IVC Filter placement tomorrow

I go in the morning to have my IVVC filter placed and it may sound silly but I'm really nervous.  I don't really know what to expect even though the doctor explained it to me.  Anyone else had this done?  Could you give me your take on the procedure?  And I have surgery July 11 and start my liquid diet Friday of this week.  I will be so glad when all this is behind me.

I had one placed before my panniculectomy (but, oddly, not for my RNY). Sometimes they go Yay, Joey!! rough the groin as they did with mine and sometimes they go through the neck.  I had a complication (he hit am artery the first time instead of the vein and so he had to put in an arterial plug (which made that leg hurt like hell for a full week) and then use the other side for the filter, but I was pretty out of it the whole time (the "twilight" anesthesia along with a local) and had no pain from the side he actually inserted the filter on other than some soreness that evening.

Mine is a permanent filter, so I cannot address the removal.

It isn't at ALL silly to be nervous!  Having an artificial device (especially one that looks like a miniature instrument of torture!) inserted into the main vein running through your torso is scary.  I was definitely nervous!

Lora

Thank you for responding.  Mine will be a permanent filter also.  My doctor told me there have been more complications with the temporary one and I didn't really want them going in my neck to pull that thing out It's good to know I should be out of it.

I was a little nervous about having that thing in me permanently (I shouldn't have looked at what it looks like, LOL) but I have a strong history of DVTs dating back to High School in 1979 and am on Coumadin permanently, so I understand why the vascular surgeon and my PCP thought it was a good idea.  

The info my surgeon gave me set my mind at ease a bit.  As you said, the complication rate from permanent ones is quite low (and actually a bit lower than the temporary ones when you include complications from removal). I have had mine since 2008 and other than posing a potential issue when I needed to have kidney stones "blasted" (because the filter was at the edge of the "blast zone"), I usually even forget I have it (like when they take a medical history)!  Unless they mention implants or something, I don't think to include it.