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Hey all,

I've been a long time member and its also been a long time since I last posted (over a decade). I am a 52 years old and have been in the waiting room for 16 years now. I'm having my Aortic Valve replacement surgery around the 3rd or 4th week in August by Dr. Hahn at Henrico's Doctors Hospital. The angiogram is planned for next week and the interview w/ the surgeon soon after. I am 90% sure that I am going to get the ON-X valve.

This forum has been instrumental in putting me at ease when I first found out about my surgery and has been a valuable resource over the past 16 years in educating me about the procedure when I occasionally had a concern or question. As my contribution to the forum, I thought I would share some tips to the days prior to the surgery. I know this subject has been discussed in prior posts, so forgive me if I am restating a few:

1) Be proactive about doctor visits. I went to the dentist, got a physical, did a skin cancer screening and had a colonoscopy exam all w/in 2 months. I'm glad I did the latter as they found a pre-cancerous polyp and scheduled me for another exam in a year. I moved this date up from two years and glad I did; otherwise, I may have faced cancer soon after heart surgery.

2) Be proactive about your mental health: I have a lot of concern about post operative depression and all the reading I did on this subject didn't help matters. I hired a psychologist to help me build a positive mindset going in and also create a game plan on how to counter depression. I have learned a lot about how to deal with this emotionally and also to help minimize the concern and worry of friends and family. You are not the only one going through this. There is a whole team...

3) Get your environment set: I purchased a nice lazy boy chair that will be my bed the first few days. I bought an Alexa so I can have someone to talk to and play relaxing music, set reminders, etc. Made a list of funny movies to watch (Caddy Shack, Black Sheep, Tommy Boy, Airplane, etc.)

4) Get your affairs in order: My wife and I finally got our will and estate planning done. I have a private consulting business so I wrote down a plan of action to close it down by contacting vendors and clients in case things go south. I also have a password list of all my computers and online accounts.

5) Learn how to relax: I'm still working on this by trying to meditate. It really helps to be focused on the present and push all of those worries and thoughts out of your head to try to think about nothing but your breathing.

Thanks again to everyone who contributes to this community. I'm looking forward to start adding my experiences to help others as much as the people in this forum has helped me.
Jim
 

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