Swollen ankles...

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slipkid

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 12, 2014
Messages
539
Location
Schwenksville, PA, USA
I've been back to work almost 2 months now. I have a horrible, physically taxing, and very stressful job, where I am on my feet mostly the entire time.

Prior to going back to work, post surgery any leg/ankle/etc swelling had completely gone away. In fact I had posted that curiously I noticed post surgery that I would be peeing a river like every 2-3 hours which I never used to do (am mentioning this because this has stopped in recent weeks and think all this is linked - I no longer have to urinate that much, and don't much at all anymore).

When I went back to work it was with the understanding that I would be going back to my old schedule of 12 hour days (7 am to 7pm), on a rotating schedule, which although difficult to explain without you looking at a calendar since without that it is incomprehensible to most people, was 2 days on, 2 days off, 3 days on, 2 days on, 3 days off (work Tues/Wed, off Thurs/Fri, work Sat/Sun/Mon, off Tues/Wed, work Thurs/Fri, off Sat/Sun/Mon, then cycle repeats). That schedule gives me a 2 week period with 3 days off and 4 days off. I did not know if I could even do the 12 hour days, or that schedule but wanted to try.

However after going back to work - my first week was to ease me back into things and was five 8 hour days - then they tried to make me work seven 12 hour days in a row since a coworker was taking 2 days off and we are required to cover people on the opposite shift who take days off....actually I am not even going to bother to get into that long story, other than to say my 2nd week was three 12's, one 8, then we went on a schedule of 8 hour shifts SIX days a week with only Sundays off. This was supposed to be only for 2-3 weeks, but it has just continued on and on and on, despite my protesting that it is to much for me. My shift is 3pm-11pm and I am very much struggling with this. I only get one decent meal a week (Sunday night dinner). I am not getting enough rest. My weight has dropped from 146-148 to 133-136 in the past month. My INR has become unstable (too low then too high) and seems to require weekly adjustment up/down. And to add to all this they are trying to make me work on the "back end" - 7pm to 7am shifts, despite my telling them I do not feel physically able to adjust my sleep/life schedule in such a stressful way.

And to finally get to the point, my ankles/calves have started swelling after about 3-4 weeks of six day work weeks - such that I have to cut slits in the sides of my socks and even then my socks are pinching me and my feet feel horrible. I have tried discussing this with my doctor in email, saying I need a note saying I cannot physically keep doing this schedule, and need limits set, but that is yet another long story that I am trying to cope with.

Has anyone here had problems with ankle/calf swelling post surgery (I never even had this PRE-surgery), and if so what did you do, what did your doctor do, are there special socks, things I need to do??? My doctor did not answer my questions regarding my ankles and although I have tried to get an appt to see him last & this week, he has been either "on vacation" (last week) and now "booked up" for this week.
 
MrsBray;n849941 said:
The more I stand, the puffier I get. I bought some compression socks (15-20 mmg) and they help a little. I like how they squeeze my legs even if I just shift my weight from one foot to another.

Thanks. Is there anything to look for in buying compression socks? Types/materials/etc to look for? Do you wear regular socks over them? Sorry but I know nothing!! I did try asking my doctor but he did not respond :-(

Oh and what does the 15-20mmg mean? Is that something to do with blood pressure or what?
 
Have you gone to visit your doctor vs emailing or calling about this? It would help if your doc could see the extent of the swelling, check out the rapid weight loss and possibly order tests. Certainly if you want to get a note to support some kind of disability claim for work, you're going to have to go for an appointment.
 
I've always been told that swollen ankles was right up there with shortness of breath and sudden weight gain as symptoms of heart failure that should result in immediate medical consultation.
 
dornole;n849948 said:
Have you gone to visit your doctor vs emailing or calling about this? It would help if your doc could see the extent of the swelling, check out the rapid weight loss and possibly order tests. Certainly if you want to get a note to support some kind of disability claim for work, you're going to have to go for an appointment.

I've been complaining to the doctor about this for 2-3 weeks via email and over the phone, that I am having problems continuing to work this six day a week schedule, the loss of weight, the swelling of ankles, etc, and also that they keep asking me to work 7pm to 7 am and I keep saying "no, I can't do that" but they keep "asking" (and last week at one point I was told that UNLESS I get a doctor note to the contrary, I had to work 7pm to 7am the night after Thanksgiving - interestingly they backed off from that though on Friday, simply because they then realized if I worked 7pm-7am Fri/Sat that they would have no one to cover my 3pm-7pm Saturday shift, since even for them it would be impossible for them to find a way to make me come back into work 8 hours after working an overnight 12 hour shift!!!).

My doctor has told me he would write me a note for work, that he would not have signed off on me going back had he known I was going to work 6 days a week, or go to a 7pm to 7am thing. He also said he would talk to the cardiologist and said that he didn't think the cardio doc would approve of it either. Yet I still have no note, and have heard nothing back from him since the week before last.

I am more than willing to go in to see him. At no point has he told me to come in, or that he wants to see me (and I have offered to come in), and despite all this I called last Friday to make an appt to try to come in this week to nail this down once and for all and they told me that "he is in the office next week but all booked up".

Also - to be clear - this is not for a disability "claim". I do not want to go back on disability. I want to work. I cannot afford to live on disability. I went 5 months on that already after the surgery & it only paid about 1/2 my salary, and my savings have now been almost wiped out between that and the medical bills :-(

I am simply trying to get boundaries drawn up for work so that they do not continue to push me beyond the limits of my endurance. There are several people at work who have such limits expressed for them by their doctors and are allowed to work schedules that accommodate that. There is more to this however since those people are protected by a union and I am not, but we're getting off track.....I just wanted to ask about the ankles problem but felt it impt to give some background, as to what was causing mine to swell (sorry)....
 
clay_from_nj;n849949 said:
I've always been told that swollen ankles was right up there with shortness of breath and sudden weight gain as symptoms of heart failure that should result in immediate medical consultation.

Well I did mention it to doctor during one of our email dialogs but he did not reply to that at all. I also left a voicemail for him about it and asked that he call me, and when I heard nothing back I called again the following day (last Friday) and mentioned it to the receptionist along with other info, and requested an appt, and was told he was "booked up".

Thanks for the comments, but I am signing off for now.....I now have a friggin migraine and can't see correctly....another of my post surgery problems (frequent migraines, although this month I have only had 5 of them)....
 

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