Will they cut my heart open?

[mimi314]

I know this may sound goofy, but in everything I've read on the internet, including this site, which, I admit, I haven't read every word, just almost; when they replace my aortic valve, how will they get to it? Do they actually cut into the heart itself and then stitch it back up? If so, is much damage done to that area of the heart muscle? I didn't even think to ask my cardiologist or surgeon this question, but now I really want to know.
Barbara (mimi)

 

[Shari]

That's a good question, Mimi. Now I sound stupid, but I don't even know. And my husband had the surgery!!!!

I think they must go down the aorta? I really don't know. Since my husband had his aorta basically torn apart, I really didn't wonder about how they replaced the valve. Hmm...I'll be interested in learning about this too. Good question!

 

[Nancy]

Janie posted this link a while back for viewing AVR.

http://www.vesalius.com/graphics/archive/archtn_avr.asp

 

[hensylee]

check out virtualbypasssurgery.com or search for it. It shows it all.

 

[mimi314]

appetite supressor

appetite supressor

Sorry, y'all. I didn't mean to put this question on the recipes forum. I'm still learning my way around this site...it's awesome, the way it's organized. And so many options!

The site you referred me to, Nancy (vesalius.com), certainly has some good pictures. Once I got over ths shock of seeing and imagining it being me, I was OK. At first I thought...EEK!!! I really don't want to look at this!

I don't watch television, and so I've led a rather sheltered existance. I hear there are TV shows, like Discovery maybe? where you can see things like that, but I've never done it.

I do thank you for directing me to it.

Barbara (mimi)

 

[hensylee]

Not to worry where you put your post. We all see it anyway. I always to go "check new posts" and find everything that's new w/o searching.

 

[mimi314]

new posts

new posts

Henseylee...where do you find "check new posts"? Barbara (mimi)

 

[Perrster]

You're in good hands!

You're in good hands!

"View Today's Active Posts" will be underlined in red on the vr.com Forums homepage. Click it and it will take you there.

Greetings, Mimi:

While the links in these replies will likely answer most of your questions, I don't think they'll tell you much about the surgeon who actually performs the job. Perhaps he (or his head OR nurse) will answer the questions for you? This will give you a chance to show him how much you know about what is going to take place (simply by asking a few technical questions). Not that you intend to impress him or her, but it's a fact that people who take control, are knowledgeable about their condition, are less depressed, etc. recover faster.

I got 20/20 "hindsight"vision AFTER my surgery. I wish I had known vr.com BEFORE! One thing I learned afterwards was that my surgeon actually held my heart in his hands and "massaged" it before putting it back into my chest. I think somebody told my wife that I was literally in his good hands for 20 minutes. That's all I heard about it.

I went into surgery with the metaphor of the team being a professional baseball team. It took 9 people to do the operation! That metaphorical connotation could lead to phrases such as, was the surgeon preparing to throw a spit ball or just rubbing my heart to get a better grip before throwing a homerun?! A little humor doesn't hurt.

I wish I would have gotten the names of every person on the team to thank them afterwards. Didn't happen.

Best regards.

PerryA

 

[mimi314]

Thanks

Thanks

Thank you, Perry.

There's so much on these pages, it's easy to overlook things. I find something new every time I visit.

I'm glad you told me about the baseball team analogy. I'll try to get names while I'm there, so I can thank everyone later. Or maybe, I'll just thank them before they start! It might give them a little added inspiration!

Barbara (mimi)