Veins, veins!

DISCLAIMER: This blog entry contains graphic photos of my procedure. There is some blood, but it's not too gross. I was awake the entire time and watched the procedure. The squeemish should merely squint at the photos or ignore them altogether.

Here I am the day of surgery. No hair, makeup primping done. But geesh a little paint on the barn wouldn't of hurt. I had to slip into something more comfortable. Meaning, a pair of paper shorts (size small) that Homer Simpson would be comfortable wearing. Enormous.

The moment has finally arrived! I got EVLT (endovenous laser therapy) and Microphlebectomy (removal of superficial vein) performed on my left leg! No more aching, throbbing legs (after standing for long periods) and bulging varicose veins! Woohoo!

So what happened? Well, I received numerous shots of saline/anesthetic around my saphenous vein (inside left leg). A catheter was inserted in my vein followed by a laser wire. The doctor pulled a trigger and the laser collapsed the unfunctional vein.

Phase two: More shots, more shots, deep ones (ouch) and then microphlebectomy. Tiny cuts (we counted 30 - play that as a Lotto number!) were made on my leg and the varicose vein was pulled up with a hook (not dissimilar to a crochet hook. More of a loop on the end, smaller & titanium). The veins were pulled up and clamped. Then yanked out. Yes, they were yanked, I felt some of them, but the anesthetic did a pretty good job. No stitches were required just a bunch of steri-strips that will fall off in a couple weeks. I have to do my right leg at a later time. It looks like was stabbed a bunch of times down my leg. The legs is covered in steri-strips, guaze, bandages and one tight compression stocking (see photo above).

I snuck home a piece of the vein that was yanked out! I showed my friend, Roxanne, who generously picked me up at the hospital afterwards. Yeah Wox! She's adventurous. I asked her "do you want to see a piece of my vein". She replies confused "you have it here?" I say "yes, right here in a piece of guaze". "OK", Rox confidently proclaims. She must be a good friend.

Dr. Heron Rodriguez at the Vein Clinin at Northwestern Hospital joked I could take home the extracted veins and make fajitas! I laughed very hard out loud. That would be a really dirty joke. I'll have to remember next time I need to give a little payback. It's not grisle, it's one of my old varicose veins. haha. I'm laughing out loud as I read this. I'm funny - and slightly evil. We had a bunch of laughs during my procedure.

Cosmetically my varicose veins weren't that bad (in my opinion). I certainly wasn't going to allow it to prohibit me from wearing shorts in the summer. Sheesh, big deal if my legs didn't look perfect. It's hot. Just not that vain (had to get that joke in again).

It's about 5 hours post op and I feel fine. My leg is sore from all the tiny cuts. Honestly, I'm suspicious that the laser treatment even happened. I don't feel any soreness deep in the leg. Although I will say that when they zapped me, there was a mild taste of burnt rubber in my mouth. They said that was normal. Ew.

Hopefully this will all pay off and I will no longer have pain in my legs. Thanks to BCBS of IL for picking up the tab (after months of waiting for pre-approval with a disclaimer that they still can reject the claim. Whatever. How can they say, "we approve benefits" while at the same time say "coverage may be denied". I saved all the documents they sent to me just in case it gets ugly. But I'm optimistic. I'll keep you posted on the healing. No pain meds, just anti-inflammatory meds.

Vain and Vein

I had EVLT on my left leg in Jan. 2008. To find out how it went, visit the blog post here.

This post officially welcomes you to voyeur varicose vein removal. Don’t sit to close to the edge of your seat! OK, my leg photo is not very vein revealing, I know, but it's the photo not the leg. (aka. my butt's not big, it's the jeans ;-)

After having two kids, my legs look like roadmaps due to varicose veins, apparently genetic (thanks, Mom!). They get hot, itch and throb especially after standing for long periods of time. Ya know like when painting outdoors every Saturday morning (more on my painting progress later).

