Monday, December 24, 2007

Swelling After Surgery


Well it was interesting after getting out of the hospital how much swelling I encountered in my leg. The doctor told me to expect this but I have to say it was a little shocking. It looked more like pooling of blood in my leg than swelling. My leg was very dry (or ashy) and the overall shape of my lower leg became distorted.

The good news is that as time went on this swelling got less noticeable (a couple of years later). Even though it became less noticeable every now and then I it seems to swell more than at other times. The doctor told me that this could be my body passing clots throughout my system. I think it is more timed around me forget to take my coumadin.

I want to get off this stuff because taking a pill every day at 36 is no fun.

What I thought Was A leg cramp was a blood clot (or Deep Vein Thrombosis)

I remember how it felt, a tightness in my upper thigh. I thought I had pulled my groin muscle or something. The worst thing that I did was wait. No one tells you what these things feel like. And when they do they use complex descriptions.

I will tell you that the blood clot I had felt like I had a pulled muscle.

I was walking around it for days. I even had my friend massage this "pulled muscle." When I think about it, it kind of makes me cringe. My friend sitting there rubbing this deadly blood clot in my leg, yuck. If it was massage the right way I a sure and the doctors where sure that it would have killed me.

This tightness was the blood being restricted in my veins by the clot.

If you feel this tightness in your extremities (arms or legs) go to a hospital immediately.

I made the mistake of going to an urgent care facility. They misdiagnosed it completely ...