Tom Berning
Active member
Hi All,
I had my aortic valve and ascending aorta replaced last Friday the 16th at Good Samaritan Hospital in Portland. Dr Andrew Tsen did the surgery. I now have a 25mm OnX and a dacron graft. I came home from the hospital on Wednesday the 21st and have had no real problems other than the usual ones. Some of my biggest post op surprises were how much I would hate the tube down my throat and the fact that when the tube came out I would not have a voice(it's still not back to normal). The other is the whole gastrointestinal side of surgery and how uncomfortable that has been. I spent two nights in ICU before I got moved to the regular cardiac ward and three nights there before they let me out. Now I'm trying to get my walking and breathing exercises done and keep my meds straight. I felt like I got excellent care, no mishaps or cranky nurses etc.
Like many of you I agonized more about my choice of valve than about the surgery itself, rat poison or re-op? and in the end warfarin became the lessor of the evils. I don't think the TAVI valves are going to be the reop of choice for relatively healthy people anytime in the next decade or so. The thought of going through OHS every 10-15 years, even a minimally invasive ones is just not for me. I want to thank all of you who participate in this forum, it has been a great resource to me.
Tom
I had my aortic valve and ascending aorta replaced last Friday the 16th at Good Samaritan Hospital in Portland. Dr Andrew Tsen did the surgery. I now have a 25mm OnX and a dacron graft. I came home from the hospital on Wednesday the 21st and have had no real problems other than the usual ones. Some of my biggest post op surprises were how much I would hate the tube down my throat and the fact that when the tube came out I would not have a voice(it's still not back to normal). The other is the whole gastrointestinal side of surgery and how uncomfortable that has been. I spent two nights in ICU before I got moved to the regular cardiac ward and three nights there before they let me out. Now I'm trying to get my walking and breathing exercises done and keep my meds straight. I felt like I got excellent care, no mishaps or cranky nurses etc.
Like many of you I agonized more about my choice of valve than about the surgery itself, rat poison or re-op? and in the end warfarin became the lessor of the evils. I don't think the TAVI valves are going to be the reop of choice for relatively healthy people anytime in the next decade or so. The thought of going through OHS every 10-15 years, even a minimally invasive ones is just not for me. I want to thank all of you who participate in this forum, it has been a great resource to me.
Tom
