vericose surgery

under the Aurora bridge nearby

The past few years my left calf has been giving me increased pain, and torturous bulging veins. For a couple of years tight soccer socks relieved the pain. This last year I've found little pain relief, and in fact increasing pain to the area, waking me up at night. It doesn't help that I'm on my feet all day at work.

So I researched and found a good vascular center, and went in for a consultation. The MD - medical doctor - told me I had poorly functioning superficial blood vessel valves all the way up to my mid inner thigh! And that its eventual demonstration was pain at the lower leg, where the blood was pooling, like plumbing. He did some ultrasound scanning to confirm.

Then I recently got the surgery done, a combination of laser and phlebectomy. The laser part is where a wire is guided up the veins, then the veins are burned and collapsed as the wire is pulled out. This as opposed to vein stripping, an older method involving large incisions and higher risk of blood clots. The second part, near the calf, involved removing some of the excess veins through small incisions.

As the day for the surgery got closer I had some anxiety, rehearsing worst-case-scenarios, relishing my last long hot shower in a while, thinking of things I wouldn't be able to do for a while - like get my heart rate up past 100 for two weeks.

I applied the lidocaine analgesic cream and then saran wrap as instructed two hours before arriving. While standing on a stool having the lines drawn on my leg, with ultra sound, I got dizzy. I'd just taken too the first xanax in my life - a calming agent, which I'd later wish I hadn't. I laid down and the excellent MD continued to draw the lines with a marker.

We went into the next room and they set up the sterile field around my left leg, me on my back. I was most amused and warmed by one of the three assistants, who, we got to talking, had been a pole-dancer for many years, and loved to dance. How cool is that? I love to dance too. My leg was already fairly numb, so I didn't feel the additional numbing injections and wire threading. I did feel the wires roaming around my inner leg near my groin. No pain. And that's when I started to have this heavy sensation over my eyes and started sweating. And passed out.

Next thing I knew there were a couple more people in the room, and I was being peppered with questions. Which of course I couldn't answer. I'd try to answer, but then forget what the question was. The medical team was fussing about, putting in IV lines, checking blood pressure and heart rate, positioning the table with my head lower, injecting fluids. I came to slowly, really sweating. The blood pressure rose slowly from 64/40 to my normal 90's over 50's. My heart rate was taking a while to raise, so they gave atropine, to accelerate the HR. Then after several minutes it kept racing, so they gave me a small dose of a counter-agent versed to relax it back to its normal: 50's. The team was attentive and compassionate. In my loopy state I thanked them multiple times. The combination of already low blood pressures from being a runner, to the first-time xanax, and then my "willies" for surgical things on me merged to cause a little fainting episode. And being a light-weight with drugs.

It seemed like about 30 minutes until the original surgical procedure was resumed. My pole-dancing advocate consulted with me about changing from classical music in the background to "something more upbeat," to which I agreed. I was very grateful for her social warmth. She got some fun electronic beats, and soon the MD and team were finishing up. He asked if I wanted to see the veins he'd pulled out. I looked into a water-filled bowl with what seemed like thin little worms in there. Just three or four it appeared, less then 3 cm each.

Because of the additional drugs they requested that I stay with them a few additional hours. The dancer ran across the street and got some chicken tacos. They fed me, checked in on me, and went above and beyond their job descriptions. We walked the halls a bit, as medically advised. Then Casey came and picked me up.

Quite an experience. I'm thankful for good people all around.