Hello - UK New Member

[Englander]

I met my consultant and a surgeon today. The surgeon said that my heart is getting bigger and he recommends that I have the mitral valve repair soon. He said the longer I wait the higher the chance of me getting atrial fibralation. I now have three doctors who have all said that I should have the surgery within two years and so we decided that I will have the op in early June.

I went to see the doctors this morning not expecting this to happen so soon. However at least now I don't have to wait months thinking about it.

I suppose the main thing worrying me is the small chance of dying during the operation and how will my family (wife and baby) cope. What are other possible effects (stroke etc..)?

Also being self employed I wont have an income during the time I am off. However, I am fortunate enough to be able to work from home and should be able to line up some work for me. How long after the operation will I be able to do computer work from home?

Thanks in advance for your replies.

Englander

 

[catwoman]

Englander:

Re: quality of life post-MVR surgery
I no longer have the constant throbbing on the left side of my body that I had written off as "stress" or nerves. One of the first things I noticed when I was moved from ICU to a private room was that I could open my eyes fully. I had noticed for several months that I looked very sleepy all the time. My heart was very calm and quiet (well, other than the St. Jude!, which is extremely quiet now).
My BP is normal now. No more SOB, being cyanotic.

Some of the people here have used a computer at the hospital to post to us before going home. I used a computer about 8-9 days post-op; chair wasn't really comfortable being that my back was still hurting, but I was able to answer e-mail.

 

[Raverlaw]

Englander,

I felt up to working from home about ten days after I got home. I could sit at the computer for a couple of hours at a stretch, and could concentrate enough to get work done. What surprised me was that my voice was very weak and raspy for a month after the surgery - an after-effect of the vent tube rubbing on my vocal chords, I was told. I wasn't prepared for this, and since my work involves a lot of telephone contact, I wasn't able to do as much from home as I had expected to, since lengthy telephone conversations were out of the question.

If you do work from home, I recommend frequent stretching breaks and lots of water to drink. Take a short walk several times a day to get out of doors if possible. You don't want your work to get in the way of recovery! I'm self-employed, too, and really felt the loss of income from not being able to work, but focused on getting back into shape to work full-time, so that I could resume that as soon as possible.

Good luck!