Things are Moving Along

[selma]

This past Friday I had my cath which was easy as pie. I had two great nurses by my side -- funny guys who had me laughing up until the happy juice kicked in -- and who were VERY good at their jobs. Oh yeah, the doc was good, too. The good news for me was they found no blockages and no other valve issues so I'm hoping that this will be a straight-forward MV repair. I'm hoping for a mini-thoracotomy. With the blood work, TEE, regular echo, and now the cath behind me, I'm ready to go see Dr. Adams at Mount Sinai on February 21. Once that's done, we can schedule the big day.

I don't think I could have gotten through the past few weeks without the support of this group. Though I haven't posted a lot, I have read everything voraciously. OK, maybe I've read too much. Did I *really* need to watch the surgery videos? Who knew your heart was the color of tripe?

Anyway, big thanks to those who have gone before and those who are hanging out with me in the waiting room. I can't wait to get to the other side!

Selma in Woodstock

 

[Ovie]

Good to hear, I'm due for my first OHS Feb 23, and did you REALLY need to watch videos of it? Probably not. However I'm the same way, reading ALOT, I also chose to watch surgical videos, as many as I could actually..I felt like I deserved to know what I was in for and what was being done to me. I can't and won't speak for everyone here but I found it rather shocking that most people didn't or still haven't looked at their specific surgery, I found it very insightful, but also understand why someone wouldn't want to. Anywho I thought I'd chime in and hope everything turns out well for you!

-Andrew

 

[nngbwh]

Good to hear. Good luck on 2/21. Keep us posted.

 

[Sarah_Louise]

Good luck for the op, hope all goes well
Love Sarah xxxx

 

[Bina]

I skipped all the pre-surgery videos, since just the discussions had me feeling faint and barfy.
So, the consult is on Feb 21, don't be shy to have a list of questions handy for the surgeon.

 

[selma]

Bina, I expect I'll be feeling faint and barfy AFTER the surgery! A huge number of my general questions have been answered right here on the forum. Others on Dr. Adams' website. But the specific questions as regard my particular surgery will be foremost on my mind. With no other cardiac issues save the regurgitating mitral valve and otherwise good health, I'm hoping he'll suggest minimally invasive repair surgery. Today's good news was that my hospital and surgeon, despite their being 2 hours away, are both considered "in network" for my insurance (to nonre-US'ers, that means they will accept the $$ the insurance company pays out for the surgery and I should have no out-of-pocket expenses.) Talk about a relief!

From what I understand, this doc generally schedules 2 months out in non-emergency cases, so I'm looking at April or May. Nice months to recover up here in the northeast.

Working on keeping it positive!
Selma in Woodstock

 

[Boston Tiger]

You should have some really nice weather for your post surgery walks around the neighborhood. We had a bit of a heat wave when I came home in June 2010, and I was scolded by my visiting nurse once when she caught me coming in from a walk on a day that temperatures were in the mid 90s.

Best of luck as you move toward the big day.

 

[selma]

Ken, your daughter is gorgeous! I'm not so sure about walks around my neighborhood -- I live on a very steep hill and have a feeling getting down to the end of the driveway will be enough. I'm lining up people to drive me to nice, flat places where I can get my post-surgery exercise. I'll be doing MV repair, too -- can I ask if you were offered the thoracotomy option or does Dr. Shekar just do mini sternotomy surgery?

 

[Boston Tiger]

You might just be surprised at how well you can handle the hill once your MVP is fixed! We have a small hill on our street that was a bit tough during that first week back, but is was a piece of cake once I rebuilt my stamina.

Dr. Shekar said that he preferred to do the mini-sterns (at least for the mitral repairs) because the fallback in case any serious problems crop up will be to go to a full sternotomy, no matter which of the minimally invasive procedures is being used. He was also blunt that no matter which was used, your body is going to need time to recover, because even minimal invasion for heart surgery is far more stressful for your body than just about any other type of surgery.