The icky blue veins were not new to me, after all I got my first hint of a varicose vein at 17. I was mortified but thought that since it was so small it would NEVER look like my mom's legs. Boy was I wrong, after my second pregnancy I found a nice little cluster on my left leg that only grew with each of the following 6 pregnancies.
When I had my 'mom leg' moment that morning I knew that once Toby had his vasectomy I was going to get my legs done and be rid of them once and for all. Well, Toby never did get that vasectomy and if you are an avid reader of my blog you will know that we had two more children since that day. Now that we are for sure done I made that leap.
I called Lincoln Radiology and scheduled my apt. The consolation was odd to say the least. You have to stand while you have an ultrasound on your veins to check for reflux. This is done by the tech squeezing your calf to see if any blood flows back up the vein. My right leg was done and about two minutes into my left leg and I about passed out. I don't know if it was from the heat in the room, if I locked my knees or if it was some weird thing that happened due to the reflux but I guess it's pretty common as she kept warning that some people do pass out. Turns out I have a lot of reflux in both legs, more on the left than the right.
So I got the apt set up and went in only to be sent away after being poked and numbed and prodded w/o getting the leg done. My vein was spasming and I didn't have the time to sit and get an I.V. ran for a 1/2 hour as I had to get the kids from school. So two days later I was back and was finally able to get the leg done. I do have to say that the pain was worse than any of the labors of all of the kids. It was also strange to have them carry on as if I were not in the room or attached to the leg/vein that they were working on. You can opt to have a zanex to calm your nerves but as I didn't have someone to drive me to and from the apt I was on my own and had to be aware of all that was going on. Another interesting thing is I apparently have very sensitive veins and a high tollerence to lidocane-which by the way hurts like cuss when injected! The nurse there was awesome and talked to me to distract me and let me squeeze her hand. I am such a baby when it comes to needles. Once the dr had the laser where it needed to be the procedure went fast, it took longer to wiggle into the support hose. This Friday will be one week since the left leg was done and I can't wait to finally be out of these sexy support hose that I am forced to wear.
Now on to the right leg. Today I went in for leg two and the dr thought that I wouldn't need an I.V. this time and started to do the procedure which included about 4 shots of incredibly painful lidocane shots only to change his mind and have an I.V. ran anyway. I didn't mind it to much as I was able to read a chapter in the Eclipse book that I brought with me. Turns out that my right leg was just as painful as my left and just as hard to get into the vein. An hour after getting the equipment into the vein the dr was done in five minutes. I go back in a week for my follow up to see if the procedure took and the veins are dieing. Once the legs heal up and aren't as bruised I will post before and after pictures.
I am starting to get very excited and once I loose the weight that I regained after having two pregnancies in three years I can't wait to buy new skinny person shorts and check out my non-mom legs.
*I did not receive any compensation for this post, all opinions are mine.
