thanks Danny ,neil TXgal sharlea
Got myself a bit straighter now so here goes a brief account of my time.
Went in Wednesday for 11 am they took the bloods but didn’t have a bed free so gave me a voucher to go get some lunch, came back at 3 to my home for the next 8 and a bit days I can understand when people say about as strange calmness when you enter the hospital it was almost like I was someone else my wife and children left at 8 pm quite emotional goodbyes
My wife came up on the Thursday morning about 7.15am I had slept pretty good considering, they shaved my chest and fore arms say shaved they could have plucked the two hairs quicker! At 8.30 they gave me the pre med at 9.15 they came for me and wheeled me down for surgery my wife came with me to the entrance it was hard
I see the Surgeon Frank wells we chatted for a few seconds then he patted the back of my hand and said you’ll be just fine ,the anesthetist then said think of somewhere nice and I was gone!
At about 7pm I heard voices saying Dad ,Dean, mr barrow wake up , I woke up in ICU and proclaimed im still alive , said I hadn’t seen any white lights or had any out of body experiences rambling quite a bit! Think my kids found it quite amusing!
Mr Wells rang my wife personally at about 3pm to say the surgery was successful and he had repaired the valve and it was a nice tidy job but more complex than expected
Mr Wells visited me on Saturday and told me it was more complex than first thought and I was made slightly differently (not quite sure how yet) also said the leaflet was torn and he stitched it back together, so got a few questions for 6 week check up also think I have a C shaped ring round the valve not a closed one. I thanked him for everything, the whole hospital was brilliant, very patient focused
Cant remember exact days now. but first thing to go was the auto morphine ,then I had drain tubes out think that was day 2 , take a deep breath , hold and out came drain tube one, then another deep breath and drain tube two was gone .very strange sensation , they had to pinch the holes while they tied the stitches ,the pacing wires were removed day 4 and one snagged but she gave it another hard pull and it gave up its hold I know how a fish on a hook feels now, the nurse showed me the thin outer plastic sheeth covering the pacing wire had a split, that is what caused it to snag and had a bit of me attached ! I was up and walking day 2 but only to the toilet all the pain was managed very well with a combinatination of paracetamol and tramadol
Also given breathing exercises to do.
Day three I was up and about for short walks , day four did the stairs and was told if my inr was ok I could go home the next day but as you know by now my inr didn’t get there! ,today Mr Wells done his rounds and said this was only prophylactic treatment and could be managed in the community and I could go home
So here I am with my mitral valve repaired walking quite well and considering everthing I feel really good, my kids have bought a leather reclining chair and its great and intend to have a lot of use in the next few days, rest, eat ,walk, its good to be alive!
Just got to to path lab to get an INR check tomorrow had another 8 mg warfarin tonight
That’s not so brief LOL, if you have a questions please ask
once again thanks for all your support Amanda passed all your messages on to me in hospital
just add a picy of my scar taken in hospital to my album
i have only just got home ,so going have a bit of a sit down sort out my meds and will give full update later Dean
