I just had surgery for varicose veins in my left leg, which is going to set me back a month in training. That’s why I’m not doing any early season races.
Surgery went well, and is much less pain than I experience after my races! The worst part is I have to sit on my duff and can’t run for a month. I should be able to bike and swim after 2 weeks. I’ll have to ease into the running.
The good news is that now that my bad veins are fixed, my leg won’t swell all the time (esp when i run), my foot won’t ache every night when I am trying to sleep, and healing in that side of my lower body will no longer take three times longer.
I am going crazy not being able to work out. 🙁
Update 4/10/07 (1 week post-op): Okay, I take back what I said about this being less pain than I experience after my races. The pain got worse as the week wore on, and it’s not yet subsiding. At least sore muscles heal in a few days! The Vicoden they gave me helps me sleep at night, and ibuprofen gets me thru the days.
Not being able to work out is REALLY driving me crazy 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁
Update 4/15/07: Last Wednesday, I slathered my surgical incisions with liquid bandage, slapped a waterproof bandaid on top of that, and went swimming. I swam for an hour and a half, and it was extremely refreshing. My leg felt great that night, and even better the next day. I went swimming again on Friday, and once again, everything felt great. On Saturday, I ventured out for a short bike ride. A short ride for me is 2 hours.? I wore a support stocking on the bad leg to help counteract the force of gravity. The weather was sunny and warm, I had no pain in my leg, and I felt really strong on the bike after a 2 week haitus. Later that day, tho, my leg really started to ache. Today is Sunday (two days after the ride) and my leg is still killing me. I will stick with the swimming, and not do any more gravity-based workouts for a bit. I’m really bummed that I can’t bike, because I really love biking more than anything in the whole world!
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I can empathize on the not working out. Can you do pulling drills in the pool?
I didn't know varicose veins caused those problems--I have them in one leg, but my GP told me not to worry about them, they won't affect me. Obviously your experience is different (although I do have swollen feet, and sore legs, etc. that may just be attributable to running). Did your physician recommend you get them fixed?