getting a date set

[Nan]

Nicole, I am thinking of you and hoping for the best.... which would be news that you can go ahead with the surgery and will soon be feeling so much better.

As a Quaker friend of mine says "I will hold you in the light"

Nan

 

[tiggerangelgirl]

thank you

thank you

thank you all for your positive thought,you all have been real encouraging.
I've had a really bad weekend it seems that the chest pain is constant and I feel like someone has drained the last energy molucule out of me,doing the littlest things wears me to exhaustion,and I keep having these terrible palpatation,they come on real strong and kinda squeezes my heart.Iam just plain worn out.I wonder how did you all feel right before your surgeries,I guess some of this is probaly what you all been through,I hate to think that this is"common".
I will be leaving tues. to go up and stay in greenville for my6:00am arrival time,at 8:00 I will have a tee,and then sometime after twelve I will have the heart cath and my pressures measured while bicycling? I need to know if anybody has ever had this done,what I cant figure out is how on earth do you pedal a bicycle with those cathaters in your legs and when your not suppose to move your leg at all,please if any has had this done I sure would love a little preview,because i just cant picture it.Well anyways i will stay at the heart center overnight and on thursday begin testing on my lungs.I ask that you all stay in prayer that my lungs will be strong enough to handle the surgery and that I will not have to wait too much longer for the surgery,my goal is to start off the new year with a fixed and cleaned up heart and to be healed up and ready to go to medical school in august,this is my dream and this is what helps me to keep fighting;a program called voc. rehab. is going to help me go to medical school and to get back on track with my life,please just to continue to lift me up and if you have not heard from me by thursday night{late night}on friday go ahead and call my moms cell phone Ross grangbonny has it if you need it ,i will be at ECU pitt county memorial,and if I dont come home I will probaly guess they will do the surgery then if not I"ll go back on the 16th
thank you so much everyone I appreciate the support and I pray that all of ya'lls holidays are full of family,love,happiness and never forget "JESUS" is the reason for this seasons.

 

[Kathy]

I ask that you all stay in prayer that my lungs will be strong enough to handle the surgery and that I will not have to wait too much longer for the surgery,

Nicole,

You certainly will be in my prayers. I can't envision a "heart cath on a bike" either! I'm sure that they know what they are doing at Duke. My husband wants to retire in NC so I've read about their program. It seems that they have a good reputation.

 

[dwfreck]

Nicole,

First, thanks for your comments about "Finding Nemo". I've seen it at least 100 times (courtesy my kids), and until you said something, never stopped to consider the spiritual overtones of the movie.

Second, I've done countless "bike" tests over the years, and I recently had my first cath. I doubt they will put the catheter in your leg, but the pre-cath literature I got said they can also use your arm as an insertion site. I suspect that is what they will do with you, because I, too, can't imagine pedalling anything with a catheter in my leg. Also, the "bike" tests I've had were sometimes vertical (I was sitting on the bike), and sometimes horizantal (pedals were attached to the end of the bed). I hope this helps you figure out what to expect. Of course, you can always call your doctor and ask "How do I pedal a bike during a catheterization."

Third, my wife has a "Finding Nemo" joke about my usual reaction to versed (which is what they gave me for my cath). She said I would probably come out of the cath and say "Hi, my name's Dory... I saw a boat, it went that way!"

Good luck Tuesday!

 

[Georgia]

Nicole, you just make me want to do like I did when I was a little kid - screw my eyes shut and hold my breath and wish as hard as I could: I wish for you to get some good news so you can get this taken care of. Bless your pea-pickin' little heart - good luck on the tests and continue to be strong and have faith.

All my prayers are with you the next couple of days.

 

[catwoman]

Nicole:

You are in my prayers.
My dad has pulmonary fibrosis, so I certainly understand some of what you're going through.

 

[sylviayasgur]

hi nicole!
you are in our thoughts and prayers. hopefully, all your tests will go weel and you will be able to have the surgery done to make you feel better.
by the way, the cath can be done through your wrist, my father had that done once.
wishing you all the best, sylvia

 

[tiggerangelgirl]

thank you

thank you

thanks everyone for your thoughts and prayers. I will tell you this past cath. was different from all others, the drs didnt have the bicycle so we tried resorting to sandbag weights {you would had to be there} they kept getting heavier and it wasnt going anywhere . I dont really have a whole lot more answers , except that my leaks have gotten much worse since august .Went to the lung Drs today , sorta good news said when I got my terrible plumbing fixed my lungs will get better , and I have the green light for surgery ! Finally I feel like I'm getting results, all the drs meet on wed. to discuss the best way to approach surgery. I will keep everyone informed as soon as I know .
It is completly true that when most of us find this sight we are struck with fear of the unknown but through lots of compassion and expierence I have prepared myself mentally and have gained the knowledge of those who have gone before me and I know soon I will be able to help someone else who is scared and desperate. Thanks goes out again to all those who started this forum and all those who continue to support the forum . I pray that all will have a blessed holiday .
nicole


" When anxiety was with great withen me, Your consolation brought joy to my soul "
Psalm 94 :19

 

[Karlynn]

Nicole,
I'm hoping you get your date soon and will be on to a healthier life in short order. Continue to keep us up to date. I've been wondering what was going on with you. Thanks for filling us in.

And have a joyous holiday!

Karlynn

 

[RickKiem]

Nicole, sounds like you are getting closer. I know you must be ready to get this thing done. You will feel so much stronger once you get that "plumbing" fixed. Don't lose your great attitude. It will pay you great dividends during your recovery. You will continue to be in our thoughts and prayers.

Rick

 

[Georgia]

Inching closer, girl

Inching closer, girl

Nicole, when do you have another appointment with your surgeon so they can tell you when you'll have surgery?

