quiet by 9pm. 

If you are looking for easy menus then I can confirm that the Maredo steakhouse has menus in English as well as German (I think they had a range of languages) and their food was fresh - salad bar, steaks, fajitas etc.  The staff were friendly and it was a very comfortable place to eat. 

The Park Inn hotel has an Italian restaurant LaBaracca Cucina Italiana with menus on tablets - like small ipads.  You can switch the languages on those and you order through your tablet device!  The restaurant has loads of windows so is very light and nice to look out from whilst you eat.  

For something indulgent and different for an afternoon tea I have to recommend the Niederegger cafe where you can indulge in their famous marzipan in tasty desserts and tea.  They do also sandwich type mains.  

Things to do in Lübeck

 
Lübeck is a fascinating place to walk around with great architecture and interesting things like this 3D mini map of the town that we just walked past by some shops.  

The Niederegger shop, cafe and museum is wonderful.  You have to go to the cafe and try marzipan tea and marzipan cake.

The museum is upstairs, accessed through a side door in the cafe, and is quite small but informative.  It covers the history of marzipan making and has some impressive statues made of marzipan - it smells quite nice in there!
 

The shop downstairs has some impressive marzipan art too and the most amazing varied flavours of marzipan.  

I think the marzipan options are so varied that this is the only place to shop for souvenirs!




Another place I wanted to visit, but which was closed when we were in town was the Theatre Figure museum.  You can find it up a little side street - you can see this dragon outside!  They have over a thousand theatre puppets so are on my list to go back to one day.  

Lübeck itself

So I realised I hadn't said much about Lübeck itself, other than that many people will speak good english.  The town is famous for it's brick architecture according to google.  A good example of that is the old gate here, which is on the walk from the train station or Park Inn hotel into town. 

If you get close and look up it is quite impressive too!

 The river is just on the edge of the town centre as you walk through the gate above. 

 Random old building overlooking river - such a lovely and peaceful area.  I felt   Lübeck was very picturesque and welcoming. 

If you are wondering about the town itself, Lübeck is a small town, with a lot of places to eat and a decent range of shops (bakeries, sports/small department type stores etc).  

It does have some steep hills if you wander all over, but you can walk some interesting routes around the town or along the river if you want to avoid the steeper streets,  

There are a lot of cobbles in the town centre side streets and pedestrianised areas so wear comfortable shoes not high heels if you go walking!

Week 17: Review with Professor

I caught up with Professor Schmeller during the Lipoedema UK conference and he had a good look over my thighs and the flat flanks I've been obsessing about!

I was very happy that he came to me to invite me to have a review and I felt he was very kind in making time for me.  

Professor Schmeller spent ages turning me round and round to have a good look at my legs and he advised me that he felt I was still healing and should see/feel further changes by around six months and so he suggested we have another photo session and review then.  He stressed that he would make time for me if I wanted to come to Lübeck, but otherwise he recommended photos and phone calls/emails at the six month point.  

Professor Schmeller advised that I should use some lotion to massage my legs twice a day, massaging  in the lotion with a flat hand in a circular motion around on the top of my thighs.  He used his hands to show me what he meant and it felt a firmer pressure than MLD.  It did feel a little intimate having him massaging my leg!  He recommended I did this twice a day on my thighs and knees.  He felt that I still had healing taking place down around my knees too, which surprised me but I do feel some sensations there when I do vigorous exercise so I guess it makes sense.

I asked if I should increase my MLD and he said as the MLD is quite pricey, he thought twice daily self massage would be as good as having more frequent MLD as I would not be having it anywhere near as often!

He was very happy with how I looked and how I am healing.  I was very happy that around weeks 14-15 I felt I had stopped experiencing the pain I had been feeling in my left back thigh and I was now only feeling it occasionally on the car seat and not other times.  I feel like maybe it was impatience with healing or maybe it was the consequence of some bruising (as I am still bruising if I bump into things)?  

I gave my legs a really good workout during the conference as I was running around helping out so I was upright and physically running from place to place with things for people for over 8 hours a day, rarely sitting down.  My legs did ache and by day 3 my ankles were a bit swollen in my class 2 Wonder Model tights, but it was all bearable and I didn't get any pain :)