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My surgery was 3 weeks ago tomorrow. I know the apprehension you are feeling. My thoughts and prayers are with you and yours at this time. I had great doctors and an excellent hospital staff. For us to say it will be fine, seems so flip, but we do mean it. Not to say it's something you wish to repeat, but medical science is so advanced nowadays. And modern pain meds are excellent. As my surgeon said yesterday, "It wasn't the booger you thought it would be, was it?" The waiting period is always the worst. Gob bless you.
 
You'll be waking up on the other side of this mountain before you know it. Hang in there!
 
Hey You, hang in there, the first couple days are the worst but you will be medicated, so not too many worries there, before you know it you will be up and around. Take it for what it is, try to relax yourself and just heal. Give me a ring or send an email as soon as your able. I am just assuming all went well and will hear from you soon, cheers, prayers are with you.
 
excellent news. we had a conversation prior to his surgery and have been waiting anxiously for news. Its funny, my wife and I have never met him, but it was playing on our mind about how he was, we sit and watch TV at night and she would ask if there was any news on him yet every time i checked. Happy Thanksgiving to you to (a little late). Glad he is through it and hopefully healing well. Nice to hear from you Greg, take care buddy.
 
I am home finally. I was suppose to have key hole surgery but the night before DR Guo sent me for another CT scan and told me my heart was to big, the valve to deep and he said there was more then a 50% chance he would have to do a full sturnotomy. We agreed on a mini sturnotomy only if he used kryptonite. I was going to go bovine valve but he and his whole team of DR's convinced me to go mechanical. I don't know what to say about the operation. It was awefull experience. I did not tolerate the narcotics so all i could take was Tylenal. Very painfull and i am very difficult to get blood from or get an IV. They would take on average atleast 4 tries to get a vein. So they started using there top IV team nurse for blood draw and IV's. Every IV was torture, like a bee sting with the stinger stuck in me and just throb until i would beg them to take it out. Finally i got this awesome IV nurse who found a vein in the middle of my bysept that when she took blood from me with a butterfly niddle was painless. I convinced 1 other lady to try that vein but she wasn't quite as good but was still less painfull. I came out of surgery in afib. They shocked me out of it (cardio version) and worked for 36 hours and was 8 hours away from release when i went back to afib. Then they decided to try medication over the long weekend which did not work. So they shocked me again on tuesday and got me out of it. INR was an issue as well. Just got my 1st 2.5 on thursday. I am looking into a self tester unit for INR. Around day 5 they finaly saw what i was teling them about how the metaprolol would turn me into a useless no brain with slow reflexes. For the 1st time i was coherant, laughing and joking around. The nurses were excited that i had the energy to go for a walk. Then in comes the nurse with 75mg metaprolol. Over a matter of a few minutes i went from being able to walk, wash my hands, able to think and and talk, to going into a vegy state and staring at the ceiling for the next 7 hours. I could not sleep properly in the hospital and was lucky to get 4-5 hours a day with naps. It's so nice to be home. I can sleep now.
 
Want to tell you that you will be fine with the mechanical, just have to get used to the clicks, which doesn't take long at all. Sorry you had such a hard time after surgery. I just hate needles period. Every poke hurts like crazy. On the sleep, you get better at home. I was still lucky to get sleep every 2 hours every day for three days after surgery. I got better after going home. And would sit in the chair to sleep without having to be so careful going back to bed the first week home. Hope you are doing well in INR department. It takes time to get level, second week I had to go back to hospital to get two injectections of vitamin E. to bring my level up. After that, everything was fine/ You will feel better soon, just don't rush anything till the doctor tells you. Hugs for today.
 
So sorry you had a rough time. At least that part is behind you now. I too have a mechanical valve. Sometimes I hear it, but not all the time. It has not bothered me; just a reminder that I have been "repaired" . Best wishes for a continued peaceful recovery with less pain. God bless.
 
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