This has been a terrible experience for you and you've endured it with a lot more class and charity than I could have mustered. Good for you. I'm praying that you'll get this taken care of soon.

Ditto for your holidays. A really nice present would be a date for your heart renovation, huh?

 

[tiggerangelgirl]

The Drs have called and I will be going up on thursday to discuss valves and the date , I have told my dr. that my one and only christmas present for this year will being able to fix my heart before the new year and he told me he can make that happen.I have a week of waiting and that in itself is hard im trying to find things to keep me occupied ,I know waiting is always the hardest ecspecially for those who have needed the surgery for awhile. Thank you for all of your thoughts , there is still one thing that I cant get any information on is: the ventilator expierence I would really like to know how it feels , what were some of the things you remeber from it , and about the pain did most of you have the button that you could push and the medicine would be delivered , if not what medicines worked best for you.

 

[Nan]

Hi Nicole, so glad that you are now on your way to feeling better!!!

Re: The ventilator. My experience during surgery/post surgery, was that basically I was out the whole time the vent was in. I only had minimal discomfort when they were apparently suctioning it to keep it clean every once in a while...it just brought me to consciousness enough to apparently move around, get re-assurance from the nurses that they were almost done, and then back to sleep I went. Was not aware when they took it out.

(This was not the kind of experience I had when intubated for CHF, however)

Re: pain. They kept it really under control with an IV. I dont' know what they used, but it worked well. It was just akward moving around at first, but for me the pain was minimal.

I hope you have an easy time. Will be thinking of you.

Nan

 

[dwfreck]

Nicole,

I can relate to the joys of waiting! I'm working toward a surgery date in February (my choice for family and work reasons), and have the "luxury" to wait until then, but I don't know if I will mentally last that long. I'm soooo tempted to walk into the local ER and scream "take it out, take it out" untill they wheel me into an OR.

Then I hear Dory's voice again: "Just keep swimming..."

 

[MelissaM]

Hi Nicole,

So glad to hear of the progress in your case. With all of these prayers, you've got some real power on your side! Sounds like you are in great hands. I first heard of Dr. Chitwood when researching robotic surgery - amazingly enough, he is one of the pioneer surgeons using the Da Vinci robotic surgery system (http://www.ecu.edu/dhs/imagegallery/default.htm).

You will have to ask if he plans to use this system for your surgery - you might be the first VR.com-er to have robotic surgery. How cool is that??

Keep us posted and we will keep you in our prayers!
Melissa

 

[Kathy]

Nicole,

It seems as though things are moving along for youl

I know I woke up while the ventilator was in for a very SHORT time because my husband told me that my mitral valve was repaired. (I had told him in advance that if I couldn't talk that was the first thing that I wanted to know.) I went right back into a drug-induced fog and never thinking about the vent, and don't recall anything about the vent being removed. I had 4 other surgeries and never woke until the ventilator was removed.

The pain was less severe than when I had abdominal surgery. I did not have a drip, but the nurses in ICU kept asking my pain level and for me that was sufficient to keep the pain under control. When I was in the cardiac unit I was asked frequently about pain and occasionally I rang for meds. I was quite nauseated, but have been after all my surgeries.

 

[Granbonny]

Nicole

Nicole

When your surgery is over..and they put you in CCI..You will have a nurse with you at all times..and she will give you the pain meds..Don't worry..they want to keep you in Lalalala land..LOL...If you start to wake up on Vent..she/he will probably give you more..to keep you out....Until the vent is ready to come out. I do Not remember anything from being wheeled down the hall laughing until the next afternoon waking up in private room .NO pain. Daughter said, hi Mom, want to get up and take a walk? I said sure...also no tubes..just the thingy you wear when you walk around so nurses can see you on their little screen...Tell them, you want good drugs to keep you out. Take any pill they offer you in recovery in hospital..Enjoy the rest. Remember, you have 2 little girls waiting at home for you..God Bless. Bonnie

 

[RickKiem]

Nicole, You must be so excited to know when everything is going to happen. We are so glad for you. From what I have read from your posts you have had a rough go of it. Now, in a few weeks you will be on the other side of the "Mountain" (should we give this mountain a name?) and well on the road to recovery.

Don't worry about the pain. the nurses number one priority will be to keep you comfortable. With me they gave me morphine every two hours and I was asking them to not give me so much very shortly. A short while after the vent was out they started me on Vicoden along with the morphine and the pain was really not an issue at this point. Sure I had some pain but it was bearable.

Everyone worries about the breathing tube. I won't tell you a fib, it was uncomfortable. Not painful, just uncomfortable. The trick seems to be not to fight the darn thing. Just let it do all the work. I had the pleasure of keeping mine for 48 hours because of a few bumps but while of course I wanted it out all I remember is when I was aware of it is is being SOOOO thristy for an ice cold Sprite. I don't even like Sprite all that much but that is what I wanted. I also really wanted to talk so that I could get details of what they did to me. No one would tell me what I wanted to know. That was frustrating. Once it was removed I forgot about it very quickly.

I know the next few days will be worrisome but just think how long this road has been for you. You are almost there!!! We will be thinking of you and your family. Let us know how you are doing.

Rick

 

[Christina L]

Nicole,

You are such a sweetheart. I am so glad that things are moving forward for you and that you know what you are facing in the way of surgery.

I so admire your positive attitude and your fortitude to keep going although at times you haven't felt so well and have had such a tough time with getting answers from the medical profession.

As you know, SO many people have these surgeries and they change our lives for the better.

You will be in my prayers and thoughts all the way through your personal journey. God does listen and answer.

Sincerely,

Christina L.

 

[Andrea]

MVR

MVR

I also had a Mytral Replacement. I hope everything goes swimingly for you! My thoughts and prayers go out to you and your family.