Swollen legs and feet

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OH diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer with bone mets in late 2022. Hormones/radiotherapy/chemo/radium 223             He now has a badly fractured upper arm and is awaiting surgery. He is in a lot of pain with this. He also has groin pain and his legs and feet are very swollen. He has a walk (not far and very slow) most days, but isn't able to do anything much because of the pain in his arm. This is supposedly being dealt with as a priority, but who knows what that means? His next oncology apt isn't until May; do we wait until then to mention the swelling? His priority is the arm fracture, which I understand, but I'm worried the swelling is a bad sign. Can anyone offer any advice please? 

  • Hi  I have no medical training but my gut feeling is contact 111 and get professional advice.  David

  • Hello  . The swelling in the lower limbs is probably from a build up of fluid (lymphoedema) as a result of the treatment and does need to be dealt with by the experts so a call to his CNS or doctor is required to make him feel more comfortable. They can offer guidance on possible diuretics to remove the fluid as well as other ways to deal with it such as compression, physiotherapy and GENTLE massage. The advice is also to keep the legs elevated when he is sitting down. You can help by making sure that the skin is moisturised with something like Vaseline with Aloe Vera as well as encouraging your husband to be mobile. Here is a link explaining it.

    https://www.macmillan.org.uk/cancer-information-and-support/impacts-of-cancer/lymphoedema

    It does take a little while for the swelling to go down - my husband had it after both pelvic radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

  • Hi 

    Sorry to hear about your situation, it sounds painful.

    Resulting from spinal surgery I had last November I started to get quite badly swollen calves and feet. Might be side effects from the drugs etc but I bought some compression socks and they have totally cleared up the swellings.

    I’m no doctor but it might be worth checking it out.

    Best wishes 

    Chappy123