Had a bit of outpatient surgery done on my legs today. Laser ablation on my legs to eliminate varicose veins. Basically they numb the site, locate the vein using ultrasound, insert a fiber optic cable and cauterize the veins closed at the faulty junction. I was awake and on no drugs for the whole procedure. Opted out of the Valium to calm my nerves. And I “tweeted” (used twitter) the entire experience in real-time. Some of those who follow me suggested I post the tweets. So here they are. For the twitter-savvy, the order is in chron order - went thru the trouble so it would read from top to bottom.
Alrighty now. Get ready for live tweets from surgery. Getting laser ablation on my legs this am.
Got some great paper shorts. Then they french cut them up the side. Gr8!
Pre-op ultrasound.
I’ve got 10mg valium just in case I get nervous. So far no drugs.
Betadine on the legs. Damn this room is cold.
Ah, the joys of medicine. All dignity is sacrificed
Enter the rockstar…erm…doc
Oh crap. The ultrasound is running thru a laptop running windows platform.
To clarify. Having laser ablation to remove varicose veins.
First stick. Little bit o lidocaine. No biggee. Laser in.
2 lasers in top part of left leg. Little bit of sting not bad. Getting a tattoo is worse.
Doc explaining procedure and pointing out what’s going on on the screen.
Looking at ultrasound, doc says,”That’s the sheath and this is the laser” blown up to several times actual size this looks painful. But its not.
Lydocain and sodium bi-carb going in around site for laser. Provides better contact and numbs. Extreme laser heat next.
Head down to make vein smaller. First shot of laser stings a bit. Getting more numbing med.
Getting a bit of a burning taste in the back of my throat. Normal perdoc. No pain now from laser.
2 veins down. 2 to go. 1 lower left leg. 1 lower right leg. Top left leg done.
FYI there will not be pix of this one. Will bring cam next time. Back of the legs in a couple of weeks.
“Lower leg harder to anethesize” yeah thanks doc. Noticing that.
And lasering the lower left. Much quicker set up.
Dr. Bonau rocks! Gr8 sense of humor about all of this. He’s not sure what twitter is but he’s indulging me.
Feels like a bad windows program – searching…searching…searching. Looking for something on left leg. Left is all in back so will get it in 2 weeks. Done.
Now its time for cleanup. Wiping down the betadine from my freshly shaved legs. Maybe I’ll b faster on the bike now. 
@bobcoffield @matt_mueller @georgesibble and others. Thanks for all of the support. @caparks. Thanks for the ride.
Leg wrapped tight. Stays bandaged for 48 hrs. No bath. Hmmmm.
Kroger pharmacy - healthcare consumer shout of the day! They have $4 generics but 3x 10mg valium generic only $2.63.
@jenmccabegorman I’m sure its even cheaper in the netherlands.
@bobcoffield had this done at ages 16 and 18. Now at 41. Have watched options evolve. Laser ablation is best imho.
@georgesibble Yep. Normal routine. Movement is good for circulation in lower leg. No heavy lifting. Ibuprofen o’ plenty.
Transparency: Dr. Bonau has performed this surgery 2500 times. 2 cases w complications. Both successfully resolved.
Filed under Behind the Curtain, Healthcare, MedBillManager, My Healthcare Is Killing Me, Personal Stories, Transparency, change:healthcare, quality
HOpe you had a blast during your procedure. It was really good meeting you.. Thanks for teaching me about twitter
April: Many thanks to you and all of the great folks at Dr. Bonau’s office!
[...] for the follow up laser ablation surgery done on the back of my legs for varicose veins. You can catch the first installment here if you missed it. And once again, I went through the trouble of reverse flowing the tweets so they [...]
[...] at Health Care Law Blog, Bob Coffield discusses the legal implications of a surprising development: live tweeting from the operating room during a [...]
[...] by HealthBlawg“Heart Failure Hospitalizations Rates Surge” by Dr. Mercola“Live from the Operating Room” by Change:Healthcare“One in Five Hospital Stays Involve Mental Illness” by MHA [...]
[...] This edition begins with a summary of the raging Twitter Wars and includes a link to a post I did last week discussing some of the legal implications of live tweeting in health care. [...]
[...] He also tweeted the first installment of his surgery to remove his varicose veins — Live from the Operating Room.Robert and his counterpart, Christopher Parks, are all about transparency in health care, especially [...]
[...] Res Ipsa Blog brings you this week’s edition of Blawg Review — Blawg Review #186. This edition begins with a summary of the raging Twitter Wars and includes a link to a post I did last week discussing some of the legal implications of live tweeting in health care. [...]
[...] Res Ipsa Blog brings you this week’s edition of Blawg Review — Blawg Review #186. This edition begins with a summary of the raging Twitter Wars and includes a link to a post I did last week discussing some of the legal implications of live tweeting in health care. [...]
[...] Res Ipsa Blog brings you this week’s edition of Blawg Review — Blawg Review #186. This edition begins with a summary of the raging Twitter Wars and includes a link to a post I did last week discussing some of the legal implications of live tweeting in health care. [...]
Out of curiosity how long did the procedure take? That seems like a lot of tweets but it reads like it went pretty well.
Bryan, thanks for asking. Things went very smoothly. Prep time for each was around 30 minutes. The quickest of the procedures was around an hour. The longest about 2 hours. Clean up about 15 minutes. For the laser, I got up immediately from the table. For the phlebectomy had to stay down for 1-2 hours post-surgery and stare up at my blackberry.
[...] Live from the Operating Room (company.changehealthcare.com) [...]
[...] Blawg Review # 186: Blawgers Are All-A-TwitterRes Ipsa Blog brings you this week’s edition of Blawg Review — Blawg Review #186. This edition begins with a summary of the raging Twitter Wars and includes a link to a post I did last week discussing some of the legal implications of live tweeting in health care. [...]
[...] Blawg Review # 186: Blawgers Are All-A-TwitterRes Ipsa Blog brings you this week’s edition of Blawg Review — Blawg Review #186. This edition begins with a summary of the raging Twitter Wars and includes a link to a post I did last week discussing some of the legal implications of live tweeting in health care. [...]
[...] He also tweeted the first installment of his surgery to remove his varicose veins — Live from the Operating Room. Robert and his counterpart, Christopher Parks, are all about transparency in health care, [...]
[...] He also tweeted the first installment of his surgery to remove his varicose veins — Live from the Operating Room. Robert and his counterpart, Christopher Parks, are all about transparency in health care, [...]
[...] Blawg Review # 186: Blawgers Are All-A-TwitterRes Ipsa Blog brings you this week’s edition of Blawg Review — Blawg Review #186. This edition begins with a summary of the raging Twitter Wars and includes a link to a post I did last week discussing some of the legal implications of live tweeting in health care. [...]
[...] twittered a surgery. (More about Twitter.) The first time a surgery was twittered it was done by the patient who was under local anesthesia for the procedure on his legs. (More about the original twittered [...]
[...] Live from the Operating Room (company.changehealthcare.com) [...]
[...] October 29, 2008: Robert Hendrick, co-founder of change:healthcare live tweeted surgery that was performed on him to remove his varicose veins. Hendrick was tweeting live from the operating room in what many believe to be the first use of Twitter during live surgery. More [...]