I just got off the phone w/Dawn-Marie & the poor lady is still waiting.....
She is having other bleeding issues right now & her doctor is now recommending sending her to New York instead. She says it appears to her that he is having second thoughts of performing her operation but has not come right out & said it.
He told her that she would probably be better off w/ a percutaneous valve http://my.clevelandclinic.org/heart/percutaneous/percutaneousValve.aspx but she is very uneasy with this because this valve and/or procedure is in it's experimental stages. And too, Medicare & Medicaid wouldn't pay for her surgery in Cleveland so she's sure that they wouldn't pay to have it done in New York. She's very much against these new valves not too much is known about them.
I tried to reassure her that everything in this life is a gamble & if she in her mind could visualize what it must have been like for the first patient of the first St. Jude or On-X valve must have felt like.
This goes for every type of valve and/or every type of procedure ---- the first patient will inevitably always be the gineau pig (? spelling please!)
Dawn has a very tough decision to make & I wish I could be there to offer my support in person but I can't so, I will just pray that God will lead her to that decision & I know you will do the same.
She sends everyone her well wishes & prays for everyone that is having surgery.
Until I hear further from her....... (I'm kind of a wreck right now!)
She is having other bleeding issues right now & her doctor is now recommending sending her to New York instead. She says it appears to her that he is having second thoughts of performing her operation but has not come right out & said it.
He told her that she would probably be better off w/ a percutaneous valve http://my.clevelandclinic.org/heart/percutaneous/percutaneousValve.aspx but she is very uneasy with this because this valve and/or procedure is in it's experimental stages. And too, Medicare & Medicaid wouldn't pay for her surgery in Cleveland so she's sure that they wouldn't pay to have it done in New York. She's very much against these new valves not too much is known about them.
I tried to reassure her that everything in this life is a gamble & if she in her mind could visualize what it must have been like for the first patient of the first St. Jude or On-X valve must have felt like.
This goes for every type of valve and/or every type of procedure ---- the first patient will inevitably always be the gineau pig (? spelling please!)
Dawn has a very tough decision to make & I wish I could be there to offer my support in person but I can't so, I will just pray that God will lead her to that decision & I know you will do the same.
She sends everyone her well wishes & prays for everyone that is having surgery.
Until I hear further from her....... (I'm kind of a wreck right now!)
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