Another Procedure Tomorrow

Tweet

Well, tomorrow is the big day. I'm finally having the ablation done on the veins in my right leg, which will close down the bad veins which have been causing me grief. Hopefully that will make the pain and swelling go away and I can stop worrying I've got a blood clot. Assuming the procedure itself doesn't cause me to develop a blood clot, as that is apparently a risk! I will have to keep my leg wrapped for 72 hours afterwards, which means no showering for three days. Which makes me itch just thinking about it, especially in the midst of this awful heatwave we're having (the fourth one this summer.) We're supposed to have high temps of 109 this week. Yuck. I'll also be restricted from heavy lifting or exercising for two weeks, no traveling or car rides that last longer than two hours, and no prolonged sitting or standing for two weeks after the procedure to prevent blood clots from forming. Which means that every half an hour I have to get up and walk around. I am not used to doing that so we will see how it goes. I will probably have to set my alarm to remind me. I may wind up breaking my phone as nothing irritates me like the sound of the alarm going off. I will also have to wear compression stockings for a month or two after the procedure. I thought the whole point of having the procedure was so I could stop wearing those things. Sigh. Then, I will have to go through all of it all over again whenever they decide to do my left leg. Fun times! I hope the procedure is not too painful. They make it out like it's not supposed to hurt but they are inserting a catheter into the veins and burning them so they collapse shut. Blood flow is redirected to other nearby veins and eventually the closed veins just become fibrous tissue. It's supposed to be a fairly safe procedure but it still makes me nervous. At least the specialist who is performing it has won awards for his work in the field, so I assume he knows what he's doing! Anyway, wish me luck. My sister is coming over to stay with me tomorrow so I won't be alone while my boyfriend is at work. Maybe that's silly but I just don't like being alone after having any type of surgical procedure done. And I guess this technically classifies as surgery. It's just an outpatient procedure that they do in their office and they use local anesthesia for it. I will let you all know how everything goes tomorrow. Hopefully the next two weeks pass by quickly, as I am NOT looking forward to this walking around every half hour nonsense.