I must add that the photo of the above signage is important. I am having vein surgery. Not to be confused with going to the vain-center. There's a big plastic surgery office across the hall from this one! Although vv removal has a bit to do with vanity as it's not a life-threatening condition. At least not mine, anyways. I consulted with the fine MDs at the NMFF Vein Clinic (Dr. Rodriguez, et al). D. Rod is a very nice man who enthusiastically listened to Indigo sing her “Spanish” song.

He confirmed, yep, those are varicose veins. He gave me the game plan about the non-invasive and surgical options. He also brought me up to speed on what we’ll need to do in order for my insurance to pay 100% of it! Ahh, hoops to jump through. Like a good coach, he knew the drills and now we’re successfully on the road to “game day”. So far, no extra $$ has been paid. Yet.

A brief explanation of varcosities. Veins bring blood back to the heart for oxygenation. In these veins you have valves that keep the blood movin’ on up (kind of like a lock system ala Panama Canal). Due to many reasons, (mine being the one-two punch of having kids and genetics), the valves don’t work as well as they should – they don’t shut all the way. (sidebar: Who left the door open? Were you born in a barn?). This causes backflow of venus blood (reflux). The reflux causes the blood to collect, expanding the vein and forming the tortuous veins visible, like a roadmap, on the outside of the leg. What I’m learning is that the visible stuff is the tip of the iceberg (so to speak). Gotta get sexy back.

Today I had an ultrasound performed on both legs by Peg who works with D. Rod and his collegue, Dr. Richard Chen. Peg rocks and is a science-chick who’s not afraid to admit it. As she scanned my legs she pointed things out to me on the ultrasound monitor. There’s the valve, she said. Uh, whuh? I looked, brows furrowed in concentration. All I saw was a haze of black and white visual static. If you say so, Peg! Then she pressed a food pedal that activated a cuff around my leg. Zap! Phew, it was just a squeeze, not a zap :-) Dr. Chen gets the soundbite of the day award.

“If people ask me for pantyhose, I give it to them.”

I was laughing (really moreso on the inside, out of politeness, as I just met Dr. Chen). We were talking about thigh-high support hose v. pantyhose support hose. If you remove any context from his quote, it’s hilarious! I told him I’m going to blog about it!

So, now for the hard science! There are numerous ways to treat varicose veins. Make small incisions at various points along the skin, snip the vein and pull it out bit by bit. Like digging a worm out of the ground with tweezers. This is done with local anesthetic and a mild “sedative”. I asked, Peg, for the straight dope on that one. What is the “sedative”?. She told me it was Xanax – one or two pills. I’ll take two. Never had it before, I hope it works. I digress (I welcome anyone’s opinion on Xanax). Other methods of vein removal, and this is space-age technology (or should I be saying, Google Earth-age technology)… lasers and fancy sound waves (you'd think some of the speed metal out there would be enough to collapse a vein, a brain but in vein treatment they use inaudible sound waves). In either instance, a super thin tube is placed into the vein, heats it up (via sound or laser) which causes it to close/collapse. This removes the road from the map, so to speak. Removing the vein, removes the varicose appearance of the vein. Apparently our bodies have like a guh gillion veins and melting 4-6 is not a very big deal. What is a big deal, is that all of this is done on an out-patient basis. No general anesthesia, no paying an anesthesiologist, or hospital operating room and most importantly NO hospital stay. Woohoo. Just sweet Xanax and a good friend to get me home on time for “Rachel Ray”. Any takers? I’ll be having laser and vein striipping procedures. These doctors are that good. Google-earth Good.

My next appointment is my pre-op visit. You may get to meet D. Rod and Dr. “If-anyone-asks- for-pantyhose, I-give- it-to-them”. Look out ladies (I’ll see if he’s available!). I must say that he is a tremendously good sport to laugh with me. Real times, real people. Hopefully this vein surgery isn't a "gateway drug" into harder core plastic surgery. It's just across the hall after all. Stay out of the vain centers, y'all!