Traveling and Living With Poor Circulation and Varicose Veins

Looking at this picture how old do you think this person is? Guess? I think of my Grandma she had cords of these veins running along her feet and up and down her legs. I remember her when I was a wee gal she may have been fifty with legs like this.

THIS IS MY LEG.

I can't believe I am posting a picture of my thigh here all smooshed from sitting down none the less. I am relaxing in Mexico here. This is a good day, this picture of my upper leg. There is a scar there also..the scar has nothing to do with the vein and MOSTLY to do with a bike accident in 5th grade. My ten speed bike pedal, you know the ones with the teeth. Yup. It took a bite out of my leg. The vein is the green bumpy thing.

I'd like to tell you a little bit about what it is like to have a varicose vein. In list form.

1. Sometimes it BURNS like a hot iron runs through it

2. Sometimes the blood that just sits there all day because it doesn't get pumped to my heart properly, leeches out and it looks like I have big bruises.

3. Sharp pains with no warning

4. Swelling of the whole leg from the knee down and most apparent at my ankle as my left ankle is bigger than my right.

5. Pain ALL the time, achy like the flu in my leg

6. It is ugly, but that is the least of my worries, however I am very self conscious when I wear knee length dresses. I try to avoid them at all costs. 

7. My circulation is effected, I have passed out SEVERAL times when kneeling down.

8. Legs swell when I travel

9. THROBS when I exercise...especially after three miles of running

I have been sitting and teaching school, reading my class some clever book when out of the blue a child will point at my vein and ask, "What is that?"

Children are naturally curious and this is a trait I appreciate very much in them. I also love teaching because they will believe pretty much anything you tell them as the truth. 

I like to answer the, WHAT IS THAT QUESTION with this answer.

Well, I went to Mexico. AND....(eyes widen)

You know what they say about Mexico right? Kids heads shake no. I say, YES YOU DO! They always warn you to NOT DRINK THE WATER! Guess what I did? I drank the water. This is what happened to me when I drank the water. I got a parasite. It lives in my leg, you see it looks like a little green snake and it lives in there. Doctor's are trying to figure out a plan to get rid of it as we speak. BUT sometimes I have to wear this ugly sock (tan knee high compression sock) and elevate my leg if it starts to hurt. So when people tell you an important rule to keep you safe, YOU SHOULD ALWAYS LISTEN AND DO WHAT THEY SAY.

They all believe me and we can go on with the clever story I am reading them.

 Varicose veins can cause some problems when traveling because they cause poor circulation. These are my legs in Miami. They look...normal.

My legs started to swell on the 9 hour flight from Miami to Spain. I put on my compression sock. I only brought one because usually it is my left leg that gives me fits. However both legs have poor functioning veins you just cant see them in my right leg. My right leg began to swell also. This was in Madrid I have one more hour flight to Jerez to meet Tamada.

This is me passed out on the beach after almost 20 hours of travel. CAN YOU SEE MY FEET? They look like fat swollen little potatoes! It took two days for the swelling to finally go down. I decided I needed to take some precautions on the way home because this was actually quite uncomfortable and painful.

HOW TO STOP SWELLING IN YOUR LEGS WHEN FLYING
1. I stayed away from salt ridden foods and soda's on the plane
2. I had an isle seat on the 9 hour flight home (THANK GOODNESS) I got up every hour to two hours and walked a couple laps around the plane.
3. I drank water and cranberry juice, and peppermint herbal tea...the last two are natural diuretics.
4. I wore my stretchy pants. I have a pair of Under Armor pants I use for long runs in the winter. I love them because they are tight and hold my legs in.
5. I wore my compression sock the WHOLE TIME.
6. I wore flip flops and I think this helped.

Favorite Stretchy Pants. With my compression sock...that sock is my faithful companion. I am happy to report that by doing these few simple things I had minimal swelling. Only my felt were swollen which disappeared by the time I awoke the next morning.

When I was married I was in the process of having the work up on my vein done to have it removed. This all happened right around the time of the divorce and I no longer had my ex husbands insurance. In fact, I didn't have any insurance. I was going to pay the 2K it would cost to have it fixed but then some things happened that I had to take care of and the vein went on the back burner. Which is scary because if you have a vein like mine you are in danger of throwing a blood clot.

The process takes a little while. Veins are given a rating 1 out of 4, four being the worst diagnosis..my vein is a 4. The insurance company wants to make sure you are not just having this surgery for cosmetic benefits, that it is necessary. Three things have to take place to remove the vein from my leg. I am having injections that will basically kill the vein, this is in one section of my leg. There is also going to be a section of laser treatment and then I am going to also have the bulk part of the vein stripped. This means that they will make small incisions in my leg and pull it out through each of those incisions.

Over the last four years I have been through the diagnosis process three times. This last time during Spring Break on my new insurance. I just found out on Friday that my surgery is 100% covered and that they had a cancellation on TUESDAY! I normally would have a two to three month wait time for the surgery! I am kind of nervous, but am so grateful that my leg will be healthy again. It won't ache all day! YAY for insurance!!! My Mom worked today so she could take off Tuesday and take care of me after my surgery. What in the world would I ever do without her. I am so thankful she can help me. I get to wear a WHOLE LEG compression sock for a while, but I am ok with that!

Taking care of business,
XOXO The Sunny D