“Ian rowed for the US team and Cambridge, when he developed varicose veins.”
Varicose veins run in my family. I’ve got two uncles who had the surgery at relatively early ages. But I assumed that varicose veins came from sitting around or that older people or pregnant women got them.
Then about eight years ago, I noticed some stinging on the inside of one of my ankles and what looked like a permanent bruise.
I was told I had varicose veins and advised to wear compression socks during the day. But the stinging got progressively worse and by the end of the day, my ankles would be throbbing – even after wearing the compression socks.
About six months ago, I decided I had to get something done. I went to my GP who referred me to Michael Gaunt.
He did a scan and explained that he’d use VNUS Closure on the larger veins and avulse the smaller veins on my calves and ankles. I had surgery under general anaesthetic and it was really straightforward.
I was up and walking within a couple of hours and on my first day home, I walked for about a mile.
The bruising was fairly extensive, but not worrisome and settled down pretty quickly, as did the pain. The time from surgery to feeling comfortable walking was less than a week.
The impressive thing is that the scarring is minimal. When I tell people I’ve had surgery in the last three months, they are like “where are the scars?” There are just these tiny pin pricks.
But the biggest difference for me is going from living with chronic pain to being without it – that was huge. I kinda kick myself that I didn’t have surgery sooner.
