November 9

Today is Sunday. I had my Verithena procedure done on Friday.  I’m going to tell you all about it today. If it’s boring for you, quit reading.

I was in the clinic for about an hour and 45 minutes and I drove myself home afterwards. When I got there, I took off my pants, socks, and shoes, and put on a pair of adorable paper shorts. I walked down the hall to the room where they were going to do the procedure and climbed up on the examination bed/table. I laid down, they positioned my leg, and then they proceeded to disinfect the entire leg. I told him not to get rid of all of my bacteria, because it was the only culture I’ve got. What do you know? He clean the whole thing anyway. They covered everything else up in sterile wraps and I felt like a mummy. They told me to put my arms across my chest, also. Truly, a mummy. Then a guy started working on my leg with his ultrasound. (Turns out, I’m not pregnant after all) He put dots all over my leg and he stayed there throughout the entire procedure. He pushed a button and the table started to tilt up at my head. It almost felt like I was going to slide right off the end of the table onto the floor.  He said he wanted my blood to pool down there. It did. I’m a good pooler.  I had a male nurse, and he was working on stuff the whole time, too. The doctor came in and looked at the ultrasound pictures, and they discussed a good place to start. I had a second cardiologist come in, because he was in training. At this point, I was a little bit concerned that he was going to do it, and it was going to be his first time, but my cardiologist said he was there to watch, just observe, and then he would let him put the foam in. So, now I had four guys in the room with me and they hit another button and the table started to tip down at my head. So, now I feel like I’m going to slide off headfirst. They wanted the blood to leave my legs. I guess they need to empty the veins out enough to squirt the stuff in. He gave me an injection just below the knee in a couple of places to numb it. He said it would burn a little. He was correct. Then he put an IV in my vein and squirted some saline solution in to make sure the pathway was clear. It was. Then they fussed around doing stuff that I couldn’t see, because my head was too low. When he started putting the foam into my vein, I could feel it go all the way up my leg. Almost to my groin. It was burning. Not too bad, but it was not pleasant. My cardiologist was talking to the trainee the whole time and told him to expect 6 cc . I’m thinking to myself, good grief, this is his first time! They are watching it on the ultrasound at the same time and he said keep going. So the guy put in more. Keep going. So he put in more. It took 8 cc to fill me up. Then they leveled the table out, and put bandages on to stop the bleeding.  They wrap me up really tight, told me to hop off the table and go for a walk. I don’t remember the last time I actually hopped anywhere, but I climbed off the table and started doing laps around the building in the hallway. The nurse was walking with me.  Every time I passed the nurses station, I said, “I’m making another left turn! “. I went back to my little room, got dressed, they gave me my instructions, and I came home. My leg was wrapped for 48 hours, and then today, I took off the wraps and put on my thigh, high compression stocking.

Now, that was a Kodak moment, for sure. My leg is really swollen and tender and I’m trying to put on this stocking. I tried one on my left leg yesterday, just as a test. I wanted to make sure they fit and I could do it right. However, my left leg is considerably smaller than my right leg and I did not factor that in. Too late. It was chilly this morning, but I was a ball of sweat by the time I finished the task. You’ve never heard so much grunting in all your life.  I have to wear the stocking 24 hours a day for the next two weeks. After that, I wear it during the day for another two weeks. No heavy lifting or exercise for the next seven days. I cannot sit for more than an hour at a time. I need to walk. 

If this proves to be successful, I will do the left leg next. At least this time, I will know what to expect.