katie1234
Well-known member
Hi everyone,
So my mom went in for the cath yesterday (wed) in preparation for her double valve replacement surgery today (thurs) and the results indicated that her mitral valve did not look as bad as they thought. I think they thought it was going to be mod-severely stenotic, but it was more like mild-moderate. So they cancelled the surgery today and are doin a TEE instead, because now they are not sure 1) if they will do the surgery at this point and 2) how many valves they will replace if they do go ahead with it.
Her aortic valve is still moderately-severely stenotic (I think .9 cm), so they are saying that she will definitely have to get it replaced at some point, but they don;t know if they need to do the mitral now, since it is not as bad as they thought based on the echo. The surgeon said how he doesn't want to put her through the risk of the surgery if it isn't totally necessary yet, and that he would also feel bad if he did the aortic now and then she had to go back for the mitral in 3-5 years.
I felt so bad for her when the nurse practictioner came in yesterday afternoon and told her that the surgery was cancelled. As I am sure you all know, psyching yourself up for this surgery is so hard, and once you are there, you just want to do it and get it over with.
It would be great if they were saying that the cath results showed that she her valves are actually in wonderful shape and she won;t have to have the surgery at all, but the fact is that they are damaged and she is having symptoms from them. She has some mild pulmonary hypertension, a PFO (I think that's the same as an atrial-septal defect), and SOB when she tries to do the things she normally does, like go for a walk or get up and walk at a normal pace from a sitting position. She has also been getting tired a lot more easily in the past six months, and just doesn't feel great.
The surgeon said that if she was not a radiation damaged patient, he would not be so hesitant to replace at least the aortic right now without doing the TEE. But since she does have radiation damage, he wants to be extremely cautious in planning this out and deciding what to do. He kept reminding us that surgery for her has somewhat of an elevated risk (no numbers given). He said he will have a game plan by Tuesday. I am really confident in him and her other doctors, and I know they will come up with the best plan. I just feel terrible for my mom, even though the cath results were actually pretty good (mitral valve not as bad as they thought it was). One definite positive thing is that she won't need any bypasses if and when they do the surgery.
Thanks for reading this long long post.
So my mom went in for the cath yesterday (wed) in preparation for her double valve replacement surgery today (thurs) and the results indicated that her mitral valve did not look as bad as they thought. I think they thought it was going to be mod-severely stenotic, but it was more like mild-moderate. So they cancelled the surgery today and are doin a TEE instead, because now they are not sure 1) if they will do the surgery at this point and 2) how many valves they will replace if they do go ahead with it.
Her aortic valve is still moderately-severely stenotic (I think .9 cm), so they are saying that she will definitely have to get it replaced at some point, but they don;t know if they need to do the mitral now, since it is not as bad as they thought based on the echo. The surgeon said how he doesn't want to put her through the risk of the surgery if it isn't totally necessary yet, and that he would also feel bad if he did the aortic now and then she had to go back for the mitral in 3-5 years.
I felt so bad for her when the nurse practictioner came in yesterday afternoon and told her that the surgery was cancelled. As I am sure you all know, psyching yourself up for this surgery is so hard, and once you are there, you just want to do it and get it over with.
It would be great if they were saying that the cath results showed that she her valves are actually in wonderful shape and she won;t have to have the surgery at all, but the fact is that they are damaged and she is having symptoms from them. She has some mild pulmonary hypertension, a PFO (I think that's the same as an atrial-septal defect), and SOB when she tries to do the things she normally does, like go for a walk or get up and walk at a normal pace from a sitting position. She has also been getting tired a lot more easily in the past six months, and just doesn't feel great.
The surgeon said that if she was not a radiation damaged patient, he would not be so hesitant to replace at least the aortic right now without doing the TEE. But since she does have radiation damage, he wants to be extremely cautious in planning this out and deciding what to do. He kept reminding us that surgery for her has somewhat of an elevated risk (no numbers given). He said he will have a game plan by Tuesday. I am really confident in him and her other doctors, and I know they will come up with the best plan. I just feel terrible for my mom, even though the cath results were actually pretty good (mitral valve not as bad as they thought it was). One definite positive thing is that she won't need any bypasses if and when they do the surgery.
Thanks for reading this long long post.
.
