Has anyone had a filter?

I found out today that I have to get a filter in before surgery.  Then it has to be taken out after the surgery.  Has anyone had this done?  Can you tell me a little bit about it?

I have to have one too. I will find out Monday when I get to have it put in. I am really nervous. 

I had to have an IVC filter before surgery and then had it removed a couple of months after surgery.

It really wasn't a big deal.  It was done as an outpatient procedure in the X-Ray dept.   I had an IV where they gave me meds to make me sleepy but I was still awake during the procedure.  Just to the point that I really didn't care anymore!   They had me turn my head to the side then they numbed the side of my neck so they could make a teeny, tiny little incision.  It didn't even require a stitch afterward...just a bandage that I had to wear overnight.  I could feel them snaking the wire down the vein through my body at times, mainly in my chest.  I'll admit that was an odd feeling but it certainly wasn't at all painful.  They used fluoroscope to guide the wire....and the filter....into place.  Then they took some x-rays to make absolutely sure it was in the right place.  Then they pulled the wire out.  Again...I could feel the wire coming out, more in my chest than anywhere, but it didn't hurt.  Afterward, I had to stick around for a bit and then I was free to go home.  I took some Tylenol or Advil that night (don't remember which anymore!) because my neck was a little sore but other than that....not a big deal.  I think the procedure itself may haven taken about 1/2 an hour to 45 minutes. 

Taking it out was pretty much the same experience.  The incision is right below the original one so I teased my nieces and nephews that I was bitten by Dracula!   Although now....I have a hard time even finding the little dots where they put it in and took it out. 

The doctor told me that it would be placed in my inner leg, the groin region. So how long do you estimate you were there?

Yep....I've heard of that.  A friend of mine had one put in through the groin (I think it was called a Greenfield Filter)....though not for surgery.  Unfortunately for her, she had to have it AFTER she already had bloodclots to prevent them from traveling from her leg to her lungs.  It worked!   

Anyway......when I had the filter put in, there was an issue with the doc and I ended up waiting a LOOOOONNNNG time because they had to get another doc in to cover for mine because mine had an emergency and had to leave.  So I ended up there most of the day just waiting for the covering doc to work me in.  But had that not happened.....probably would have been there maybe an hour before the procedure, 45 minutes for the procedure than maybe wait an hour or two to recover after.  Then head home.   And that's exactly the way it went when I had it taken out.  I'm assuming it would be the same going through the groin as it would going through the neck.  I don't know that they would need you to stay longer for any reason????