Varicose Vein Surgery…Left Leg

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I had surgery on the varicose veins in my left leg last week. Apparently they only do one leg at a time so I will have to do all of this again soon on my right leg, at least I know now what to expect! First of all I had my initial appointment and leg ultrasounds on both legs back in December. After that I had to wear compression hose/socks (medical grade, at least 20-30 mmHg) every day for three months and then make a follow up appointment. Well if you know me then you know that I am the Queen of Procrastination and waited until July to make my follow up appointment which didn’t happen until August. Ugh.

After that appointment I scheduled my first surgery for September and here we are! My Dr let me choose which leg I wanted to do first because we would be doing both eventually and I chose my left leg. This was the leg that I showed you the pic of and the one that had the most varicosities near the surface of the skin. It was gross to look at and was pretty painful. My right leg is actually worse internally but doesn’t hurt as bad, for now!

Here is the pic I showed you back in December for reference…

…these veins are down the outside of my knee and on the back of my calf. They also crisscrossed their way across the front of my thigh and were all bumpy and sticky-outy. Gross. Also- not attractive. At all.

So that’s why I chose to have my left leg fixed first. I got to the hospital early Tuesday morning and checked in. I was escorted back to my pre-op room immediately and was given a fun nurse that totally put me at ease. Perk of having surgery at the hospital I work at? I like to think so!

I was given my IV, had all my unsightly veins marked off my a resident physician, my poor leg looked like it had a treasure map drawn on it! And then I was off to surgery! They tell me I did fine and that the surgery lasted 1.5 hours. I obviously don’t remember any of that, only waking up in recovery and wanting really badly to go back to sleep. HA!

I was released pretty soon after I woke up and my stepmom, Charlotte, drove me home. She stayed with me for a little while and then left to go home. I have to say up front that I have a pretty high pain tolerance. I didn’t even get my pain pill prescription filled and toughed it out on Aleve alone. I can honestly say that recovery wasn’t that bad. I was mostly just sore but luckily I had nurse Sophie to take care of me! HA!

I came home in this really fun hose/sock thing that I had to leave on until my follow up ultrasound appointment on Friday. I literally wore that damn thing for four days straight both day and night time. Ugh.

Now that I am a week out I can officially just wear it, or my regular compression socks during the day and sleep with nothing. Can I just say that that feels like pure bliss?? YAS!!

Wearing that damn stocking for four whole days 24/7 also meant no showers, no baths, no nothing…um, gross!! Don’t worry, I made do with some “bird baths” and a blowout. So it all worked out in the end!

So for the first day of surgery/recovery and the second day of recovery I had to get up and walk ten minutes every hour. This royally sucked the first day but wasn’t bad the second day. Like I said earlier, I wasn’t in much pain I was just more sore and uncomfortable. When I sit or lay down I have to have my leg stretched out, no bending at the knee. That’s kind of awkward at first but I kind of got used to that. Day three and forward I was to “resume normal activity” which I mostly did.

I was pretty stiff and sore until pretty much Monday and since yesterday I have felt pretty darn good. My leg is still a little stiff and sore sometimes but it’s nothing I can’t handle and I am pretty much back to my normal ways of doing things Sleeping is still a little weird but much better now that I can sleep sock and stocking free!!

Of course I wouldn’t be a proper blogger if I didn’t take pics of everything but I won’t share the gross and gory pics with you guys, only my besties get tortured with those “selfies”!! This first pic was taken the day after surgery…

…not too bad, right?? What you don’t see is the bruise that went from my groin to halfway down my knee. It’s still there and that’s what’s the most sore!! All of those veins that you could se on the surface the doctors had to take out. So all of those little stab wounds on my legs are placed the had to cut open, grab the vein and literally cut and pull it out. Creepy and cool all at the same time!

By Friday at my ultrasound it was already looking a lot better…

…again I stopped at the crazy bruise because none should be subjected to that. It’s still pretty ugly looking!!

So that’s it so far for my first varicose vein surgery! I am pretty pleased with the results so far and I can’t wait to see what my leg will look like when I am totally healed! I can already tell a week after that I am going to feel so much better!! Now I can’t wait to do the right leg and just be done!!

Do you have varicose veins??
Have you had varicose vein surgery??