In and out of hospital again

Hi everyone,
Since I last checked in, I have been in and out of the hospital again. I went to see my cardiologist for a coumadin count and to check my ICD and he took one look at me and said "you're going back to the hospital." My leg was still swollen and I was still very weak. He sent me to a different hospital where I was treated for congestive heart failure. I've been taking lasix once a day since I've been out and some days it drains the swelling well; today, however, my foot and leg were still pretty puffy. I also have a weird blister-y looking rash on the calf of my affected leg.

On a more positive note, my ICD is chugging along nicely.

5 Comments

Get your legs up in the air!

by Daffy - 2011-02-01 05:02:16

Get your feet up in the air NOW! That blister area is the fluid in your leg trying to get out by any means available. The blisters will drain and could get infected. They need to be treated as burn wounds and have silver sulfadiazine cream on them. They will not get well until the swelling goes down, and that won't happen until you continue the lasix or other diuretic and keep your feet higher than your head as much as possible. This happened to my husband when he was in the hospital. He came home 40 lbs heavier.. looked like a huge water balloon..or as my son said, the Michelen man.. and had those blisters on the tops of his feet. Our dr ordered a hospital bed at home for him so he could keep his feet up. We even put a big foam wedge under the foot of the mattress to get them higher.. and of course, kept his head up a little so all the fluid didn't just collect in his upper body. It took about three weeks to get well. So get on it.. ask your doc to order a hospital bed for you, and maybe home nursing care a couple of times a week to check your legs. Get well soon and God bless you.

Daffy

bumex

by Skyking - 2011-02-01 09:02:32

Check into a diuretic called Bumex. I was on Lasix and it quit working for me 2 weeks after coming home, doc switched me to bumex and all is right with the world again.

Water retention for the heart patient is not a good thing. Get it handled now

Listen to Daffy

by AmyS - 2011-02-01 10:02:58

Hi FlJ,
Amy again. I knew it was good advice to elevate your leg. Have you been doing that? A hospital bed would be awesome, I wish I had one. Please take care of yourself. Is your mom still with you? You need a little more help til you're better.

Daffy is 100% correct

by Pookie - 2011-02-02 01:02:55

the EXACT same thing happened to my brother-in-law and his leg became very infected and he ended up in the hospital for 3 months!!!! the infection can get into your blood system = NOT good.

I truly think you should be seen again by your doctor.

This blistering is NOT a good thing and I think you should notify your doctor immediately!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My brother in law had to have his blisters attended to 3 times per day (dressed with topical antibiotics and gauze wraps) and he ended up on heavy doses of antibiotics.

Pookie

Went to see my primary care doctor today

by Fljournalist - 2011-02-02 12:02:58

And he told me to get off my feet and elevate the leg. He also doubled my lasix to two a day. So other than this computer break, I've been laying on the couch with leg up since dinner - minus the multiple trips to the bathroom since I took my lasix at 9 p.m. No sleeping for me tonight I'm afraid.

I'm getting very discouraged because I want to get back to work but at the rate I'm going, I may never get back.

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