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Forum Name: eyrie.private-mail
Topic ID: 686
#0, Could use some advice... (Medical)
Posted by Terminus Est on Aug-02-16 at 09:05 PM
I saw my GP today, and she basically told me they're gonna have to cut my legs off below the knee.

Perhaps some background is in order. I've been dealing with severe edema in both legs - specifically in the lower calf region - for the past ten years. It's uncomfortable as all hell, and it brings a whole host of other health problems (not limited to ulcers, infections, and other pleasant little surprises), but the main thing is that it's slowly turning my legs purple. Compression wraps alleviate this to a slight degree, when I'm able to use them, but that isn't anything like as often as it needs to be.

My GP is setting up an appointment to see a vascular surgeon sometime in the next month, to see if there's any hope of getting through this without cutting off inconveniently large bits. I... have to say I'm not terribly hopeful, all things considered. It's been that kind of decade.

That's just the tip of the iceberg, though. My father's dealing with kidney failure, barely functional lungs (courtesy of a chemical spill where he used to work), and malignant skin cancer on several areas of his body. I don't know exactly which deity we pissed off, but I wish they'd let us know so we could try to make amends.


#1, RE: Could use some advice... (Medical)
Posted by pjmoyer on Aug-02-16 at 11:19 PM
In response to message #0
>I saw my GP today, and she basically told me they're gonna have to cut
>my legs off below the knee.
>
>Perhaps some background is in order. I've been dealing with severe
>edema in both legs - specifically in the lower calf region - for the
>past ten years. It's uncomfortable as all hell, and it brings a whole
>host of other health problems (not limited to ulcers, infections, and
>other pleasant little surprises), but the main thing is that it's
>slowly turning my legs purple. Compression wraps alleviate this to a
>slight degree, when I'm able to use them, but that isn't anything like
>as often as it needs to be.
>
>My GP is setting up an appointment to see a vascular surgeon sometime
>in the next month, to see if there's any hope of getting through this
>without cutting off inconveniently large bits. I... have to say I'm
>not terribly hopeful, all things considered. It's been that kind of
>decade.

I am in no ways a medical professional, but has Liver/Kidney Issues been ruled out? Both I (and my mother) have/are suffer(ed|ing) from leg edema in the past, and in both our cases it's due to malfunctioning liver and fluid retention. A short term palliative is to seriously cut down on sodium content, and take diuretics to get more fluid out fast (this is doable if you DON'T have kidney problems on top of the liver ones). My edema was manageable, and went away entirely once my liver was replaced.

Admittedly, if Liver issues haven't been caught in the ten years you've had this, I don't know what else could be the cause - but sodium reduction/fluid removal is a treatment (though really if the legs were being problematic you should have abdominal fluid to worry about as well).
--- Philip






Philip J. Moyer
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#4, RE: Could use some advice... (Medical)
Posted by Terminus Est on Aug-03-16 at 05:39 AM
In response to message #1
LAST EDITED ON Aug-06-16 AT 06:33 AM (EDT)
 
So far as I'm aware, my blood work hasn't turned up any organ failure problems. Admittedly, they do run in my family - dad's side especially - but so far, I've dodged at least that particular bullet. I neither drink nor smoke; caffeine is my only real vice, mostly in the form of soda (and yes, I know I need to kill that habit. Work in progress, I assure you.)

I'm currently taking lasix (fluid pill) and allopurinol (for gout) on the diuretic front, with colchicine (for gout flares) on a situational basis. I'm also taking potassium chloride (supposedly for cramps, since lasix murders my ability to rest without them) and have just been started on a ten-day course of antibiotics (cleocin) because of the ulcers.

EDIT: misnamed a medication. should've been chloride, not citrate.


#2, RE: Could use some advice... (Medical)
Posted by Gryphon on Aug-02-16 at 11:57 PM
In response to message #0
Holy shit, that's horrible.

About the only thing I can offer is anecdotal; when I had my surgery, I spent the first couple days after it in a thing like the bottom half of a pilot's anti-G suit—inflatable pants connected to a robot compressor that would randomly inflate and deflate different compartments. Supposed to prevent deep vein thrombosis, but ISTR someone saying they're also good for edema. Not the most convenient thing in the world, and if you're having trouble managing the logistics of compression socks it's probably not helpful, but it's pretty much all I've got at the moment. I don't even know what the things are actually called. :/

--G.
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#3, RE: Could use some advice... (Medical)
Posted by Terminus Est on Aug-03-16 at 05:29 AM
In response to message #2
This is probably something they're going to try with me at some point, in hopes of not having to cut bits off. Thing is though, all I have for insurance is Medicaid, which... isn't the best thing in the world. I get 14 days in-patient care per year, and I think about that many doctor visits, but there has to be 1: a referral from my GP, and 2: a physician that takes Medicaid to do the work. The second bit is, naturally, the harder one. Considering where I live, it's just short of a miracle that there's a vascular surgeon who visits the clinic I go to bi-monthly. I don't know what kind of wait there's going to be to see him at this point - my GP is setting it up for me.

Thing is, this should've been done long ago. This will be the first time I've seen a specialist for this. I don't have any idea why my GP hasn't referred me to one before now.