J
John Cochran
My surgeon's office called this afternoon to tell me a 28 year old donor valve has been obtained, which is a Cryolife SynerGraft aortic homograft. What surprised me was that they can get me in next Wednesday, June 5. I don't know whether to celebrate or panic!
My surgeon is Dr. Michael King, a Mayo-trained surgeon here in Minneapolis who has performed over 1,000 valve replacements. Dr. King will be performing a mini-sternotomy (incision less that 3") and will be using BioGlue at the aortic suture sites, which means I'll have only one drainage tube post-op. The nurses I talked to when I had my angiogram thought I'd be out in three days--which would truly amaze me.
I will be having my surgery at North Memorial Hospital in Minneapolis. This hospital has an unusual model for valve patients: I will be in the same ICU room for my whole stay, with the same nursing staff (about a 1 to 1 or 1 to 2 nurse/patient ratio). These rooms are larger than traditional ICU rooms, and patients rave about the quality of care and benefits of not having to get moved.
My son Clay, who had aortic valve repair last January, is having his AV node ablated on June 3, just two days before. He has had on-going rhythm problems, and this is a necessary step to get him off his heavy-duty meds and eliminate his remaining symptoms. My family is, naturally, pretty stressed out with all the heart surgeries within a short period of time.
Anyhow, I'll try to have my wife or my daughter post here after my surgery for an update. Now I'm off to have a quiet little panic attack!
--John
My surgeon is Dr. Michael King, a Mayo-trained surgeon here in Minneapolis who has performed over 1,000 valve replacements. Dr. King will be performing a mini-sternotomy (incision less that 3") and will be using BioGlue at the aortic suture sites, which means I'll have only one drainage tube post-op. The nurses I talked to when I had my angiogram thought I'd be out in three days--which would truly amaze me.
I will be having my surgery at North Memorial Hospital in Minneapolis. This hospital has an unusual model for valve patients: I will be in the same ICU room for my whole stay, with the same nursing staff (about a 1 to 1 or 1 to 2 nurse/patient ratio). These rooms are larger than traditional ICU rooms, and patients rave about the quality of care and benefits of not having to get moved.
My son Clay, who had aortic valve repair last January, is having his AV node ablated on June 3, just two days before. He has had on-going rhythm problems, and this is a necessary step to get him off his heavy-duty meds and eliminate his remaining symptoms. My family is, naturally, pretty stressed out with all the heart surgeries within a short period of time.
Anyhow, I'll try to have my wife or my daughter post here after my surgery for an update. Now I'm off to have a quiet little panic attack!
--John
