Surgery on October 13th

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Rebecca

Well-known member
Joined
May 5, 2003
Messages
291
Location
Georgia
After sixteen years in the waiting room I am now getting my aortic valve replaced with a tissue valve. Please keep me in your prayers that day that all goes well. I will be having surgery at Emory with Doctor Chen.
 
Wow, Rebecca!

You've beaten my 9+ years in The Waiting Room by quite a bit. Sending you more good wishes that your surgery goes so smoothly that afterward you look back and hardly notice it!
 
Well, there will be nothing phony about your scar come Halloween :wink2: what a great time to show it off.

I second what Bina said, but make it a small bag :smile2:

Best wishes for a smooth surgery and a bump free recovery.
 
It's the best time of year for surgery in Atlanta (speaking from experience)...great weather for the all important post surgery walks. Best wishes and you will have lots of thoughts and prayers.
 
Good luck next week... hopefully you experience what I did, it was not nearly as bad as I had imagined. Best wishes.
 
Good Luck with your surgery on the 13th. My cardiologist has also recommened Dr. Chen for my AVR - 2nd OHS. He seems to be the GUY for AVR.

Waiting in Atlanta....
 
Thank you all for your prayers and support. I was admitted into the hospital on Oct. 12 with a morning heart cat. and had my aortic valve replace with a tissue valve on Oct. 13.. I was hoping for a repair, four inch incision and only five nights hospital stay. I had some bleeding during surgery and did get two units of blood and a six inch incision. My daughter had already donated a pint of her blood ten days earlier. A day or two after surgery my kidney started to fail and they give me two more units of blood. After eight nights in the hospital they let me go home on Thursday. For the first four days I could not eat because of vomiting. During recovery all I wanted was something to drink. Yes I was bad when they left the cup of ice chips next to my bed I did start to sneak about two spoonful of ice every twenty minutes. The worst part of my surgery (pain) was having two enemas to get me going. I am taking pain medicines for my back. My swelling in the body has started to go down. When I was in the hospital I was hearing this oinking noise and thought that maybe my heart was oinking. I ask my sister if she could hear the noise and she could. The noise was coming from water going through a water heated pad for my back pain. Today in the early morning hours I drop a pain pill on the kitchen floor. We have a dog so I could not leave it on the floor and didn’t want to awake my husband to pick up the pill. I successfully drag a chair over to the pill and sat in the chair and use the BBQ tong to pick up the pill. After surgery in the hospital when they would bring you your food I felt like a little kid and cannot get the packages open. When I first return home all of my furniture is too low to get out of. In the basement we had a foam chair that could be on unfolded. We put the unfolded foam chair across the sofa. Two of the dining room chair cushions were added to a chair in kitchen. I have been blessed.
 
Rebecca, welcome home !
This surgery can be extra rough on some people, don't be in a rush to do things since rest is important
during the first few weeks. And keep those BBQ tongs handy, they are very useful. ;)
Best wishes.
 
Rebecca, I am so glad to hear that you are home!! I also got 2 units of blood. I wish I would have thought about having family members donate.
Don't try to do too much the first two weeks. Just standing up and sitting up might be all you can handle. It gets better every day. Each week you will see noticeable improvements. My incision is about 4 or 5 inches long. I had my general practitioner cut off the knots. It took about 3 weeks for my blood levels to normalize.
I know what you mean when you talk about bending over and getting up. I used my legs and tried not to use my arms much. Now my right knee is very sore. My doctor just let me know I could walk more and even jog when I felt I could, but I can barely walk with this knee pain. It is getting better. I guess my point is not to overdo it. I really pushed myself and ended up in the hospital two more times.
I hope you stat feeling great soon!!
 
Rebecca, glad that your home! I have my surgery on Friday and I am very scared and very nervous about everything from the surgery to the aftercare. I reallye hope things are getting easier everyday for you!
 
I just had my six week check up with my surgeon today and my heart sounds normal and my chest x ray was good. I was told that I could start riding my bike. I was also told that my new tissue valve should last for twenty years. Now I just have to get my health insurance straighten out. Before surgery I had to pay up front for the estimated amount of deducible. My out of pocket maximum deducible was not put into our health insurance company at the correct amount. Now the task is to get my health insurance to pay my passed claims at the correct amount. I was at my surgeon business office longer than my visit with him. I have over paid my surgeon $ 1,700. I FILL GREAT! You need to listen to your inner self for when it is time for surgery.
 
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