Overcoming Leg Pain That Put Life on Hold: Deeonka’s Story

At just 30 years old, Deeonka Pierson of New Orleans, Louisiana, began experiencing leg pain – numbness in her toes that soon turned into constant, excruciating discomfort. She could barely walk for five minutes.

“It started with numbness in my toes – it felt like when your feet fall asleep, but it never went away,” Deeonka recalls. “The pain was constant.” She had no family history of this, so she didn’t understand why these symptoms were happening.

Deeonka tried to ignore the pain, but it became too severe to manage. Hesitant to see another doctor, she admits, “I was stubborn. I didn’t want to go to a cardiologist or go through more tests, but I’m glad I listened – it was more serious than I realized.”

At her consultation at Cardiovascular Institute of the South (CIS), Deeonka met Dr. Satish Gadi, interventional cardiologist and vascular specialist at CIS in Prairieville and Baton Rouge. An ultrasound confirmed her diagnosis: chronic venous insufficiency, a condition in which the veins in the legs cannot properly return blood to the heart. The imaging also pinpointed which veins required treatment, allowing Dr. Gadi to develop a personalized plan for Deeonka.

“Ms. Pierson had been suffering from leg pain for most of her adult life,” explains Dr. Gadi. “Her pain had been getting progressively worse – especially in the evenings and at night – affecting her sleep and daily activities. We performed an ultrasound that diagnosed chronic venous insufficiency and showed which veins were affected. In her case, the right leg was more involved, so that’s where we focused our treatment.”

Altogether, Deeonka underwent four procedures with Dr. Gadi.

“When I went for the first procedure, a stent was placed in my leg, and I later had another one,” she says. “That’s when blood clots were found in both of my legs. After some time, Dr. Gadi told me that my veins weren’t working properly, and that’s when he recommended the vein procedures.”

Although she was nervous about the procedures, Deeonka says the experience was far better than she expected.

“I’m all about no pain and no needles,” she laughs. “But it was actually pretty smooth. It wasn’t as painful as I thought it would be. He talked me through it, and everybody in there was very calm.”

The results came quickly. “Two days after, I noticed I could walk long distances without pain,” she says. “Before, I couldn’t walk five minutes without hurting. I feel good now – I can actually walk without pain.”