Graduated medical compression stockings vs. TED (anti-embolism stockings). Your doc can prescribe and fit you for whichever he deems best for you.
Thanks, I’ll call UC (I don’t have a doctor).
Still wondering what I can tell my work team – I have to say something.
Tell them to send you something good (and healthy) to eat while you recover. 
I’d prefer vodka but I’m told that’s not okay 
Or ice. Or NSAIDs. Or anything that might actually help. They gave me 6 Norco I’m hoarding for sleep, took half of one last night.
Sorry for bitching and thanks for listening 
[Abed Nadir] cool, cool, cool [/Abed Nadir]
I’ll have a shot of vodka on your behalf, though it’s not good for my diabetes.
But keep in mind many doctors are very conservative about necessary time off.
When I had angiography and coronary artery stent placement I went to my doctor for a postoperative recheck. He told me one more week of rest and I could return to work. I laughed. I’d returned to work 3 days before the appointment.
The clot would be in a deep vein, not within a joint capsule (you’ve got cartilage and synovial fluid in those). The vein could be near a joint (e.g. the knee) with referred pain, but not in it.
They just need a little payola. (Just kidding. Don’t bribe your doc).
Tell them you have a life-threatening blood clot, and you don’t yet know how much time off you will need to treat it, but it probably won’t be more than a week. Oh, and also tell them you can’t fly for the foreseeable future, if you had planned to fly for work.
I pulled “a week” out of my ass, but my mom had a clot from her ankle to her groin, and she was back home in 2 days. And the drugs you take for blood clots don’t especially interfere with working. Although the pain-killers and the pain itself might.
His foot (not knee) is so sore that it’s waking him up at night. I’m guessing the clot is causing swelling within a joint capsule in the foot, and it’s not just referred pain from the clot itself. But… yeah, I didn’t think there even WERE deep veins in the foot. So i guess i have no idea at all. Is it possible there is ALSO damage to a joint that triggered the clot?
I’m guessing that walking caused dorsiflexion of the foot which compresses the calf muscle (essentially the Homans sign) triggering the intractable pain in the calf which can be confused with pain in the foot. But, certainly there could be foot pathology, too.
Well, pain is weird, and sometimes you feel it far away from the actual cause. So that’s certainly possible. It just seems odd to me that it was triggered while sleeping. But I guess people move around in their sleep. 
I remain not-a-doctor. But I have had a lot of foot pain from a lot of causes, and hand pain from swelling that affected a joint. 
FWIW the UC doc didn’t lean toward DVT until he was a bit stumped at my pain level and noticed my right foot and calf was swollen compared to my left. He seemed (IMO) quite doubtful about a DVT diagnosis but sent me over to radiology anyway for ultrasound, which is what turned up the clot issue. Not sure how this speaks to the clot location, and I wasn’t given a copy of the radiology report. I’m waiting for a call back from the NP and will ask for a copy.
Now that you’ve had this blood clot, does that mean future ones are more likely? Will you need to take meds regularly (low-dose aspirin, perhaps) to help prevent them?
Aha, I was emailed a radiology report, didn’t notice 'till now:
Anybody feel like interpreting that?
Looks like the poplitial vein is at the top of my calf
Makes sense to me - my calf feels 'esplodey. But pain is weird and it hurts all the way to my ankle (lots!).
This shows the location of the (distal: away from the center) popliteal vein which has the occlusion (clot). It also shows the common femoral and femoral veins, which are patent (open, not occluded):
So – speaking generally – my leg from my poplitial vein ‘south’ to my ankle is swollen because the blood isn’t flowing properly? The concentration of blood/swelling is what’s causing the pain?
Yeah, you’re not my doctor and all that. Speaking generally.
The pain is due to claudication (pain from sluggish or occluded blood flow in the peripheral circulation).
Why does it (the pain, not the blood) ebb and flow? I’ll be fine (if sore) for a while then it can hurt like a, well, bitch. What causes the changing conditions over the course of several hours? I feel like I’m moving around normally, walking about the house, climbing stairs (gingerly) and sometimes it’s just pretty tough and sometimes it’s quite a trial to the point of tears and cursing. Why the change over time? Thanks for any speculation. It’s quite puzzling to go about my day and be fine(ish) for a while then be in crippling pain for another while. Obviously I’d like to know what I’ve done wrong, but I don’t feel I have.
PS: NP never called me back, no idea what to do about compression socks, darnit.