Swollen ankle after knee surgery

shelleymogui

Hi all,

Got home from work today and my dad showed me his ankle. It is very swollen and also we noticed on his arm he has kind of like a burst blood vessel kind of rash on his arm. He said he has had these before and that they fade and go but he has never had that many before.

I was watching greys anatomy earlier, stupid idea really but someone mentioned blood clot, then i googled knee surgery and blood clots...you can see where this is going can't you? it is now 00:17 and im wondering if I should try get him in a taxi tomorrow to go to hospital while im at work just to get checked out...am I being too dramatic or is it safer to get it checked being so close to knee surgery?

Can't sleep....please say someone is still up

xx

skezier

Hi Shelley,

I wonder if it is possible for you to have a word with someone before you send him in? It may be nothing but if your worried its best to get it checked out. Have you got a contact number for his consultant or the ortho opd? You could arrange to just get his gp to look at it as sending him in to hospital may make for a long and uncomfortable day for him.

I hope it is nothing to worry about and googling things isn't always good...... I read up on one of my things and one idea was quite bad actually. I think you will need to make sure but maybe the gp is a better way.

I hope you get some rest and that he will be fine tomorrow for him. Take care Cris

shelleymogui

Thanks Cris, whilst waiting I gave NHS direct a call and they said if he is sleeping to keep an eye on him and then get it checked out tomorrow if it is causing more pain or he has new symptoms, im just terrified it will be a blood clot but he is happily snoring away now so i will try and sleep and update tomorrow.

Thanks for the support.

Goodnight Shelley x

skezier

Hi Shelley,

It probably isn't, he may just have been overdoing it. I shall keep my fingers crossed for you. I hope you can get some sleep. Cris x

elnafinn

Hi Shelley

I hope your dad is ok this morning. The swelling in the ankle could be because he is not resting the knee enough with his legs elevated. An icepack may do the trick. Cannot explain the rash though.

Hope it gets sorted today,

Love
Elna x

shelleymogui

Well he slept through the night fine, and I got a bit but I want to get it checked out today afte work.

I spoke to him this morning and told him the symptoms if he needs to call an ambulance but have said if he rests it all day then my partner will take him to the hospital at 6pm and i will take over at 7.30ish, just want to be safer than sorry. Think I scared him this morning though. I did say dont worry, one site says its common and to elevate but one says to get it checked if you've had surgery.

Thanks for all your help, it helped having people on here to get an opinion from, you dont feel alone at all in this.

Thank you again

Shelley

frogmorton

Hi Shelly
Well that sounds reaaly scary night!! good job you had Cris and NHS direct to keep you company!
Hope all is well with your Dad - my M-in-law had a very swollen ankle after hip surgery for ages?
Please do let us knwo he is ok later.

Better safe than sorry any day!!
Toni x

woodbon

Hi, Life is so difficult at times isn't it? Sleepless nights and work along with the worry, make careing really hard! :? Hopefully, the hospital will be able to sort it out, I agree that you should do this as it really is, as someone just said, better safe than sorry.

I hope that all goes well for you all. Love Sue

shelleymogui

Hey all,

I've just spoken to my Dad, he said that when he got out of bed this morning his swollen ankle had gone down but once he'd gone to the loo and made a cuppa it was back up again......surely if im talking worst case scenario, it wouldnt be a bloodclot because it wouldnt go up and down, it would just stay up because the blood couldn't pass?

Surely??

Anyone had a bloodclot or know how I can tell the difference between that and a normal swollen ankle.

Shell x

lindalegs

Hi Shelley,

I had a DVT (bloodclot) a few years ago. My ankle and foot were very swollen - I got to see the GP immediately when I explained my symptoms to the Receptionist and GP sent me to the hospital straighaway. The Hospital did keep asking me if it was painful to walk on it but to be quite honest, at the time, my knees were so painful (I was waiting for TKRs) that I couldn't say where the pain was coming from. :roll:

From what I remember the swelling reduced slightly overnight but did come back when my feet went to the floor.

DVT's happen when you're less mobile than you used to be - hence my inactivity with painful knees. The danger also is that the bloodclot could move to your heart or lungs :shock: - sorry I don't mean to alarm you.

At hospital I was given a veinagram (sp?) and put on blood thinning injections immediately for a course of some days which my husband administered at home. I was then prescribed warfarin and had to attend clinic for quite a few months whilst on the drug.

So if you think your Dad displays the same symptoms as mine it would probably be advisable to have his GP look at him.

Hope this helps

Luv Legs

shelleymogui

Cheers Linda, no thats great. Thats what the website basically said last night which scared me half to death but I monitored him sneakily through the night.

Now you have said it did go down whilst asleep it has made my decision to try and get him to see someone later as that was the one thing that I thought leant towards just a swollen knee instead of DVT.

Thanks for your advice, has helped my decision.

xx

shelleymogui

Dad is in the hospital now, off to meet my fella and him over there now. Fingers crossed for no bloodclot and just the normal swelling foot