Varicose Veins - Part Two

Part One of this post, which includes some background and a 'before' pic of the varicose veins, can be found here.

The initial consultation involved a look at my veins under ultrasound.  He found that the long saphenous vein, which runs from the foot to the groin (to join the femoral vein) was basically a dud.  In places, the vein had enlarged up to 8cm.  The treatment plan was to take the faulty vein out of service, hereby re-routing the blood through other healthy veins of the leg, relieving pressure on the smaller veins that fed into it, then return after a few weeks to treat any that varicose veins that remained.

Varicose vein treatment used to involve a full stripping of the vein - cuts along the affected vein and physically stripped from the body.  It involved anaesthesia, pre-procedure drugs and treatment pain medication, and a long recovery period.  Thankfully they've developed less intrusive ways of treatment now..

The clinic I saw uses a type of medical grade glue called Venaseal that is placed into the vein via catheter.  The vein is effectively glued shut and then hardens before being absorbed by the body, leaving behind the glue.  

The treatment was scheduled for late May, 2017.  My mum came over to look after the kids for the day, and my husband took the day off to drive me to the appointment (two hours drive away).  I was glad to have him there - I was feeling pretty anxious about the procedure.

All prepped and ready for the venaseal

He started with local anaesthetic, then a small nick on the inside of my calf to access the vein, then inserted the catheter right up to the groin (the junction where the saphenous vein meets the major, femoral vein).  The painful part (and he did warn me beforehand) was when he had to force it around the the knee joint.  I think I cried out at this point.  He jabbed a bit of local in that site too to relieve it, which was nice.  Otherwise, there wasn't any pain, just an uncomfortable sensation.

Starting at the groin, he injected glue, using ultrasound as a guide, pressing down for 30 seconds to ensure the vein was sealed.  This was repeated moving down the vein, until he reached to the entry point.  The other leg was treated in the same fashion.  All up, the time for the procedure was around an hour.  I kept my eyes closed the entire time with my noise cancelling headphones playing my favourite podcast.  I'm naturally an anxious person, especially when it comes to anything medical related, but I found I coped okay during the treatment.

The last step is a 30 minute walk before heading home.  This was probably my least favourite part.  My legs stung with each step, but walking was far better than standing or sitting with legs lowered.  On the drive home, we stopped twice for me to walk for 20 minutes or so to keep the circulation moving (and also to help relieve the pain).  

The pain was the worst for the first 48 hours - I spent most of it hobbling between the couch, kitchen and the bathroom.  It's necessary to keep moving for circulation reasons, but that's hard to do when it's painful to walk.  It did gradually improve, and it was around the two week mark I realised I wasn't thinking about my legs so much, which obviously meant they were feeling better.  

I did wait another couple of weeks to start running again.  There was no pain or discomfort so I eased back into my usual training at around four weeks after the treatment.

Ordinarily, they would complete the second stage of treatment within 6-8 weeks, but we delayed it due to an overseas trip we'd already planned.  There is a stand-down period for flying before and after this type of treatment.

We set a date for late October upon my return.  The size of the veins had shrunk over the previous months, and was a massive improvement on what they'd been, but obviously they needed more treatment.  

After venaseal treatment - varicose veins have shrunk but not disappeared

The next stage for treatment was sclerothapy - injection of a special foam that irritates the lining of the vein which causes it to stick together.  It's done under ultrasound.  The body reabsorbs the treated vein over the following weeks or months, leaving nothing behind.

It took about 10 minutes in the office in Palmerston North.  The injections themselves didn't hurt but the pain seemed to build over several seconds as the foam did its work, with the ones around my feet and ankles the most painful. He put the stockings on both legs and sent me for a 30 minute walk.  It was a very slow walk - more of a shuffle, as my feet stung.

All stocking-ed up and off for a walk

The following days were pretty painful, much more so than the initial venaseal treatment.  My feet and ankles were the worst.  I did as much walking as I could handle, to help with circulation, however, it was more of a hobble than anything.  I walked so slowly that strava thought I wasn't moving at all!  500m was about my limit in those first few days.  The most painful thing though was to stand still, so I was constantly moving and dancing from foot-to-foot. 

After a week, my right foot and ankle were still quite swollen, significantly more than my left foot.  I saw the vein doctor in his office, diagnosed with phlebitis (inflammation of the veins) and prescribed some anti inflammatories.  Unfortunately, in rare cases, the surrounding non-treated veins can become inflamed (painful) and create fluid imbalances (swelling).  

My right foot and ankle weren't too happy

I was one of the unlucky ones to experience this side effect.  (What should have been a two week stint in compression stockings became nine weeks.  It was an unseasonably warm spring to boot, thankfully I was allowed out of the stocking in the evenings and for sleep). 

After about three weeks I was more than ready to start working out again (and so was my husband - I was going a bit crazy!), so I did a bit of cross training (walking, cycling, boxfit).  I didn't try running until about 7 weeks after the treatment, whilst on the training weekend for 261 Fearless.  Not wanting to miss out on the learning, I joined in on the group trainings which included short jogs and drills.  It wasn't painful, and I found the swelling at the end of those two days was the best it had been in a while.  Encouraged, I did a little bit of run-walking a couple of days a week following that training weekend.

The week before Christmas I was finally allowed to remove the stocking, which was a great day!  Unfortunately a few varicose veins on the inside of my left calf still remained, but he didn't want to treat those straight away while my body was still recovering from the inflammation.  I decided to wait until autumn/winter with the cooler temperatures.

Fast-forward to now - June 2018 - and I am seven days post-treatment for the remaining veins on my left leg and the recovery is so much better this time.  It's definitely a blessing to only have one leg treated, and no work done around the feet.  I'm way more mobile, with no inflammation/swelling.  I'll have one more week of wearing the stocking day and night, then I'll ease back into my running and regular training after that.

I'm so pleased that I took the step to do something about my veins.  In time, once the treated veins disappear and bruising resolves, I know I'm going to be really happy with the result.  Watch this space - I'll be sure to share some 'after' photos in a few months time.

💖 K8