Is There A Beach Ball Between My Legs?

I was walking through the grocery store in June 2009 when I first asked myself "is there a beach ball between my legs?" Not exactly something you ever would imagine asking, especially when you're not at the beach!

I cautiously proceeded through checkout and drove right to my mom's house. As I examined what was going on in the bathroom, I was horrified. I walked into the kitchen and dropped trou for my mom, showing her what used to look like my legs. In the place of my inner thighs was now huge, bulging pockets of edema. I didn't even know what the word "edema" was until this point. At least now I knew why I couldn't loose weight... I'm full of water.

The edema was only located on both inner thighs, not down to my ankles or in my abdomen. There was a distinct ridge where it stopped and was even discolored. It did not hurt or ache. It lasted 3-4 days before subsiding but my body has not gone back to "normal". As I sit and type now, I am still full of water. I'm certain this will decrease once the underlying cause is taken care of. But when this was happening, we didn't know what to think. And after it went away, we didn't think about it... at least not for 2 months.

My lovely husband said, and I quote, "it looks like you have the legs of a 500 pound woman." Thanks hon.