Surgery tomorrow- time to lock in :)

Hi all,

I have my planned 5cm aortic root aneurysm repair + bicuspid valve repair (possible mechanical valve replacement if it cannot be repaired once they opens me up) tomorrow mid-morning.

2 months of waiting and lots of great advice from this forum have led to this. Feeling a sense of peace and relief that my aneurysm will be repaired and cannot rupture suddenly and that after a recovery period I will be able to return to my job as a PT, as well as my hobbies of cardio and weightlifting and live a healthy, full life.

See you all on the other side, I’ll be sure to update when I can! Ready to do it! Locked in and trusting my medical team fully. Looking forward to getting up and walking the halls ASAP .

I look forward to hearing from you later this week!

We'll see you on the other side!

Wishing you all the best, for an uneventful surgery and recovery.

Please give us an update as soon as you feel well enough to do so.

You got this!!!!

ncw3642 said:

Hi all,

I have my planned 5cm aortic root aneurysm repair + bicuspid valve repair (possible mechanical valve replacement if it cannot be repaired once they opens me up) tomorrow mid-morning.

2 months of waiting and lots of great advice from this forum have led to this. Feeling a sense of peace and relief that my aneurysm will be repaired and cannot rupture suddenly and that after a recovery period I will be able to return to my job as a PT, as well as my hobbies of cardio and weightlifting and live a healthy, full life.

See you all on the other side, I’ll be sure to update when I can! Ready to do it! Locked in and trusting my medical team fully. Looking forward to getting up and walking the halls ASAP .

Click to expand...

You must've been on the other side by now, and started initial phases of recovery in ICU. All the very best. Keep us posted.

Yes, please keep us updated! Best wishes, I'm praying for you.

Enjoy the best (and priciest) 6 hour nap you've ever had

Good luck and see you on the other side.

Hi all,

Finally getting around to post an update.

Surgery went well. My surgeon was unable to repair the valve due to:
“The valve was type 0 bicuspid and removed in its entirety. The sinus portion of the left and right sinus was both a true paper thin sinus of valsalva aneurysm and not amenable to David valve-sparing technique.”

The way my surgeon explained it, it looked way more high risk of a rupture and the root was not good anatomically for a long term repair to function.

He went ahead and put the graft + On-X mechanical valve in.

The chest tubes (hopefully coming out today) is by far the worst part. Hard to take a full inhale and is causing some referred pain to my shoulder that is terrible at times.

All things considered I can’t complain! My surgeon did great, the repair/replacement went well and I am on my way to recovery and getting my mechanical to be within a good INR/last a long time!

Congrats!!
This forum is a great place to learn how to manage your warfarin. Thank God I listened and bought my own tester. it saved quite a few trips to Doctor.

Great to hear back from you. Good to see that you're on the other side and doing well through initial phases of recovery.

There's lots to learn from everyone's situation, and certainly from you too. The confidence, positivity and resolve you had approaching or pursuing the surgery was great to witness. Didn't you just find out a couple of weeks ago, and you're already done with fixing yourself

Keep us posted as you make full recovery. With your own professional experience in physical therapy, it should be a smooth sailing.

Congratulations. Now back to rest of the recovery, and then gradually to the life you want to live again.

Very good indeed. I suppose the sternum is healed by now and you are feeling good.

JWalters said:

Very good indeed. I suppose the sternum is healed by now and you are feeling good.

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Hi!
Yes, it is much better at this point (~3.5 weeks post-op). I feel like I turned a corner in regards to pain at around the 3 week mark. I’m not on any pain medication currently and just have a dull ache occasionally (1-2/10). I feel like my mini sternotomy with the sternal plating helped.

As my weight restrictions decrease, I’ve been trying to lift more and more slowly (still below what I CAN lift) and can certainly tell I am more sore the following day. In my experience and from my research I think this more due to muscles being used that haven't in a few weeks vs post surgical sternal pain. As long as it doesn’t hurt when lifting, I am okay with soreness the following day.

Disclaimer: lifting being things around the house. Not weightlifting which I won’t attempt until cleared likely around 6-8 months.

That's great news indeed. Glad to see you are on the mend.

Question. You got your aorta replaced, correct? How much? Or it was a "repair" instead? Was mini-sternotomy possible for aorta repair/replacement?

I will be getting bentall procedure and don't think mini-sternotomy is possible but wondering. Getting aortic root, ascending aorta and valve (mechanical - On-X).

Hope your On-X mechanical valve (and INR levels) are going great too.

tjay said:

That's great news indeed. Glad to see you are on the mend.

Question. You got your aorta replaced, correct? How much? Or it was a "repair" instead? Was mini-sternotomy possible for aorta repair/replacement?

I will be getting bentall procedure and don't think mini-sternotomy is possible but wondering. Getting aortic root, ascending aorta and valve (mechanical - On-X).

Hope your On-X mechanical valve (and INR levels) are going great too.

Click to expand...

Hi!

It was supposed to be an aortic valve repair (to spare my native valve) + ascending and aortic root aneurysm repair with a graft.

They ended up finding the valve and aneurysm more severe so they did a bentall and put the mechanical valve in and still did the valsalva graft + ascending graft.

My surgeon was experienced in minimally invasive sternotomy + plating and said he almost exclusively does that for younger patients who want to go back to a more active lifestyle.

I think YMMV, as long as your surgeon feels comfortable with minimally invasive approaches there’s likely no reason you can’t with a Bentall. But if they aren’t, you don’t really want to be their ‘test subject.’

Regardless I’d at least ask if they can/and if they cannot why. Doesn’t hurt to ask!

ncw3642 said:

Hi all,

I have my planned 5cm aortic root aneurysm repair + bicuspid valve repair (possible mechanical valve replacement if it cannot be repaired once they opens me up) tomorrow mid-morning.

2 months of waiting and lots of great advice from this forum have led to this. Feeling a sense of peace and relief that my aneurysm will be repaired and cannot rupture suddenly and that after a recovery period I will be able to return to my job as a PT, as well as my hobbies of cardio and weightlifting and live a healthy, full life.

See you all on the other side, I’ll be sure to update when I can! Ready to do it! Locked in and trusting my medical team fully. Looking forward to getting up and walking the halls ASAP .

Click to expand...

Wishing you all the best for your surgery!! Your positive mindset will serve you well!

ncw3642 said:

Hi!

It was supposed to be an aortic valve repair (to spare my native valve) + ascending and aortic root aneurysm repair with a graft.

They ended up finding the valve and aneurysm more severe so they did a bentall and put the mechanical valve in and still did the valsalva graft + ascending graft.

My surgeon was experienced in minimally invasive sternotomy + plating and said he almost exclusively does that for younger patients who want to go back to a more active lifestyle.

I think YMMV, as long as your surgeon feels comfortable with minimally invasive approaches there’s likely no reason you can’t with a Bentall. But if they aren’t, you don’t really want to be their ‘test subject.’

Regardless I’d at least ask if they can/and if they cannot why. Doesn’t hurt to ask!

Click to expand...

Great. That information helps greatly. Happy that yours went so well.

I actually didn't ask my surgeon whether he would do mini or full sternotomy. I want to leave their business to themselves after certain point. He knows I lead a very active lifestyle, and he's one of the most experienced surgeon in the country for aortic aneurysm. He does 2-5 of these every week. If he needs more access to open my chest more, that's ok with me ... Perhaps in that case, recovery would be longer, and I hope I will be patient with that.

Have a great rest of the recovery. Keep us posted.