Paula Phillips
4/5
I would give 5 stars for the normal people that work in this office, but have to give 4 for the one day the boss who over scheduled her physical therapist and came in to help them. Day 5 post-op ACL and MCL repair, she asked how I was, I told her my calf was hurting worse than my knee. She told me that was normal after surgery and that it would go away as my knee heals and gets stronger. That was not good advice, if I had just waited for something normal to quit hurting, I would be dead now. I had a blood clot, DVT, in my calf that had already gone to my lungs creating a pulmonary embolism, PE. Thankfully, my daughter who is a nurse called to check me on me that day. I told her the same thing, she said, “Mom, turn around and go to the ER immediately.” She noticed the cough I had as well and knew calf pain plus cough means blood clots. (My cough was also obvious during PT) I know physical therapist are not doctors, but I hope the boss will research and train her employees to say something more like, sometimes that can be a sign of a blood clot. If it continues to hurt, you may want to call your Doctor. The average person usually does not put these symptoms together because they do not always present the same for everyone. I did not have a bright red swollen spot on my calf because the clot was so deep. I had a femoral block and took pain meds after surgery, so I really didn’t even feel my leg until day 5 after surgery. The cough happened as soon as I get back in the car after my day surgery procedure. It was as if I had a sinus infection for weeks that moved to my chest and I was coughing up mucus. I knew I was not the least bit sick before the procedure to have a cough like that. I did call the surgeons nurse, and she said it was normal after surgery because of the intubation. Both times I reached out with symptoms, I was told it was normal. I think this is why so many people die with a PE. They have no idea it is even happening to get help in time. Hopefully, my experience will bring awareness to more and save lives in the future.
Other than this one situation of giving the wrong advice and her never coming back to apologize or see me after she was made aware, the other people in the office are great and have helped me to recover after knee surgery.