Hi everyone, I'm a newbie to the site, which I have to say, is a wonderful help site. Anyway, let me introduce myself. My name is Ralph and have been married to my beautiful wife, Laurie for 25 years next May. Laurie has congenital heart defect, more specifically, avr with mvr regurgitation. Interestingly, she has had no apparent symptoms until recently. Unbeknown to me, she has had some shortness of breath and swelling to her lower extremities. Laurie has always attributed everything to her allergies and post nasal drip. As for her swelling feet, she blamed it on the job. She would come home and elevate her feet until the swelling subsided. Well, she began to notice that this was no longer happening. Approximately 3 weeks ago, I was finally able to convince her to go to the ER. once there, they did a full work up. The dr's in the ER stated she had CHF, severe aortic stenosis and on top of all that, she had pneumonia. Needless to say, she was admitted to the heart center for further testing. Needless to say, she had a plethora of doctors/nurse practitioners/technicians poking and ordering many, many procedures. Ultimately had to find a cardi-thorasic surgeon, whom I had no knowledge of. Finally located a group that were supposed to have a good reputation, however, found that to be incorrect. Unfortunately, we were misguided and I believe, taken advantage of due to Laurie having good insurance company. Everyone got a piece of the pie before getting rid of us. After approximately 2 weeks at this hospital, the surgeon came and told us they were unable to perform the surgery at this hospital because Laurie was considered high risk/critical care patient plus the fact they didn't have a ventricular assist device machine that they would need. My question to them was, "you new she was "high risk/critical care" patient 2 weeks ago and you knew you didn't have this machine 2 weeks ago. Then why didn't you come to us in the beginning to tell us." maybe we could have been transferred to the proper hospital in the meantime and possibly already had the surgery and on the road to recovery. Well, they couldn't give me a logical explanation nor look me in the eye. Anyway, thank god we are out of there and currently dealing with Shands in Gainesville, FL with a great group of doctors/staff.
Laurie's surgery is scheduled for Next thursday, Oct 25. We have to be there on Monday. The cardiologist group of doctors want to attempt to lower the pressures in her lungs. She also has pulmonary hypertension. They want to try and lower thos pressures by inserting some type of catheter(swan) in her neck area where they will be able to administer a scope to measure the pressures in addition to medicines. Hopefully they succeed. Needless to say, we are both terrified. I feel so bad for her. I wih that I could trade places with her. I try to stay positive, especially in front of her. I've always been the strong one in the family, physically and mentally, however, lately, I feel helpless. Like I explained to Laurie, we have done everything we could to have a positive outcome but in the end, it's ultimately in gods hands and I'm sure he will guide the surgeon and his team and give you calm and peace. We will overcome this and continue with our lives.
If I could ask you all to please pray for my wife when she undergoes her surgery on Oct. 25, 2012. That would really mean a lot to us both. Thank you all and god bless!!
Laurie's surgery is scheduled for Next thursday, Oct 25. We have to be there on Monday. The cardiologist group of doctors want to attempt to lower the pressures in her lungs. She also has pulmonary hypertension. They want to try and lower thos pressures by inserting some type of catheter(swan) in her neck area where they will be able to administer a scope to measure the pressures in addition to medicines. Hopefully they succeed. Needless to say, we are both terrified. I feel so bad for her. I wih that I could trade places with her. I try to stay positive, especially in front of her. I've always been the strong one in the family, physically and mentally, however, lately, I feel helpless. Like I explained to Laurie, we have done everything we could to have a positive outcome but in the end, it's ultimately in gods hands and I'm sure he will guide the surgeon and his team and give you calm and peace. We will overcome this and continue with our lives.
If I could ask you all to please pray for my wife when she undergoes her surgery on Oct. 25, 2012. That would really mean a lot to us both. Thank you all and god bless!!
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