my time has come

[Chuck C]

i'm getting the medtronic open pivot mechanical heart valve

At your age, I would strongly agree with the choice to go mechanical.

 

[pekster11]

3 days post op, I'm recovering well. Expected to go home on Wednesday. I'll give more info when I get it

 

[ATHENS1964]

3 days post op, I'm recovering well. Expected to go home on Wednesday. I'll give more info when I get it

I wish you good recovery !

 

[Chuck C]

3 days post op, I'm recovering well. Expected to go home on Wednesday. I'll give more info when I get it

Fantastic! Keep up the good recovery!

 

[Luckyguy17]

3 days post op, I'm recovering well. Expected to go home on Wednesday. I'll give more info when I get it

Wishing you a smooth and uneventful recovery

 

[pekster11]

They're telling me I should be admitted from hospital tomorrow . 5 days post op

 

[Chuck C]

They're telling me I should be admitted from hospital tomorrow . 5 days post op

Great news! Thanks for the update

 

[pekster11]

if my INR enough falls today they'll remove the pacing wires and i should be admitted
if not, i'll have to wait until to tomorrow

 

[pekster11]

INR is still too high to remove the pacing wires (yesterday is was 4,9 !)

So may have to stay in hospital a few days longer

interesting i noticed some of the effects of high INR..blood spots under skin on neck plus a small inconsequential pimple on my forehead which overnight when my INR was high, bleed and left a "blood" scab the following day.
Alot of "blood snot" up my nose the following morning too

INR today is at 3,4...and alot of the stuff mentioned above is already resolving
they intend to wait until INR is at 2,5 before removing wires and releasing me from hospital

Interesting stuff nether the less

 

[pekster11]

out of hospital now.
no major dramas

Had post op AF which was treated accordingly
Developed arrhythmia after pacing wires were removed. Treated with a magnesium drip for a few hours....hence resolved

Have to go back to ward on thursday for bloods, as my liver was thrown out of kilter by the surgery (the anaesthetic i believe)

Feeling pretty good 11 days post op. Appetite is back, not feeling too tired, walking around the house no probs

 

[pekster11]

had my own room the night before surgery and after i left ICU and was put on the ward !

Felt like private health care
NHS came good
Liverpool HCH is rated as one of Europe's leading cardiac centres for a reason

 

[PAN]

Brilliant.. Look after yourself.. What was the final surgery? Valve, ascending and hemiarch if I remember correctly? no deviations from the plan? Sounds like your stay was text book pretty much. All good..

 

[pekster11]

Brilliant.. Look after yourself.. What was the final surgery? Valve, ascending and hemiarch if I remember correctly? no deviations from the plan? Sounds like your stay was text book pretty much. All good..

aortic valve (replaced with a mechanical)
aortic root as indicated on the CT scan was OK, so they left that.
ascending aortic and hemiarch replaced

This is just what they told me would need doing from the CT scan I had last summer...so no surprises
I'm still relatively young (47) in good shape (did a 10km run just 2 days before the op, with no issues at all), i've never had previous surgeries.
I feel this certainly set me up for a text book Op

 

[PAN]

Excellent. Hopefully it's not too long before you're building up to that first 5K.. best of luck. it was quite the wait for you..

 

[pekster11]

Excellent. Hopefully it's not too long before you're building up to that first 5K.. best of luck. it was quite the wait for you..

delayed by over a year because of covid
glad to get it over and done with at last
although the process is nothing to worry about really
high end medicine is pretty amazing these days

 

[pekster11]

got my 6 week post op appointment on saturday

i'm hoping my heart has gone back into sinus rhythm...the beat certainly feels more normal, after the high afib event a few weeks back that led to me spending 3 nights in hospital

if it has, I'm expecting to be weened off the bisoprolol (currently on 10mg/day...5mg morning + 5mg evening)

felt alot better the past 10 days or so....now walking around 30-40 mins a day.
incision wound feels stronger at this point too

 

[PAN]

Great to hear about your recovery. Minus the few bumps in the road sounds like you're doing well. Hopefully you're back jogging soon enough. All the best..

 

[Chuck C]

felt alot better the past 10 days or so....now walking around 30-40 mins a day.
incision wound feels stronger at this point too

Great news! Thanks for the update.

 

[pekster11]

@PAN

Have your had your surgery yet ?
Haven't seen you post on the forum for a long time

 

[PAN]

Hi Pekster, thanks for asking, hope you are keeping well since your surgery, I followed your journey post op. Are you back running now ? I've been lurking again for a while as I find too much time here can increase the stress slightly. I suspect as much despite how disappointing I find that

I was 100% in the Mechanical camp right up until the moment the surgeon mentioned a Ross for me with some ascending replacement also. It was scheduled late in 2021.. For personal, professional and "my head's going to explode" reasons I decided to delay it. I have a 2nd and hopefully 3rd opinion lined up and will attempt to set a date and procedure next year.. First half if at all possible.

Thanks again,

P