My husband, Larry, had Deep Vein thrombosis a couple times over a ten year period and was left with some discomfort and swelling after standing for 1.5 hours or so. In 2010 we met our 5000. annual deductible and were referred to a specialist, a couple hours away who thought he could remove the clot and improve the quality of life. The resulting surgery clotted, the angiojet to remove the new clot lacerated the vein and they took him back for a complete re-do.

He woke from the re-do surgery in incredible pain - having the leg hang over the side of the bed was enough pain he broke out in a sweat and started passing out. (This man has a high pain tolerance.) He developed foot drop over the next week and started physical therapy with a walker to learn to take a few steps at a time against the pain. Dr. blamed pain on degenerative disc disease and wanted to send him home. He was transferred to another hospital at my insistence, as at this point he couldn't walk and couldn't even sit up in a chair with his legs down, and was on morphine and other pain meds. now. (He was standing and working the day before the first surgery, two weeks prior to this.) He was hospitalized for an additional two weeks, including a week of rehab. At the six week mark from the original surgery an exploratory surgery was done that found sutures through the peroneal, sural and tibial nerves and that a couple of the veins had clearly ruptured and were just hanging there oozing but no real blood flow. The nerves were freed, the veins were closed off, and it was hoped he would recover and be out of pain and able to walk without a brace.

That hasn't happened. It will be two years in October and the pain is still severe if he stands for more a few minutes or sits without elevating his leg. He is on Lyrica, Morphine (i.e. Kadian 10mg), Elavil, cymbalta, Tramadol ER 300, losartan (he did not have high blood pressure before the pain), Vistaril, symbicort, proair pletal, and 3 Liters of oxygen bled into a autopap machine. (He had no history of breathing issues before this.)

We are looking for ideas for other ways to deal with the nerve pain, we are planning on a return visit to the Cleveland Clinic. When we saw them last year they said wait and see if he continues to recover.