Last week, as fall weather started to kick in, I put away the flip-flops and broke out the closed-toed shoes. I wondered why they all were a little tight, but thought, I had gained weight since last year, so maybe it went to my feet? A few days later, it got worse. I could no longer see my ankles…they had turned into *gasp* cankles. Being as I am on the blood thinner Coumadin, this had me a little concerned. Of course, my next step would be to post a status update on Facebook about my cankles to get everyone’s opinions. And quite a few I got. Apparently, everyone on Facebook has a medical degree and had different advice. Most said to go to the emergency room immediately. Since I was going for my weekly blood test the next day (#bloodtestfriday) at the medical building next to the hospital, I said I would wait the 12 hours and go in the morning. As soon as the nurse at the office saw my feet, she told me to go across to the ER immediately. IMMEDIATELY! I said, “right now? But…I have a lunch date”. “RIGHT NOW!!”. So over to the hospital I went, while calling and canceling my lunch plans.
Once I was in the waiting room, all I could think of was how I still owed the hospital money from my fall in June and how they would probably tell me to cough up the $75 or go home. But they didn’t. The brought me in to the actual ER, not the “fast-track” which did not bode well on the long day ahead. They told me to change into a hospital gown and wait for the doctor. Now do they really expect people to walk around with their asses hanging out of these gowns? I took another gown from the bed next to me and put one on backwards too. I’m not shy, but a single hospital gown is just crazy. While I sat there, I took a photos of my cankles and myself in my gown(s) and was posting them to Twitter and Facebook. What else is one supposed to do without a magazine?
The doctor finally showed up about a 45 minutes later and said “You came to the ER for swollen ankles? I’m not impressed, they don’t look THAT bad.” Well, once I told him I was on Coumadin, his whole attitude changed. He said “in that case, we will send you for a sonogram of your legs to make sure the circulation is OK.” After the initial blood and urine tests, I sat there for 2 hours waiting for the sonogram. They finally brought me in and of course, they are training someone on my legs. Don’t they train these people BEFORE they work in the hospital? It was a little unnerving. After the test, I was told I have “beautiful veins.” Was this a compliment? I suppose it was, so I said “thank you” LOL. They wheeled me back to the ER and I took a few more self-portraits and waited for the prognosis: Nothing is wrong with me. While this was good news, it still didn’t explain the swollen ankles. The doctor told me keep my feet elevated for the next few days and hopefully the swelling would go down. 5 hours in the ER and this is what they tell me. I could have spent those 5 hours in bed with my feet up and saved the $75 co-pay. Fast forward two days and my feet are back to normal. Go figure. You really don’t realize how much you will miss your ankles until you have lost them. Good riddance cankles!
