Hello. I am a 34 year old Female who has been quite healthy for most of her life. up until March 9th of this year I had never even spent 1 single night in the hospital. Well, when I entered the E.R. on the 9th with a VERY painful, swollen knee and pain in my back near my right Kidney, ALL of that changed. After NUMEROUS tests I was diagnosed with: Gram Positive, Bacterial Edocarditis. I also Had an infection in my right Kidney and an Abscess on my Spinal Cord (for which I underwent EMERGENCY Surgery. The swollen knee I mentioned was causing me the MOST pain at the time. To give you a point of reference: a HEALTHY weight for me is between 115-120lbs. I had lost a significant amount of weight VERY quickly at the time I entered the hospital. I weighed (approx.) 95lbs. I m sure you can imagine someone with my small frame has small knees to begin with. My right knee WAS swollen yet it did not look SIGNIFICANTLY bigger than the left. However, it was drained of an extremely THICK, bright WHITE material resembling Whipped cream on FIVE separate occasions in a 2 hour span! How is it even possible for my little body to have so much Infectious Byproduct inside? Also, I DID NOT present with ANY Cardio- Pulmonary Symptoms (RE: the Endocarditis ) whatsoever. I was never: short of breath. I never felt tightness or pain in my chest. It was due to the subsequent innfections that I even went to the hospital at all! The E.R. Dr. said had I waited a MERE 24 hrs more - I would have DIED. I appologize for including so much info without having asked a question yet. Though, I felt it important for you to know my diagnosis and it s complications in odrer to effectively answer this: My lower right leg (same leg as swollen knee) swelled to DOUBLE the size of my left one today. It was so swollen in fact I did not have any definition in my ankle. Pain in my calf accompanies the swelling. The pain appeared 3 days prior to the swelling. I thought I had strained a muscle in my right calf. I no longer believe that to be true as it is QUITE tender/painful underneath my knee. The swelling came on suddenly. I had a bilateral untrasound to rule out clotting - No clots, thankfully. However, I was told the Edema in my right leg does NOT contain ANY fluid (as ALL other swollen parts of my body have since acquiring this infection. The Ultrasound Tech made note that I had SEVERAL swollen Lymph nodes in my Groin area on both sides. That seemed to concern her. When she touched the nodes they were very tender. My Dr. was informed of the results. However, he does not seem concerned about the fact that at this time NOONE knows the cause of my Lower Leg Edema. Or, why it appeared within minutes. Dr., do you believe the Edema and the Swollen nodes are correlated? If so, what do these symptoms indicate? Also, is it common for a patient with Endocarditis, receiving I.V. Nafcillin every 4 hrs (for the past 3 weeks) to have So many Swollen Lymph nodes in their Groin? As well as the lower leg edema WITHOUT a current cause? Are ALL of these symptoms related to my ORIGINAL infection of the Heart lining or COULD I have more than one, potentially serious illness at play right now? Please reply at your earliest convenience as I am NOT getting any answers from the Physicians assigned to my case, here in the hospital and being healthy all my life, I m NOT sure what to be concerned about and what is routine for this type of infection. Thank You, in advance for your Prompt attention to this matter! Sincerely, Christine M. Mills