K
KristaDeAnn
Hi Everyone.
Well I talked with my surgeon yesterday Dr Wang at Loma Linda Heart Institute and we have scheduled my Mitral valve replacement for May 31st.
YIKES !! Now Im scared... I have a Cath scheduled for May 6th and a bunch of lab/x-ray appointments in between...
I feel very confident in my surgeon who quoted me a 1% mortality rate...I could of had a repair but it would of come with a very high possibilty of having to go through surgery again 10-15 years from now...as I have heard many of you also say..
After discussing it with him at length, I choose the On-X valve, as that is the valve he said he would have choose if "it were him in my shoes". He has placed approx 25 of these valves to date and said installing them (my word not his...I dont know the correct word for that) is a little tricky but he is completely confident in the procedure. He said they took the St. Jude design and just improved upon it....in addition it has at least a small hope (however small it may be) that one day I wont have to take coumadin... At least it is something to hold on too..
He has done hundreds of valve surgerys and said mine is basically "simple" because there is nothing else damaged but the one valve..he said the majority of patients have numerous other problems that have to be surgically repaired. He answered all my questions patiently and I never felt rushed or hurried..He seems very comfortable with what he does.. (thank goodness) He went over to India a few years ago and helped the to establish a cardiac unit over there....
He is their Valve specialist so I guess Im in good hands. I wanted to donate my own blood but about choked when they told me much it cost per pint.. 275.00 the blood bank does it and that is who you have to pay. They have "historic" donors at this hospital and that blood is reservered for Heart and Pediatric patients only..so Im trusting them with that. Hope I dont need any.
So thats it...While I was at the hosptial meeting with him I was strangly quite calm and actually could of went right in and had the operation right at that moment... Now that it is the next day Im back to being terrified. Not as terrified when they first told me I needed this in February....but terrified none the less...and it is the vent that Im most nervous about...mostly from reading here that everyone else is apprehensive about it as well... I had to watch a video about a heart patient who agreed to let them use him as a subject go from admission to discharge and that really helped some.
How many of you have the ON-X valve? Have you had any problems with them?...I hope I choose the right thing...it is all so confusing.. I did my homework but I still cannot help but be nervous about it..
Well I talked with my surgeon yesterday Dr Wang at Loma Linda Heart Institute and we have scheduled my Mitral valve replacement for May 31st.
YIKES !! Now Im scared... I have a Cath scheduled for May 6th and a bunch of lab/x-ray appointments in between...
I feel very confident in my surgeon who quoted me a 1% mortality rate...I could of had a repair but it would of come with a very high possibilty of having to go through surgery again 10-15 years from now...as I have heard many of you also say..
After discussing it with him at length, I choose the On-X valve, as that is the valve he said he would have choose if "it were him in my shoes". He has placed approx 25 of these valves to date and said installing them (my word not his...I dont know the correct word for that) is a little tricky but he is completely confident in the procedure. He said they took the St. Jude design and just improved upon it....in addition it has at least a small hope (however small it may be) that one day I wont have to take coumadin... At least it is something to hold on too..
He has done hundreds of valve surgerys and said mine is basically "simple" because there is nothing else damaged but the one valve..he said the majority of patients have numerous other problems that have to be surgically repaired. He answered all my questions patiently and I never felt rushed or hurried..He seems very comfortable with what he does.. (thank goodness) He went over to India a few years ago and helped the to establish a cardiac unit over there....
He is their Valve specialist so I guess Im in good hands. I wanted to donate my own blood but about choked when they told me much it cost per pint.. 275.00 the blood bank does it and that is who you have to pay. They have "historic" donors at this hospital and that blood is reservered for Heart and Pediatric patients only..so Im trusting them with that. Hope I dont need any.
So thats it...While I was at the hosptial meeting with him I was strangly quite calm and actually could of went right in and had the operation right at that moment... Now that it is the next day Im back to being terrified. Not as terrified when they first told me I needed this in February....but terrified none the less...and it is the vent that Im most nervous about...mostly from reading here that everyone else is apprehensive about it as well... I had to watch a video about a heart patient who agreed to let them use him as a subject go from admission to discharge and that really helped some.
How many of you have the ON-X valve? Have you had any problems with them?...I hope I choose the right thing...it is all so confusing.. I did my homework but I still cannot help but be nervous about it..
). You will do well.
