Thursday, July 17, 2008

• Update on the surgery today

  Here is the before pic you guys asked for:  (after shots will after come later.)  The leg looked way worse after a day of walking.  The thrombosis would swell as big as a baseball.

  

   

  At 9:30 we started.  I was on a bed with my head way higher than my leg- they did an ultrasound and asked if I was nervous since my veins were constricted.  So they had the dr come in and reassure me and they played soft music and they applied some cream to my leg to make the veins open up. 
  They draped my leg and soaped me up.  Then the dr injected me with novacaine- which was painful, but that was the worst of it.  After the novacaine set in the dr made an inscision on my inner knee.  They then threaded a catheter up my vein- that felt really really weird, but not painful.  Then they threaded up two more things- as they were doing it - it felt uncomfortable, but not too bad- but for whatever reason I started to feel hot and like I was going to pass out- so they lowered my head and that helped.
  Then they started injecting my leg all along the vein with a saline anesthesia mix- a whole bag full went into the top inner side of my leg (the dr said it was to numb the area and protect the tissues from the laser.)  Then I had to put on goggles and the laser was set off- I felt nothing- but bizarrly, I got an awful nasty taste in my mouth kinda like garlic- they said this has to do with the lazers- weird. 
  All the catheters were removed, my leg was wrapped REALLY tightly- and then the compression hose from thigh to toe was put over that.  I need to leave that on till Sat night.  No swimming / hottub for 3 weeks.
  I walked out- but it wasn't easy because my leg was numb, and wrapped up.  I was given vicodin for the pain and they told me to take it asap- so that when the anestisia wears off- I don't feel pain. 
  So far so good- that side of my leg is still huge from all the saline injected into it- only dull ache. 
  
  Oh and the exact name of the procedure is:  "Closure of the saphenous vein using the 940 diode laser."

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