Thank you. I think I am holding off on the doctor as my leg is feeling quite a bit better today. I think my doc said my leg would find alternate routes for blood to flow as I have 2 deep vein clots, not just one. It just seems like there should be more they can do about all this. I wish there were some way to get the damaged veins/valves to work again. I continue to pray.

Yes, you are right. There are lots of veins in the calf and so if some veins get blocked with clots, the other veins can transport the blood, and if they need to transport much more blood they usually do, they get wider, and e.g in case of superficial vein, can be seen as bulging vein. . You are right that the current treatment after DVT involves anticoagulant treatment which stops further clotting and let the body do the job to break down the clots, which seems not very much. Ideally,the treatment should involve breaking down the clots before they cause damage. There is a lots of advances in developing clot-busting methods , so perhaps after 20-30 years, a person with DVT can undergo such clot-bursting treatment and can walk out the hospital totally cured (i.e. clot free) and may not even need anticoagulant treatment. Unfortunately, at the present stage, the medical science is a long way off in developing a sufficiently safe clot-bursting method.

I think how well the veins and valves work just depends on the extent of the damage. I know there's no comfort in this, and it doesn't change the fact that you have discomfort, but really, you do not sound like your symptoms are outside of the norm. I guess I say that so you know, I have damage. My leg is permanently larger than the other, my leg swells beyond that by the end of the day, but honestly, there is very little I cannot do at this point. It can take some time though. Some days if I do too much standing or driving, it's more of an issue, but even then, manageable. It's just adapting, finding your limits right now, which may not be your limits in a few months from now. The body has an amazing way of finding ways to adapt. It's remarkable actually. With most people, once the damage is done, it generally doesn't worsen over time. That's at least what my doctor told me when I was diagnosed with PTS. So, while that seems like little comfort, for me, it helped me to know it's just likely not going to spin out of control even more. The good news is that I've had much improvement, like up to 3 years after my DVT. Don't lose hope and don't let the terms damaged and chronic sink your spirit. They're just terminology. You have to go by how you feel, your improvements, your quality of life, etc

Thank you. That does help. But yes it is scary. And my doctor told me that since 2 of my deep veins are leaking it will just gradually get worse and worse over time. But I refuse to believe that. I want to be that person who discovers something to help the valves either restore or function as if the veins are restored. I believe there is something out there that will really help. I just don't think anyone has discovered what it is yet.

I like when a doctor is realistic with me but I just feel since I've been on this board, I've seen the spectrum of people's experiences, ans truly so many people have done well. Some have not, because their pain is completely debilitating, as in no quality of life. I know some of those folks have tried surgical intervention, some with some success, some not so much.

I know for me, if I held onto everything my docs told me, every statistic I've ever read, every scarey outcome I've read here on DS, between the 2 separate DVTs and PEs I had, sheesh, I'd have hung it up. Just keep moving forward.

I do plan to! Thank you