jgibson
Well-known member
Hey everyone. Hope everybody is having a wonderful holiday season.
Just thought I would pass the word on to everybody here that I will be going under the knife again this Thursday at 12:30PM.
I think I've mentioned in some of my posts, that about 4 weeks post my mitral valve repair (Mid Nov), I started having major abdominal pains. Thought I had a bug initially. Was practically on the phone every day with the Cardiac floor explaining what I was going through. This wasn't just a little pain either. There were a couple days I thought I was going to have to go to the ER. They switched me from pepcid to prilosec for heart burn, and then ended up switching me to Nexium and added something called karafate that is supposed to help heal any stomach issues I might have. While all this was going on, I was able to determine that a very bland diet would help with the pain. Needless to say, I've lost 10lbs since mid November.
They initially thought I had a stress ulcer, as did I. I had three rounds of indomethicine to take care of some pericarditist that I had post-op. I was convinced I had an ulcer due to everything. Well, they put a scope down my throat last Thursday (12/13). Guess what. Everything was clean. Not even a hint of an ulcer. So the GI I had been set up with sent me in for a Hida scan to check my gall bladder output. They had done an ultra sound on my gall bladder at Vandy the week before to check for stones. That was clean too. So I went in on Friday (12/14) for the Hida scan. Let me tell you what. The pain I felt when they injected the medicine to make my gall bladder contract just about sent me over the edge. Thought I was going to throw up right there on the table. I'll take another heart surgery then deal with that pain. They had to give me four injections of the medicine so they could watch my gall bladder output.
So anyway, long story short, I got a call from the nurse for my GI about 3 hours later. Sure enough. My gall bladder is only putting out about half the output of a normal gall bladder.
So I met with a general surgeon just yesterday (Dr. Ray Hargreaves), and I am now scheduled to have my gall bladder removed this Thursday around noon. This is over at Saint Thomas hospital, right down the road from Vanderbilt.
The good news is that Dr. Petracek had a discussion with Dr. Hargreaves that is going to do the procedure to remove my gall bladder, and given me an all clear for the procedure.
What was amusing, was that the scheduler there at Dr. Hargreaves office was telling me that her husband just had his mitral valve repaired by Dr. Petracek as well. Sounded like it was around the time of my surgery. Funny that they didn't have his heart procedure done at Saint Thomas. Says a lot for Dr. Petracek.
So, my question for everyone is this. I have talked with my Cardiologist about what has happened. He said that there are times after a major surgery, that you can start having issues with another organ post-op. Does anybody know this is called? Or has anybody else experienced a problem such as this after a major heart surgery.
So, everybody wish my luck for this Thursday. It's outpatient, so I should be going home by 4:00. I hope that's the case. When I had a hernia repair back in 1990, I was supposed to go home the same day, but ended up staying overnight.
Just thought I would pass the word on to everybody here that I will be going under the knife again this Thursday at 12:30PM.
I think I've mentioned in some of my posts, that about 4 weeks post my mitral valve repair (Mid Nov), I started having major abdominal pains. Thought I had a bug initially. Was practically on the phone every day with the Cardiac floor explaining what I was going through. This wasn't just a little pain either. There were a couple days I thought I was going to have to go to the ER. They switched me from pepcid to prilosec for heart burn, and then ended up switching me to Nexium and added something called karafate that is supposed to help heal any stomach issues I might have. While all this was going on, I was able to determine that a very bland diet would help with the pain. Needless to say, I've lost 10lbs since mid November.
They initially thought I had a stress ulcer, as did I. I had three rounds of indomethicine to take care of some pericarditist that I had post-op. I was convinced I had an ulcer due to everything. Well, they put a scope down my throat last Thursday (12/13). Guess what. Everything was clean. Not even a hint of an ulcer. So the GI I had been set up with sent me in for a Hida scan to check my gall bladder output. They had done an ultra sound on my gall bladder at Vandy the week before to check for stones. That was clean too. So I went in on Friday (12/14) for the Hida scan. Let me tell you what. The pain I felt when they injected the medicine to make my gall bladder contract just about sent me over the edge. Thought I was going to throw up right there on the table. I'll take another heart surgery then deal with that pain. They had to give me four injections of the medicine so they could watch my gall bladder output.
So anyway, long story short, I got a call from the nurse for my GI about 3 hours later. Sure enough. My gall bladder is only putting out about half the output of a normal gall bladder.
So I met with a general surgeon just yesterday (Dr. Ray Hargreaves), and I am now scheduled to have my gall bladder removed this Thursday around noon. This is over at Saint Thomas hospital, right down the road from Vanderbilt.
The good news is that Dr. Petracek had a discussion with Dr. Hargreaves that is going to do the procedure to remove my gall bladder, and given me an all clear for the procedure.
What was amusing, was that the scheduler there at Dr. Hargreaves office was telling me that her husband just had his mitral valve repaired by Dr. Petracek as well. Sounded like it was around the time of my surgery. Funny that they didn't have his heart procedure done at Saint Thomas. Says a lot for Dr. Petracek.
So, my question for everyone is this. I have talked with my Cardiologist about what has happened. He said that there are times after a major surgery, that you can start having issues with another organ post-op. Does anybody know this is called? Or has anybody else experienced a problem such as this after a major heart surgery.
So, everybody wish my luck for this Thursday. It's outpatient, so I should be going home by 4:00. I hope that's the case. When I had a hernia repair back in 1990, I was supposed to go home the same day, but ended up staying overnight.
