RANDYJEAN
Active member
Originally, my big day was February 16th. Arrived for pre-registration the day before with a cold. 
As predicted, the coordinator called the doc on his cell (it was a holiday) and he said to cancel and reschedule. Whew. A small reprieve!
But now I'm back to facing the music this Tuesday. Can't wait to get it all over with. I'm a little concerned that I'm still a bit congested from the cold, but I've been practicing with the spirometer and it's helping. A friend of mine who's a former respiratory therapist is gonna be with me every step of the way.
Once again, I have to say it seemed like the medical professional (this time the hospital cardiac center coordinator) seemed to be trying to steer me away from the portal access procedure, but oh well. My primary care doc says to pay no attention. Coordinator said the route through my ribs will be more painful than the sternotomy, but that the recovery will be easier. She also made a point of reminding me that in 10% of the cases, a sternotomy ends up happening anyway, so then she counted the extra incisions I'd have. (Made me feel a bit like a gambling idiot, but hey. I've made my choice.)
Meanwhile, my dad's been moved from the hospital back to the nursing/rehab place. Most of what's going on with him has fallen to me to take care of, so it's been hard to prepare for my own stuff. I tell myself that once I get through the surgery, anytime I start to feel sorry for myself--or complain about pain--I'll just think about how bravely he's faced everything in the past nine months.
Anyway, that's the update on me. Aortic valve replacement this Tuesday. Going with tissue. Oh, and for anyone interested, the surgeon is Dr. Eli Capouya and the hospital is St. Joseph's in Burbank, California.
Wish me well! I'll see y'all on the flipside.
Randy
As predicted, the coordinator called the doc on his cell (it was a holiday) and he said to cancel and reschedule. Whew. A small reprieve!But now I'm back to facing the music this Tuesday. Can't wait to get it all over with. I'm a little concerned that I'm still a bit congested from the cold, but I've been practicing with the spirometer and it's helping. A friend of mine who's a former respiratory therapist is gonna be with me every step of the way.
Once again, I have to say it seemed like the medical professional (this time the hospital cardiac center coordinator) seemed to be trying to steer me away from the portal access procedure, but oh well. My primary care doc says to pay no attention.
Coordinator said the route through my ribs will be more painful than the sternotomy, but that the recovery will be easier. She also made a point of reminding me that in 10% of the cases, a sternotomy ends up happening anyway, so then she counted the extra incisions I'd have. (Made me feel a bit like a gambling idiot, but hey. I've made my choice.) Meanwhile, my dad's been moved from the hospital back to the nursing/rehab place. Most of what's going on with him has fallen to me to take care of, so it's been hard to prepare for my own stuff. I tell myself that once I get through the surgery, anytime I start to feel sorry for myself--or complain about pain--I'll just think about how bravely he's faced everything in the past nine months.
Anyway, that's the update on me. Aortic valve replacement this Tuesday. Going with tissue. Oh, and for anyone interested, the surgeon is Dr. Eli Capouya and the hospital is St. Joseph's in Burbank, California.
Wish me well! I'll see y'all on the flipside.
Randy
