I think Im more worried than he is

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Vanessa

Active member
Joined
Jun 1, 2010
Messages
30
Location
virginia
Hi everyone my name is Vanessa and my hubby will be having heart valve replacement done on the 14th of june 2010 with the on x valve. Weve been thru a long hall for the past 2 and half yrs. It started with him being very sick for about 5 months before we could find a way of seeing a doc. He ran a fever every night with bad sweats and lost alot of weight.He also was tired all time on top of dealing with bad tooth aches off and on alot. I layed on his chest one night and notice his heart beat sounded funny so that was it I said you will see a doc like right now!!!! God is so good all the time!!!! he guided me all the way and we found a wonderful doc who sees you no matter your income. She picked it up right away and said go to the hospital right now so they can do a ecko. Needless to say they found endocarditis (infection in the heart) on his heart valve. He was admitted that day and put on iv antis. We were there for a week and sent home with introvinus antibiotics for 8 weeks. we were blessed with a good cardiologist who keep up with regular exams and echos. He said we were ok with the litlle bit of leaking he had from the damage but in April I started to notice he was going back to being tired all the time and lossing weight again. We went for an echo and he found that the heart was swelling and call for a heart cath to be done. Well his teeth were the cause of all this mess and needed to be taken care of before he could have surgery done.We do not have insurance and we are low income so we were having a hard time tring to find a dentist who would take payments.THERE IS NO SUCH THING.!!! Then again God stepped in and guided me again and we found a free clinic. Everything went really well,they took all of the bottom first and 2 weeks later took all of the top. He is amazing on how well he handled it.he didnt need any pain meds. So here we are now in June and I thought all my worring has passed but nope it hasnt. Im a very detailed person I have to know every detail !!! Ive done so much research for the 3 months you would think I know just as much as the doc but there is still so many unanswered questions I dont even know where to start but this forum has been a big help.Who ever created it may God bless you. Oh we go for an orientation on monday june 7th 2010 so Im hoping ill remember every question................. well ill write them down. So much more has happen in between but wont go into detail because I know this is already so long. Thanks so much for reading and God bless.
 
Welcome Vanessa. You've come to the right place. This website is another Godsend. I can't say enough good things about it - how it helped to calm my fears before surgery, get me through surgery and now is helping tremendously after surgery during recovery. He's going to be fine. And I understand him not being as nervous as you (or at least not letting you see it). As you come up with questions, post them here, then keep checking back every once in a while to see who all has responded. The people in this forum are just wonderful. Talk to ya more soon, as you and hubby start having questions. Or, let us know if you don't even know what the questions are to ask ;)
 
I know all too well about having your teeth removed and being low income. Unfortunately, I never found a place that would do it for free. With what I had left in savings and some help from others, I was able to get mine done and none to soon. The surgeon said that one more week and I might not have been around. I had 4 badly infected teeth and many more ready to go at any time. I was really sick and basically looked like I was dying. Last time I saw the doc, he kept remarking at how much better I looked and had more color then ever. He showed me pics of me before and it's downright scary.

Don't worry about your posts being long. Write a book if you feel like it. We read all of it from everyone!
 
Welcome, Vanessa. So happy you found us though sorry for the reason you went looking.
You both certainly have been through a lot but you sound strong and determined and you have every reason to think all will go well.
Please ask any questions. There is almost always someone here who has experienced or has knowledge about almost every question asked.
Most of us agree the wait for surgery is the worst part of it. Hopefully you can find some fun things to do together while you await his OHS date.
Best Wishes.
 
Vanessa,
It sounds like your husband is moving on a positive path forward with having his surgery date finalized. The in between can sometimes be the most stressful. Once I had a date I was more calm and was able to start making plans. Reading the posts on this site was one of the most helpful things for me leading up to my surgery. One of the members even referred me to someone who had had surgery with my surgeon, even the same procedure. I spoke with her before my surgery and she helped me go into my surgery with a vision of a positive outcome.

Good luck to your husband for his upcoming surgery. I will be looking for your update afterwards.

Chris
 
Welcome Vanessa,

Sounds like your challenges have already been great and we thank you for posting.

Keep the faith and ask the questions, with VR.org you have just expanded your support group to prepare and fuind assistance.

Gil
 
Hi and welcome! If you have questions, ask. Someone can always help. Glad you found the forum. Let us know about your husband and I will keep him in my prayers.
 
Thanks to all for the kind replies.Heading back to the oral surgeon.My hubby possibly has a bone spur in the lower front gum.Which isnt, bad I was told it would works its way out , but if its not a spur they have to go digging again. That will have to be on hold for a while due to surgery and recovery. An xray will tell us. I the mean time I do have a few questions.............. I know every bodies recovery is very different. Ive read so many post here , I will be my hubbys caretaker when he returns home and was wondering about a ballpark figure on how long should I be looking at staying home with him before returning to work? Also what is the average stay in the hospital if all goes well?
 
He'll need someone for the first week at home. I'd say make it two weeks if you can. One definately.

If all goes well, he'll be in the hospital for 4 to 7 days.

It's been about a year and a half since I had my teeth out and I just pulled another piece of bone out not to long ago. It will happen for a while yet.
 
Vanessa:

Welcome!

I've been on both sides of the story. I had my mitral valve replaced 7 years ago this month with a St. Jude mechanical, and my husband had the same valve repaired 3 years ago last month.
My recovery was more difficult than my husband's, because he was in better condition heart-wise going into surgery. We were both in the hospital for 1 week. He should have gone home 4 days post-op, but he developed an arrhythmia and they gave him one medication (amiodarone) to get rid of that. It didn't work, so they sent him home on Coumadin. I was in the hospital 1 week because they needed to get my INR to a acceptable level before discharging me.
John and I went out of town one week after he got out of the hospital. We went to a town 2-2.5 hours south of our house for the weekend. I drove and we stopped once so he could stretch his legs. He was tired, sore, but doing very well otherwise. His incision was on his right side, through the ribs under his breast. Mind is a typical sternotomy.
I stayed at my parents' house for 2 weeks after I left the hospital. They live in Dallas, where I went for my surgery, and they were available to take me to follow-up doctor visits. I had no appetite, so my mother worked on getting me to eat something, anything.
John came home from the hospital on a Thursday, and I went back to work the next day. He had no problem with his appetite.
I went back to work part-time 7 weeks post-op and went full-time 4 weeks after that. John had lots of sick time, so he went back 8 weeks post-op.
You will probably think of many questions to ask here. When you do, just post them, and we'll answer them.
 

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