I have a complex congenital heart defect, and I had my third open-heart surgery at the Cleveland Clinic in March 2012. It saved my life, and the doctors, surgeons, staff, everyone, it was wonderful from start to finish. I will be returning there in January for a check-up.
My doctors at home could not figure out why I was getting sicker, and I went there. The trip was supposed to be just for a second opinion, but while there, they saw the mechanical valve in me wasn't working. I had a doctor's appointment on Monday, a cath on Tuesday, and literally they scheduled my surgery for Thursday morning. Everything is electronically coordinated and you really get the sense the doctors are working together as a team and seeing you as a whole patient, not just a disease or valve.
About my surgery --> they removed the mechanical valve I had and replaced it with a cadaver valve. It's in the pulmonic position. My heart was in terrible shape (the valve had frozen open) and literally when I woke up, I could tell my heart was better. It sounds dramatic, but it's true. One thing that was a problem is they had a hard time managing my pain afterwards 3 or 4 days - I don't respond to morphine, percocet, etc. so I suffered terribly with that. Note: For my 2nd surgery, there were problems with managing my pain as well, so it might be more about my body chemistry than the doctors.
They were able to manage it after a while, and the nurse practitioners and doctors were receptive to trying to help me. They told me that it hurts more with multiple surgeries like I've had. The nurses were mostly good -and of course - everything is kind of a fuzzy blur after surgery.
I remember someone on here stating the CC is like a "factory" for heart valves, and that's kind of true. It's strange to be wheeled to surgery and see door after door of operating rooms. But they really are the best from what I've heard, and I would recommend it to everyone if they can. I was in the hospital 11 days and on my checkout I asked the NP about how long my new valve should last. She said that I should have a good run of it - and of course it's hard to tell because I'm an adult congenital patient and in that age bracket where a lot in group didn't survive to adulthood.
But what she did tell me was that having the surgeon I did, it'll probably last longer than average, which is just fine by me. I saw Dr. Richard Krasuski, who directs the Adult Congenital Clinic and my surgeon was Dr. Gosta Pettersson, and I owe my life to them. Good luck, and feel free to privately message me if you'd like more details about my experience.
