by kymchi » Sat Jun 09, 2012 2:29 am
Hello! I'm Kim, I'm 28 from Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Two years ago, I had an odd rash on my legs, like anyone else I scratched and scratched. I had open wounds for probably a month. One day they started leaking a clear fluid. I'd never seen anything like this so I let it go. Probably another month later my legs were twice the size they started out as and I went to the doctor. He diagnosed me with lymphedema at that time. I had to go to the wound care clinic and have my legs bandaged so the open wounds could heal. I was then sent to a lymphedema therapist. She was great and was a lot of help but eventually discharged me. The only thing I got out of the deal was a lymphedema pump. She got me an appointment with a guy to measure me for garments but the appointment was weeks away and by then all the fluid came back. What did he tell me to do? Lose weight, run in marathons he said, you'll feel better he said. This dolt actually thought I'd just start running marathons and magically everything would be alright. Meanwhile, I can barely walk, I practically waddle around. All of this happened two years ago, my lymphedema has essentially gone untreated since then, except for my usage of the pump, anymore that seems to be futile. Fast forward to Thursday of last week, I'm at work and all of a sudden I start vomiting and I have this severe pain in my lower back. I go home, it gets worse, and a few hours later I go to the ER. The doctor comes into the room, looks at me, and tells me I'm fat which is going to cause back pain. Gives me something for pain, and vomiting and sends me home. The following Sunday I start getting pain in my right leg, and it swells up HUGE, I'm talking my calf is the size of my thigh. I see my doctor on Tuesday, he says I have cellulitis and gives me a 5 day course of antibiotics. I see my doctor again today, no change, it's huge, red, hot, and painful. He gives me a 10-day course of a different antibiotic and tells me if there's no change by Sunday to go back to the ER and he gives me a paper to give them to tell them what's wrong. I also had an ultrasound on my leg today to make sure there were no clots, of course they could only ultrasound one part of my leg cause of the swelling but I guess it's better then nothing. So I'm to the point where I've had 7 prescriptions in the last 8 days, I think the only reason I'm not vomiting uncontrollably is because I have medicine for that, my leg is huge tight red and painful, and I feel hopeless. I have insurance and they paid for my pump but no matter where I go I get told that my legs are "too fat" for compression garments, also my insurance won't pay for them, I'm employed but with all the work I'm missing, I wouldn't blame them if they fired me. I just don't know what to do, I'm at my wits end here. There are no specialists anywhere near me, and my legs are so huge I can't wrap them myself. I live with my boyfriend but from the get go he's found my legs to be "disgusting", so he won't help me wrap them. I can't get garments cause apparently they don't make them in size gigantic. And on top of everything else EVERYONE tells me that if I just lose weight everything will be okay, I just want to punch them in the face and ask how I'm supposed to do that when I can barely walk two feet. I guess I'm done for the night, I have to try to get my leg in a position where it's not in excruciating pain and sleep.