D
Don
Hi ValveReplacement.com Members,
I'm a 69 year old male New Mexico resident who has been sweating Aortic Valve Replacement surgery since 1988. Been scared to death about it most of that time. And felt that surgery was eminent most of those 14 years. Was asymptomatic during the entire period. Finally had minimally invasive AVR at Cleveland Clinic on Friday, April 12. Surgery
by Cosgrove. CE Pericardial Valve. Released from the hospital April 16. Flew back from Cleveland to El Paso April 20. Looking back at it today (4 weeks), it wasn't all that bad. I continue to feel that Cleveland Clinic is a factory-like assembly-line operation -- but maybe that is a good thing. I always had the feeling that everyone there had done the same thing at least 100 times before. No surprizes. And everytime I pushed the call button I had a prompt and helpfull response. I never did see or talk to my surgeon (they tell me that I met him in the operating room but I don't remember). He talked to my wife via telephone. Looking back I'm not sure that the hours of conversation I had felt I needed would have bought me much in comparison to what it would have cost Dr. Cosgrove in terms of his time. At 4 weeks post op I am a very satisified customer. At least I am today. I'm able to walk for 30 minutes at a time at 4,200 ft altitude and am planning to increase my distance until I can do 6 miles at 10,000 ft. That's my goal. Looking at my MI incision I sometimes worry if they had enough room to do things correctly; I have to assume that they did. The bump on top of by incision causes some discomfort, and the incision still hurts, particularly in the evening. Someone said that the MI incision is not less painfull than the full cut. I'm glad that I was able to have the MI.
I made the decision as to tissue over mechanical valve with the thought of having surgery again in eleven years when I'm 80. Based on the experience I just went through I think that I may be able to handle a second surgery in 2013.
The VR web site has been a tremendous help to me in coping with the thought of signing up for surgery. A person I met at this site who had the same surgery before me (same surgeon; same valve) was critical to my being able to handle the AVR decision; he spent a lot of email time with me.
I hope that this input is of value to those who are making the same decision.
Best wishes,
Don
I'm a 69 year old male New Mexico resident who has been sweating Aortic Valve Replacement surgery since 1988. Been scared to death about it most of that time. And felt that surgery was eminent most of those 14 years. Was asymptomatic during the entire period. Finally had minimally invasive AVR at Cleveland Clinic on Friday, April 12. Surgery
by Cosgrove. CE Pericardial Valve. Released from the hospital April 16. Flew back from Cleveland to El Paso April 20. Looking back at it today (4 weeks), it wasn't all that bad. I continue to feel that Cleveland Clinic is a factory-like assembly-line operation -- but maybe that is a good thing. I always had the feeling that everyone there had done the same thing at least 100 times before. No surprizes. And everytime I pushed the call button I had a prompt and helpfull response. I never did see or talk to my surgeon (they tell me that I met him in the operating room but I don't remember). He talked to my wife via telephone. Looking back I'm not sure that the hours of conversation I had felt I needed would have bought me much in comparison to what it would have cost Dr. Cosgrove in terms of his time. At 4 weeks post op I am a very satisified customer. At least I am today. I'm able to walk for 30 minutes at a time at 4,200 ft altitude and am planning to increase my distance until I can do 6 miles at 10,000 ft. That's my goal. Looking at my MI incision I sometimes worry if they had enough room to do things correctly; I have to assume that they did. The bump on top of by incision causes some discomfort, and the incision still hurts, particularly in the evening. Someone said that the MI incision is not less painfull than the full cut. I'm glad that I was able to have the MI.
I made the decision as to tissue over mechanical valve with the thought of having surgery again in eleven years when I'm 80. Based on the experience I just went through I think that I may be able to handle a second surgery in 2013.
The VR web site has been a tremendous help to me in coping with the thought of signing up for surgery. A person I met at this site who had the same surgery before me (same surgeon; same valve) was critical to my being able to handle the AVR decision; he spent a lot of email time with me.
I hope that this input is of value to those who are making the same decision.
Best wishes,
Don
