Shands is only about an hour away from you! You should definitely talk to Dr. Beaver there. His office number is 352-273-5503. A lady named Diane Strong usually answers the phone.
Sknydave is going to Shands, and good luck to him! I traveled from the Jupiter area, about 4 hours, because I was convinced Shands and Dr. Beaver were the best for my situation. I had an AVR, a repair of my ascending aorta and a maze procedure.
My experience with Shands was fantastic. They are efficient and very nice. Everything went exactly as they told me it would.
The best part of my experience was that I have had no pain to speak of in my sternum. I do not have a high pain threshhold. I'm 4.5 weeks out from surgery and back at work--dress shirts seem to rub on the upper part of my scar and that annoys me, but no pain. I had pain in my shoulder blades and a little in my rib cage when I started walking a lot, but nothing close to what others report. Actually, I have to be a bit conservative because it seems impossible to have no sternum pain, so I don't say that, but I really had no sternum pain at all. It is very weird, but a good thing.
Dr. Beaver is a great guy. He gave me his email address and cell phone number. He answers my email questions promptly. He is the heart transplant guy at Shands and does about 200 open heart procedures a year. The first time my wife and I met with him, we both liked him and had full confidence in him. And he isn't paying me to say this!
Skny, I volunteered to Dr. Beaver and Diane to talk to any of their patients who are apprehensive in the least. Send me a private message if you want to talk about what to expect.
I guess you can tell I'm pretty high on Dr. Beaver and Shands!
John
