A
AtlantaPat
I've finally been scheduled for surgery at the Cleveland Clinic. April 5th, same day as Debbi. If we can get one more signed up for that day, maybe we'll be able to form a collective bargaining unit and talk down our final bills 
Dr. Nicholas Smedira will be doing the surgery. His correspondence back to my cardio indicates he's pretty sure he can repair, rather than replace, my mitral valve.
We've solved the issue of possibly going up for this by myself: my wife will be there with me now. (As big a deal as OHS is in any family, it looked like we might have something even more serious looming. Thankfully though, we'll now be able to devote full attention to the surgery.)
I've been mostly lurking on VR during the few months since joining, soaking up the collective wisdom and advice of you all. I feel like the guy who slides into the back pew at church ten minutes late and never puts anything in the collection plate Hopefully I'll have more to contribute once I'm on the other side.
One thing that has me sort of concerned is returning to work. Dr. Smedira's nurse said they generally end up prescribing between six and twelve weeks off, depending on the patient. What has me worried is that I may feel physically great at eight weeks or so and head back into the salt mine, but only find once I get back that my mind is trailing my body and I'm screwing things up!
The executives where I work have been extremely supportive of me through all the doctors appointments, etc these past few months, so I really don't want to let people down once I return. Anyone ever run into this? Feeling like you could run ten miles --in strictly physical terms-- but suspecting at the same time that you're performing like the Fourth Stooge when it came to mental acuity? Are there ways your spouse can track and test your mental ability to help figure out when the fog's lifted sufficiently? I think I mentioned in a post way back when that my job can become extremely stressful from one minute to the next. Not stressful in life-or-death terms like an ER physician's or an air traffic controllers or a SWAT team commenders, but stressful nevertheless. I don't doubt I'll be fine during the routine/ calm periods whenever I go back; it's the first time things hit the fan and I have to react that has me a little worried.
Pat
Mitral valve repair scheduled
4/5/06
Dr. Nicholas Smedira/ Cleveland Clinic
Dr. Nicholas Smedira will be doing the surgery. His correspondence back to my cardio indicates he's pretty sure he can repair, rather than replace, my mitral valve.
We've solved the issue of possibly going up for this by myself: my wife will be there with me now. (As big a deal as OHS is in any family, it looked like we might have something even more serious looming. Thankfully though, we'll now be able to devote full attention to the surgery.)
I've been mostly lurking on VR during the few months since joining, soaking up the collective wisdom and advice of you all. I feel like the guy who slides into the back pew at church ten minutes late and never puts anything in the collection plate
Hopefully I'll have more to contribute once I'm on the other side.One thing that has me sort of concerned is returning to work. Dr. Smedira's nurse said they generally end up prescribing between six and twelve weeks off, depending on the patient. What has me worried is that I may feel physically great at eight weeks or so and head back into the salt mine, but only find once I get back that my mind is trailing my body and I'm screwing things up!
The executives where I work have been extremely supportive of me through all the doctors appointments, etc these past few months, so I really don't want to let people down once I return. Anyone ever run into this? Feeling like you could run ten miles --in strictly physical terms-- but suspecting at the same time that you're performing like the Fourth Stooge when it came to mental acuity? Are there ways your spouse can track and test your mental ability to help figure out when the fog's lifted sufficiently? I think I mentioned in a post way back when that my job can become extremely stressful from one minute to the next. Not stressful in life-or-death terms like an ER physician's or an air traffic controllers or a SWAT team commenders, but stressful nevertheless. I don't doubt I'll be fine during the routine/ calm periods whenever I go back; it's the first time things hit the fan and I have to react that has me a little worried.
Pat
Mitral valve repair scheduled
4/5/06
Dr. Nicholas Smedira/ Cleveland Clinic
