<heavy sigh>
Well, I've been pestering my surgeon's assistant daily since Thusday trying to get some answers. Yesterday she said he was heading to a meeting and then to the "viewing room" to look at my echo tape and I would have an answer today. I called again late this afternoon and he was on the phone. He called me back and said that the echo tape wouldn't play correctly (what a let down). I asked if he had seen the echo report (he had) and I asked if he could make a recommendation from the report. We ended up talking for awhile, and based on the report he felt that surgery was the best option. He said there were some drugs we could try that may help for awhile if I wanted to try them, but there was no guarantee that they would make a difference and surgery was inevitable down the road anyway. My latest echo shows that my left ventricle is at the upper limits of normal, my tricuspid valve now has moderate regurg with PA pressures estimated at 50-60mmhg. He also said that I am a viable candidate for any type of valve including the Ross Procedure (which is my 1st choice).
Since it was so late in the day his assistant was gone for the day, but he said he would be able to do it as soon as a couple of weeks and to call his assistant back tomorrow to set the date (at this point reality smacked me in the face...lol). I am having a cath done here in Nashville on March 3rd to check my coronary arteries and will probably schedule the surgery for 2 weeks out from there (maybe St. Patrick's day).
Wow, it just dawned on me after all this waiting...this surgery is really going to happen...and soon!
Well, I've been pestering my surgeon's assistant daily since Thusday trying to get some answers. Yesterday she said he was heading to a meeting and then to the "viewing room" to look at my echo tape and I would have an answer today. I called again late this afternoon and he was on the phone. He called me back and said that the echo tape wouldn't play correctly (what a let down). I asked if he had seen the echo report (he had) and I asked if he could make a recommendation from the report. We ended up talking for awhile, and based on the report he felt that surgery was the best option. He said there were some drugs we could try that may help for awhile if I wanted to try them, but there was no guarantee that they would make a difference and surgery was inevitable down the road anyway. My latest echo shows that my left ventricle is at the upper limits of normal, my tricuspid valve now has moderate regurg with PA pressures estimated at 50-60mmhg. He also said that I am a viable candidate for any type of valve including the Ross Procedure (which is my 1st choice).
Since it was so late in the day his assistant was gone for the day, but he said he would be able to do it as soon as a couple of weeks and to call his assistant back tomorrow to set the date (at this point reality smacked me in the face...lol). I am having a cath done here in Nashville on March 3rd to check my coronary arteries and will probably schedule the surgery for 2 weeks out from there (maybe St. Patrick's day).
Wow, it just dawned on me after all this waiting...this surgery is really going to happen...and soon!
