Bradley White
Well-known member
So I leave for Mayo tomorrow afternoon. A buddy of mine is driving me to Chicago because I am flying from O'Hare to Rochester (tickets out of South Bend were just too expensive). Have all of my pre-op stuff of Wednesday including an echo (to make sure my pulmonary homograft is still functioning well), CT Scan (to see where the my heart is in relation to my sternum), blood work, and maybe some other things I am forgetting.
The plan is to go with the mechanical valve in the aortic position and stick the with the pulmonary homograft that I have now since it is functioning well. But I will talk all this over again with the cardiologist and surgeon on Wednesday when I meet with them. The surgery is scheduled for early Thursday morning (I'm not sure what time). My parents are flying in from Tampa tomorrow, my girlfriend and her sister are coming on Wednesday, and one of my good friends is coming on Friday for the weekend so I will have a good support system with me while I recover.
I am very content to have my heart in the skilled hands of Dr. Dearani, but am still extremely nervous. Since I have already had surgery once before I pretty much know what to expect, but I just can't seem to shake this anxiousness. I have come to terms with the coumadin and am no longer so worried about the restrictions that places on my lifestyle. I just want to be healthy again and live my life without having to worry about my heart all the time. I just can't help but think that I always seem to be in that small percentage of people where things just don't work out as planned when it comes to the heart. I always seem to defy odds in the wrong direction. Hopefully, this time will be the exception where everything works out perfectly and my mechanical valve lasts for years and years. I hope so, I still have a lot of things I want to do in life. But I shouldn't complain my life has been filled with more joy than I could have ever hoped for and none of that would have been possible just 60 years ago when they weren't even doing OHS. Even when things don't work out perfect I still have it a lot easier than I could have or then many people do in today's world.
I just wanted to thank everyone for the tremendous support and empathy that you have bestowed upon me over the last year. It has been truly invaluable. I also wanted to wish stretch and davidfortune successful surgeries, I know we will all see each other on the "other side." I will give my girlfriend my login information so she can update you guys Thursday night on my condition. Thanks again for all of your support.
Brad
The plan is to go with the mechanical valve in the aortic position and stick the with the pulmonary homograft that I have now since it is functioning well. But I will talk all this over again with the cardiologist and surgeon on Wednesday when I meet with them. The surgery is scheduled for early Thursday morning (I'm not sure what time). My parents are flying in from Tampa tomorrow, my girlfriend and her sister are coming on Wednesday, and one of my good friends is coming on Friday for the weekend so I will have a good support system with me while I recover.
I am very content to have my heart in the skilled hands of Dr. Dearani, but am still extremely nervous. Since I have already had surgery once before I pretty much know what to expect, but I just can't seem to shake this anxiousness. I have come to terms with the coumadin and am no longer so worried about the restrictions that places on my lifestyle. I just want to be healthy again and live my life without having to worry about my heart all the time. I just can't help but think that I always seem to be in that small percentage of people where things just don't work out as planned when it comes to the heart. I always seem to defy odds in the wrong direction. Hopefully, this time will be the exception where everything works out perfectly and my mechanical valve lasts for years and years. I hope so, I still have a lot of things I want to do in life. But I shouldn't complain my life has been filled with more joy than I could have ever hoped for and none of that would have been possible just 60 years ago when they weren't even doing OHS. Even when things don't work out perfect I still have it a lot easier than I could have or then many people do in today's world.
I just wanted to thank everyone for the tremendous support and empathy that you have bestowed upon me over the last year. It has been truly invaluable. I also wanted to wish stretch and davidfortune successful surgeries, I know we will all see each other on the "other side." I will give my girlfriend my login information so she can update you guys Thursday night on my condition. Thanks again for all of your support.
Brad
. It took me quite a while to not live with that feeling that the other shoe was about to drop.
