2 posts tagged “medical stuff”

I had what is called VNUS closure today on my right leg, and of course, since it is me and my leg, one would certainly expect some sort of curve ball.

Or in this case, curved vein.

Generally, they insert a catheter through a very small incision or puncture by your knee and then close the bad vein with RF energy.  They numb the area with a bit of lidocaine first, but until the catheter is inserted, the vein itself can not be numbed.

Oh, joy.

Yes, you can feel this probing and prodding.  It doesn't really hurt (okay, maybe it does a little, but not in a want-to-punch-the-doctor-in-the-face way), but there is this odd sensation of something alien snaking it's way up your leg, just under your skin.

And when they do this no less than 5 times to try to get said catheter past the unexpected curve in her vein, yes, Nicole will indeed break out into a cold sweat and wish that the Valium they'd given her had relaxed her just a tad more. 

(Okay, a lot more.)

The doctor is a wily one, and that vein will not win, so he finally makes another insertion above the curve (up in my thigh) and zaps the vein in two phases.  Once the anesthesia is pumped into the veins, the rest of the procedure is a piece of cake.

Until it's time to put the compression hose on.  Think sliding one long, skinny rubber band all the way up your leg.  Dumb leg looks and feels like sausage in a casing tonight. 

This will be such fun for 6 weeks!  (Read: I get the joy of wearing a compression stocking on my right leg for 6 freakin' weeks.)  And I don't get to run for 6 weeks either, which I am not too happy about after I'd just gotten my weekly distance up to around 13 miles.

I know I am kind of griping right now, but the reality is that in the end, this will be a good thing.  My leg ached all day yesterday and during my entire run today.  It was not getting any better.  This will help.

And I can walk for exercise.  As much as I want.  That will mean I will need to take more time out of my day to do so, and I will need to be more careful with my eating (will probably use livestrong.com again), but I was moving toward too much snacking anyhow - this is the calibration I needed.

Perhaps I can even get Rob out there striding with me.  His good cholesterol is too low again, and exercise is a key factor in regulating that, but he doesn't enjoy running.

The discomfort and inconveniences of the next 6 weeks will be worth the long term results.  Which should help me be ready to do it all again in the fall! 

Nothing says “Happy Monday morning” quite like putting your feet into stirrups and allowing another man to look at your hooha.

Yes, my friends, it was that blessed time of year - the annual pap exam.

To my doctor's credit, I don't know that I've ever had an exam like this that was so quick and painless.  He assured me that everything seems to be in fine working order.  I am sure that makes Rob happy.

I needed to get a good BP reading so that I could submit it for my pending life insurance policy.  My secondary reading (I can never remember what it is called) was 86 at the insurance physical; they want 85 or less for "preferred plus".  You may be wondering why that's a big deal; basically it is the equivalent of $115 more per year over the next 20 years if I have to go with "preferred" instead (which is what they are telling me I have to go with).

There are times when I fall on the slightly high strung side of life (oh, be quiet, you two).  Yeah, yeah, so that might be a stretch.  Saying that I am a teensy bit high strung is probably the understatement of the year.  It is indeed true that Rob standing behind me at Wally-World and teasing me about various things while I get a BP reading from one of those blasted machines can induce readings at the why-aren't-you-having-a-heart-attack-this-very-minute range.  And family history is not exactly working in my favor either; my mother went on BP meds in her mid 40s.

But I have a good decade before I am that age, so my readings should still be good, right?

I drank only one cup of coffee instead of two before I left the house.  I felt cool as a cucumber and confident that I'd have a normal reading.

That is, until I got lost.  Seems that the practice felt it a good idea to relocate.  I reviewed a map before I left the house, but in my head, I substitute the 7 in 875 for a 1, so I ended up in some parking lot of an unmarked building frantically calmly trying to figure out where the freakin' new and improved office was.

I was a few minutes late, already a bit anxious - as these types of exams can make one - and not very happy that the scale registered 7 lbs heavier than my appointment last year, when the nurse wrapped the cuff around my arm and wrote down a reading 4 points higher than my insurance exam.

My doctor came in and assured me that they would retake my pressure after my exam.  I was told that my reading last year was a solid 120/80 and that they didn't see any reason I wouldn't get a similar stellar reading.

They gave me some time to get dressed and breathe deeply before re-taking it.

120/86.

I am sure it spiked right back up after the nurse told me that.  I was so frustrated I wanted to cry.

The only glimmer of hope concerning the insurance thing is that my broker took down my 1/2007 reading, today's reading, and the physical reading, averaged them together and started contacting companies to see if one of them will take my "new" average of 124/84.

One can hope, right?

In the meantime, I really need to get my butt back into regular aerobic activity mode.  I want to be different than my mom.  Even if BP meds are in my future, I want them to be in the well-distant one.

And I am getting a physical on Friday.  My GYN mentioned the possibility of hyper-thyroidism as a cause of my elevated rate.  He said I didn't have the other indicators, but that it might be something to check out.  We'll see what the NP has to say on Friday.

This getting old business is a vacuum.