Joining the Zipper Club

[KayBee718]

I'm joining the Zipper Club ranks a little sooner than I expected.

I met with my surgeon today about my aneurysm. It's measuring 5.0 cm and I have been symptomatic with a family history, so this baby has to go.

I will be having a David procedure on April 14....and I'm feeling very shell shocked!

 

[pellicle]

hang in there, soon enough it'll all be in the rear view mirror

 

[tom in MO]

Good luck to you. It should all go well. As a software developer, you don't have to worry about heavy lifting to go back to work : )

 

[cldlhd]

You'll be glad when it's over. I had the David procedure on Feb 7th, follow up with my surgeon last week and a stress test with the cardiologist today . The tech who did my original echo that caught the problem last March was there and asked " Aren't you glad it's over with?" and I emphatically answered ''yes". You'll be feeling the same way soon.

 

[KayBee718]

I was pretty sure that he was going to recommend surgery, but hearing it was a whole different ball of wax.

He wanted me in next week and I countered with 2.

 

[cldlhd]

I'm not saying it's easy. My surgery was scheduled for a Friday and was postponed until Saturday. I was also given the option to reschedule for a later date, it was tempting.

 

[Paleowoman]

I would have chosen later. … In fact I did - originally the surgeon siad she wanted to do it two weeks after I saw her, I said no way - I was asymptomatic and very fit. I chose to have it done two months later - with her approval - and it was still too early judging from still being asymptomatic and very fit. I had no signs of ventricular hypertrophy before surgery, but since then, echoes, even one done a month ago which is over a whole year after surgery, show "mild left ventricular hypertrophy" - the surgery stressed my heart too much imho. I also have segmental wall motion since surgery, something which no one knows the reason for, but which often happens following cardiac surgery and which doesn't cause a problem but is noted. My cardiologist isn't worried about the mild LVH but I think it shows I should have waited.

Mind you, if you have symptoms I'm sure you would be glad it's over as you will most likely feel so much better, but it's completely understandable that you are "shell shocked" - you need time to get used to this.

 

[cldlhd]

I guess it depends on what you have. Whether it's a leaky valve or a 5.0 cm aneurysm would factor differently in my mind. Apparently 25% of all fatal dissections occur in aneurysms that are less than 5 cm. Now I don't know if those are situations where Marfans or some other connective tissue disorder us involved and BAV has a higher threshold but speaking for myself I'm glad I had my surgery when I did. They said it was 4.8 before the operation but it measured 4.99 cm when they removed it.

 

[epstns]

You may not have the "zipper" either. Many surgeons (mine included) now do their external closure with the surgical equivalent of super-glue. I'm now 4 years out, and if it weren't for my pacemaker lump, you wouldn't be able to see that I've had heart surgery.

 

[KayBee718]

I've got nine days to go and 11,126 things to do.

 

[AZ Don]

I also had a valve sparing procedure and it was a relief to get it over with. You'll have lots of time to do things during your recovery. Best wishes.

 

[KayBee718]

I also had a valve sparing procedure and it was a relief to get it over with. You'll have lots of time to do things during your recovery. Best wishes.

Hi Don,

You responded to my original post here when I was wondering what the surgeon would say at our initial meeting.

He wanted to schedule it for this week, but I asked for an extra week. Yes, I'll be very glad when next Tuesday is here and I'm safely in their hands.

Thanks!

KB