Well for some time now my mom has had a swollen leg. It is suffereing from DVT. She has been to the doctor a lot but they are just doing checkups and keeping her provided with medication now, which doesn't really do much...
My mom is overweight, and the swollen leg makes it even harder for her to get around. It stays swollen about 25% larger than the other leg.
I really wish there was something I could do for her, or find out something that could benefit her. Is there anything at all that could reduce the swelling in her leg? She sits at the computer almost all day playing an MMO. It's pretty much the only fun she has. She would really like to be able to go outside and do gardening and other things she use to love to do, but every time she does any hard work her leg swells even more. If it swells too much then it starts to leak and gets infected. It currently has a large scabby area over the front and back of it, and it has been that way for a long time.
So.. any help? Any advice at all? There are 2 key things I would like to know:
1. Some way for her to lose weight (as I explained it's not exactly possible for her to get any exercise).
2. Some way for the swelling to go down in her leg.
We're both puzzled as to why her doctor won't have her go to a hospital and have the excess fluid drained from her leg.. or maybe have the vein surgically fixed. Mom says the doctors probably just look at her and think, "There's nothing wrong with her. She's just fat!" xP
Oh and her eating habits:
Morning: She insists on having a package of raymen noodles every morning. She mostly just drinks the broth.
Rest of the day: We usually eat about 2 to 3 small meals throughout the day. Like a sandwich, usually a dinner sometime in the evening.
Snacks: She also insists on snacking on tootsie roll pops. She has no upper teeth (she's 62 and recently had them removed, but the false teeth make her gag so she's learned to live without them), so she doesn't more than maybe.. 5 a day? I've never really paid enough attention to notice how many.
She has diabetes so she can't eat much fruits because noodles and fruits are about the only 2 things that make her sugar go way up. It's funny how she can eat a chocolate snack cake and it not really bother her, but if she eats some watermelon (which she can't resist) then her sugar goes way way up. xP
If needed I can ask her what all the different medicines she is taking. I know she is taking something for her thyroid, blood pressure, diabetes (pills), and.. I can't remember the other stuff. She starts getting a choking feeling and eventually starts to have multiple little belches throughout the day if she doesn't get to take her thyroid (which happens, due to the doctor being stupid and not calling in her prescriptions on time, pharmacies claiming they didn't get the call, and/or medicine delivery services claiming they didn't get the call...).