W
Wi-HarleyGuy
Hi Everyone,
This is my first posting here so .. be gentle!
Exactly one week ago today, on March 4th (the day that #4 - Bret Favre, announced his retirement), I had my OHS for a severely leaky Mitral valve.
I had decided to have the procedure done by sternotomy and I was hoping for a Mitral valve repair. Unfortunately after a heck of a "college try", my surgeon had to replace the valve. In fact, after attempting the repair, he was warming me back up and then noticed that the repair was not working as he wanted it to. So, he cooled me back down and replaced the mitral with a tissue valve. The surgery took about 7 hours.
I had a bout of endocarditis 2 years ago, and another one 3 months ago during Christmas week. Apparently the damage done on the anterior leaflet by the endocarditis was too great to allow a repair.
On the day before the surgery I had an Angiogram done, and, much to my surprise, my cardiologist found 80% blockage of the "widow maker" artery. So, along with the Mitral valve replacement, I received a bypass using the mammary artery. (I didn't know that we had a "spare artery")
Post-op included the usual water retention for a while, but there was a concern of low heart rate. They put me on an external pacemaker for a few days, then decided to watch how things went with it disconnected. My heart rate averaged 55-60 bpm when awake and drops to about 45 bpm when sleeping. Since my heart rate was around 58 - 62 before the surgery, the surgeon didn't seem too concerned. Also I do not have light-headedness or dizziness, so I hope everything is OK.
I returned home yesterday and am doing fairly well. I started walking the day after surgery and can now walk 6-7 minutes at a time several times a day.
Sleeping on the recliner last night wasn't too good though.
On the 3rd day after the operation, I felt good enough fire up my laptop that my wife brought to my hospital room. After some surfing, I luckily came across this site.
This is such a wonderful and informative forum with so many caring people. I really regret that I didn't find this site before the operation!
I know I will be needing to ask you very kind people many post-op questions, but if there is any information that I can provide to anyone out there who is facing this kind of surgery or already has had this operation, I would be so happy to help any way I can.
Bless you all,
Wi-HarleyGuy
This is my first posting here so .. be gentle!
Exactly one week ago today, on March 4th (the day that #4 - Bret Favre, announced his retirement), I had my OHS for a severely leaky Mitral valve.
I had decided to have the procedure done by sternotomy and I was hoping for a Mitral valve repair. Unfortunately after a heck of a "college try", my surgeon had to replace the valve. In fact, after attempting the repair, he was warming me back up and then noticed that the repair was not working as he wanted it to. So, he cooled me back down and replaced the mitral with a tissue valve. The surgery took about 7 hours.
I had a bout of endocarditis 2 years ago, and another one 3 months ago during Christmas week. Apparently the damage done on the anterior leaflet by the endocarditis was too great to allow a repair.
On the day before the surgery I had an Angiogram done, and, much to my surprise, my cardiologist found 80% blockage of the "widow maker" artery. So, along with the Mitral valve replacement, I received a bypass using the mammary artery. (I didn't know that we had a "spare artery")
Post-op included the usual water retention for a while, but there was a concern of low heart rate. They put me on an external pacemaker for a few days, then decided to watch how things went with it disconnected. My heart rate averaged 55-60 bpm when awake and drops to about 45 bpm when sleeping. Since my heart rate was around 58 - 62 before the surgery, the surgeon didn't seem too concerned. Also I do not have light-headedness or dizziness, so I hope everything is OK.
I returned home yesterday and am doing fairly well. I started walking the day after surgery and can now walk 6-7 minutes at a time several times a day.
Sleeping on the recliner last night wasn't too good though.
On the 3rd day after the operation, I felt good enough fire up my laptop that my wife brought to my hospital room. After some surfing, I luckily came across this site.
This is such a wonderful and informative forum with so many caring people. I really regret that I didn't find this site before the operation!
I know I will be needing to ask you very kind people many post-op questions, but if there is any information that I can provide to anyone out there who is facing this kind of surgery or already has had this operation, I would be so happy to help any way I can.
Bless you all,
Wi-HarleyGuy
and someone always answered them.
