Hubby heart surgery tomorrow

[KLashbrook]

Hello.
I am a newbie here. Found this place 2-9-04 and haven't had time to do a post until today. My hubby will be having heart surgery tomorrow to replace a pulmonary valve. He is a Tetralogy of Falot patient. Had 4 operations before age of 2 yrs. old. He had been having problems getting worse in past 2 yrs. Found out in June of 2003 that he actually should have had valve replacement 8 yrs ago. Found out also at that time that he had pulmonary hypertension and couldn't have surgery until pressures were brought down. He has been on Tracleer since Sept. & found out less than 2 weeks ago that they want to go ahead with surgery. It's been a long wait. We came to Nashville yesterday for all the presurgery tests to make sure he is fit enough to have surgery.....passed all the tests with flying colors. Will go to hospital in morning at 6 am with surgery scheduled at 8. I have many anxieties and will be doing some reading on this board today. Keep us in your prayers.

Thanks,
Kathy L.

 

[SJJ]

Kathy,
Welcome! I wish we'd had more opportunity to interact with you before your husband's surgery. But then, if you've been lurking about, maybe you feel you know us and our concern and well wishes seem more personal. It sounds like you two have had a "rough row to hoe." I'll sure be thinking about you both and hope you'll keep us informed as to your husband's progress.
Just keep connected and ask any questions you may have-there are some very knowledgable folks aboard-I'm just not one of them.
Sue

 

[Nancy]

Hi Kathy-

I put your husband's surgery on the calendar so we can keep track of him. Sorry we didn't have much time to talk prior to the surgery, but we'll help you along post surgery.

My husband has PH also and is also on Tracleer. It really saved his life. He's been on it for a year and he's on the treadmill right now. Last year at this time he almost died. I am so happy that Tracleer worked for your husband and is now allowing him to get his valve fixed up.

Medicine is sometimes miraculous.Several years ago, both of our husband's would not be here at all.

I want to wish your husband the very best surgical result possible. You'll both be in my thoughts and prayers. I hope you will let us know how things go for him when you can.

Good luck and God Bless.

 

[punkin32180]

Kathy tell your husband I am pulling for him i got in on Feb 26th to have my pulmonic valve replaced to to pulmonic insufficiency and to have my pulmonary artery dilated due to narrowing so I know what he is going through .. I as well am a TOF patient from when I was 9months old back in 81.. I am now 23 and getting ready for this.. its just all so hard to grasp sometimes but I wish u all luck and will keep u in my prayers... keep us posted on his condition I would especially love to hear how he is doing since we are having the same thing done.. Did they also tell u it would take longer due to scar tissue from previous surgeries? Thats what they told me... Well good luck.. Jaque

 

[Karlynn]

Kathy,
I will most certainly keep you and your husband in my prayers. Please let us know how his surgery goes and lean on us if you need to.

 

[tommy]

Kathy,

Best wishes for your husband (and you) tomorrow. Sounds like he has been through a lot and must be a real fighter.

Please let us know how he does. We look forward to seeing him on the other side of the mountain.

 

[EVELYN]

Hi Kathy

Welcome aboard. Right now all you have to do is worry about your Hubby. We'll be here for you when you get back. I'm sure everyone on this list will put you both in our prayers. It's a really great place....

When everything settles down, please post and let us know how the surgery went and if there's anything we can do for you from cyberspace.

Evelyn

 

[Marge]

Kathy, you and your husband have my prayers also. Stay well. The "flying colors" part sounds good but you must be so anxious and scared ...

 

[Marvin]

Kathy

Just wanted to say that we will keep both of you in our prayers. Also wanted to let you know how much this site has help us everyone on here is great and will help with issues that you have after the surgery. They have been great for us.

 

[dawnwit15]

good luck

good luck

Kathy
you and your husband are in my prayers. As Marvin's wife stated, this site is wonderful and will be very helpful to you and your husband pre and post surgery. Stay positive, everything will work out just fine, your husband seems to be very strong and will be able to endure this. He'll be home before you know it.
Keep us posted.
dawnwit15

 

[Raverlaw]

Kathy,

Best wishes to your husband and to you. He'll be just an hour or two ahead of me, due to the time difference. I'll look forward to hearing positive news from you by the time I get home from the hospital next week. Good luck and keep in touch. There are a lot of knowledgeable people here who are generous with their time, expertise, experience and care. Hope to see you and your husband "hanging around" here after we climb that mountain tomorrow.

 

[Glenda]

Katy, ditto to what everybody else said. You both are in my prayers. Keep us posted.

Love and God Bless, Glenda

 

[Kathy]

Kathy,

I hope all goes well for your husband tomorrow. You will both be in my prayers.

Don't forget to take care of yourself. I think my hospital stay may have been more stressful for my husband than for me. I was drugged and didn't have to look at myself.

 

[Bryan B]

Kathy,

I'm glad you joined us regardless of the timing. I'm in Nashville, so if you need someone to talk to send me a private message and I'll PM you back with my phone number. Good luck tomorrow and let us know how everything is going.

 

[KLashbrook]

Thanks@

Thanks@

Would like to thank you all for your encouragement and prayers. I wish I would have came sooner to this site but am very glad that I did come here when I did. I will post Kevin's (Woody is longtime nickname) progress and will be looking forward to meeting you all in the future. Am sure we will be needing some post-operative support, and maybe we will be able to offer some support to others after this. Still have a lot to learn. I have a question if someone has an answer I will be reading for a reply. Surgeon didn't offer a chance to make a choice as to what type of valve they would be using. He said he would use a large cow valve and that they didn't want him on coumadin all his life. He is only 39 years old and am wondering if this probably means another operation in the future. He also said he was going to keep his heart beating during operation. Does anyone have any feedback on this?

 

[xtremlee]

I have heard of Off Pump Surgery but I havnt read anyone having it on this board.

 

[Bryan B]

I think the "off pump" surgery is only used in some bypass surgeries. For valve replacement surgeries they still need to stop the heart to replace the valve.

 

[Ross]

If they use a bovine valve, the chances are pretty high that he will need another operation sometime down the road. The valves coming out now are getting better and better in longevity, so as to when to expect reop--20+years??? It's really hard to say.

Personally, and you'll see me say this over and over again to people, this is a surgery that you really only want to go through 1 time. Why they tell people horror stories about life on Coumadin is beyond me, but I think it's mainly their lack of education in it's use. You'd be surprised at how many Doctors still don't know much of anything about anticoagulation. I run into it everyday.

 

[KLashbrook]

Ross,

This will be second time chest is opened. I heard (not sure whether true or not) that can only open chest 2 times. This is one reason my concern about another valve replacement later. He went thru 4 repairs of TOF as a child. Hey....he was telling me earlier today that they have a roadmap to go by
He hasn't lost his sense of humor in all this.

 

[Ross]

There are people here who've been opened 4 times that I know of. I'm in no way condoning that, but it's quite possible to have more then 2 surgeries. It's more difficult for the surgeons, but it can be done. Obviously multiple surgeries take there toll on a person too, so my thoughts and prayers go with the both of you.
I had my second opportunity and to be quite honest, I pray that it was my last.