Introduction - Dan, soon to have valve repair

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Wow, thought the welcome had stopped already :) Thanks again.

Duffman -!? Dude, don't be mentioning that stuff with me, that kind of thing terrifies me, its literally my worst fear :D However a friend who is in Med school wants the video if they make one so I am going to ask the question..

Congratulations Adrienne, I hope I can follow suit :)

Thanks for the reassurance about the scar, Im sure in time it will fade, I just love the beach :)

Abbanaaba - I'm not actually too sure to be honest, I have a congenital defect, and it has always leaked.... sos, not much help :)

Thanks mimi, and hope youre doing well now, I'm rushing out the door can't stay and chat but I definitely have a few more questions to post over the weekend,

Thanks for all your kind words - except Duffman - stop terrifying people :p Only joking :)
 
Welcome, Dan. I'm glad you found us and look forward to helping ease the way.
 
danb1983 said:
Wow, thought the welcome had stopped already :) Thanks again.

Duffman -!? Dude, don't be mentioning that stuff with me, that kind of thing terrifies me, its literally my worst fear :D However a friend who is in Med school wants the video if they make one so I am going to ask the question..

Thanks for all your kind words - except Duffman - stop terrifying people :p Only joking :)
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hehehe... sorry brother, I won't do it again. Ok, I'll try my hardest not to. :D:D:eek::D The reason I know of and mention everything freakish that can happen is because I obsessed over it and tried to learn every possible thing that could go wrong when I thought it was my turn for OHS. It was a mistake. Now I have to learn how to keep my rhetoric contained to spare the normal people who don't really care to know that much.

I've been through the VR process up to the point of being a few days away and canceling so I guess it's easy for me to kid with you now, but in all seriousness you have a full plate. Sometimes I forget the emoticons, but let me tell ya I admire every one of you that are up to bat and that've climbed the mountain and came down the other side with such courage.

On the bright side, MV repair seems to be a relatively less risky procedure - but scary nonetheless. I think you said in the video the risk is 97 or 98%, but as far as I know it's more like 1% or maybe less for someone your age. I wish you all the best though my friend.

Are you going to have a minimally invasive repair done?
 
Dan, I hope you are doing well. My daughter is 5 and needs a mach. mitral valve. She is at the severe stage but the dr's want to wait till her valve fails. She weighs 31lb's and is still active. I pray your surgrey goes well and if you have any advice please share. Also I enjoyed the blog you did! Thanks and God bless you-----Alison
 
Welcome Dan-with-the-Geordie-accent (tongue in cheek, you should hear my almost-Glaswegian one) ! I liked the video. Couple of comments :

1. Yeah, when they said SURGERY to me, I just freaked ! Seems it's normal ! But when I thought about it, our regional heart centre probably does more OHS than my local hospital does total suregeries over a year.

2. The wait is the worst part.

3. post-surgery, there will be little pain - pain meds these days are gooooodddd stuff! I had aortic valve repair , sternum-cracking procedure,home in 6 days (would have been less, but they had no beds in step-down ward, and I got stuck in ICU); I was working from home the day after discharge, and within 3 weeks had opened my first retail store. After discharge, only had Tylenol for pain. No lifting, bending, stretching for a few weeks. It's not that bad if you get prepared for it - my kitchen counter was littered with stuff I migh need that was normally kept either higher than my shoulders or lower than my knees. For a while, DH had to make sure the pot/pan or casserole was left out so I could make supper. A pain, but oh, so worth it. A few months later I had no pain at all, but I ca still remember that first sneeze, both the first after the surgery, and the first that didn't hurt!

4. Waiting is the worst thing in the world.

5. If it needs done, it NEEDS done - I wouldn't be here by now if I hadn't had it done, and I think a lot of us here are in the same boat.

Oh, and did I mention that waiting is the worst part? recovery is a breeze after the wait !
 
Duffman - Yeh I am the same in some ways, I have to research and know about things im involved with, and I have read around my procedure and read the patients guide to heart surgery in one sitting, barely stopping to blink on the morning I found out I needed surgery, but I am only thinking positively at the minute, I dont want to read too much about the negatives, and things like being awake while under scare the hell outta me :)

Was it you who was canceling? Or the doctors? If it was you do you mind me asking why? Is it because you have read too much about the possible negatives...?

I am having OHS, I have been told there is not the possibility of minimally invasive as it is inside the heart, but also as they dont know the exact condition of my valve, it may have to be replaced when they have a real look...

Thank you all for the kind replies - Alison, I hope your daughter has a full recovery, its good shes still active, and kids don't worry like adults do, if you encourage her and support her I am sure she will deal fine!

Netmiff - thanks for the reply, I'm impressed you know I'm not a real geordie :),
Your post sounds really encouraging! At first I thought I was due in surgery now, but it got pushed back to the end of November and the wait is starting to get to me now. I hate the process of telling people as I am trying to stay positive and only look at the good but they are just blown away "Pffffffff whoooooaaa <jaw open.... silence> f**k... s**t man!!!" Is the general resonse I have from my friends so far :), and as supportive as they are after this initial outburst I still hate telling them.. I really want to just get it over with!

I am super encouraged by you being able to work from home immedaitely after leaving hospital. I work from home full time online so hopefully I will be able to continue soon after too

I love your perspective, you do make recovery sound like a breeze, and this is one of my biggest concerns really, I would hate to be seen as incapable or felt sorry for...

THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR REPLIES!
 
danb1983 said:
I hate the process of telling people as I am trying to stay positive and only look at the good but they are just blown away "Pffffffff whoooooaaa <jaw open.... silence> f**k... s**t man!!!" Is the general resonse I have from my friends so far , and as supportive as they are after this initial outburst I still hate telling them.. I really want to just get it over with!
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Yeah... I know what you mean. I had a lady in a shop yesterday say to me "Ohh.. you're so young... oh it must be so scary, you poor thing" I'm fine until people start feeling sorry for me and giving their sympathy. And then there's the people who somehow think you want to hear about the horror stories like when their uncle Frank almost died because they left a surgical trolley inside him..! Frankly, it's much nicer to hear all the success stories and how the waiting is the hardest part :)


Duff Man said:
Are you planning on trying to get the surgeon to agree to taping some or all of the procedure?
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I want to get them to take a photo :D I thought that would be really cool to keep in my purse to show people when they start whipping out pictures of the grandkiddies (especially when they've found out I don't have kids of my own and insist that "I'll change my mind"). Is that wrong? :D


A : )
 
Welcome Dan - I'm a congenital too, AV replacement in '05 (repair in '86 - lasted a long time!)
The scar does fade a whole lot, and flattens out a bunch too. Most people don't even notice it on me - though I am a girl and some people just think it's cleavage :D

Only listen to the positive people, like abbanabba says...as for the people who are shocked and don't know what to say, tell them you'll be bionic after you're finished.

I wish I'd had more photos or a blog of my surgery...I think it's brilliant.

Good luck!
Melis
 
Sounds a great idea Abbanabba, will definitely give people a scare, but that's not for me either, i cring at the thought of seeing myself on a bed with my chest open! Uuuurrrrracgh! AAAArgh! No way will I be carrying around a photo!

Lynn - she moved to Darlo to go to Uni!? There's not a Uni here.... she might as well of moved to.... wherever she was actually going to.... I'm sure there was a reason :p But I'm trying to get out of Darlo, I'm shocked to hear people are moving here to study :D

Missmelis - yep, all about positivity, theres no point in being anything else :D
 
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