Larsen Family Love

We are moving up in the world folks. We are finally getting rid of the old school freezer. I know, I know, it's about time we upgraded to a frost free freezer. Say goodbye to the yearly defrosting. I actually might shed a tear.... NOT!

Matt has had this nasty varicose vein ever since I met him. The vein runs from the top of his thigh, across his quad, around the back of his knee and down his calf. A few years ago it started giving him trouble. I knew it was a problem when he brought me an ad he had cut out of the paper for varicose vein removal.

Anyway, I made Matt an appointment and after the initial visit they scheduled him for an ultra-sound. At the ultra-sound they found the vein that was feeding the varicose vein. They decided that it was only going to get worse so they scheduled him for surgery.

I never knew that varicose vein surgery was a two part deal. I took him in the first day of surgery and they ran a laser through the varicose vein so that it would kill it and put a stint in the feeding vein. When they were all done they put him in a compression thigh high sock. He looked ULTRA sexy! We were sent home and told to come back the next week for the second portion of the surgery.

Little did Matt know that days 4 and 5 were going to be very painful. Matt called me on day 5 and told me that he was heading to the doctors office because he was worried about blood clots and the level of pain he was experiencing. The doctors did an ultra-sound to check for blood clots and thank goodness, nothing was found!. The doctor explained that the vein was shrinking and breaking off from other veins which it had been attached too and that is what was causing the pain. He told Matt that he should be feeling the popping when the veins break (ewww).

The night before Matt's second surgery we got to shave his legs! He technically only needed to shave one, but he thought he might look funny with only one hairy leg, so we ended up shaving both legs. Matt didn't think shaving his leg would be too bad but by the time we finished the second leg he was over it. That night when he climbed into bed he asked how I felt about sleeping next to a metro-sexual. Ha, like he would ever qualify as that!

The second day of the surgery included the doctors making about 25 small incisions in Matt's leg and pulling the dead vein out. When I picked him up his bandages had already started to soak through with blood. He was in a lot of pain and couldn't wait to get home.

Recovery was a pain. Because the varicose vein was so large and went from the front of his leg, to the side of his leg and then to the back of his leg, he could not get comfortable in bed. Poor guy didn't get much sleep.

One night before the bandages came off, Matt had some friends over to play pool. Tim, one of his friends took the picture below and sent it off to all of Matt's other friends. When people
responded back asking what happened, Tim replied that Matt had been bitten by a shark!

The sad thing about this photo is that it only shows about a third of the incision.