New guy

[DWZ1969]

First off I wanted to say thanks to everyone on this forum, it has been very helpful to me.
I am a 46 year male with no previous history of heart trouble. On the evening of Dec. 3 2015 I was at the grocery store when I got very dizzy, cold and clamy, short of breath and stabbing pain in the upper middle chest. I went to the emergency room and 3 hours later I was discharge, still in agonizing pain and confused about my diagnosis of acid reflux (I spent a long sleepless night in my recliner). In the morning my wife took me to my primary physician and he sent me back to the hospital for a chest X-ray to rule out a blood clot in the lungs. While waiting for the X-ray I had seizure and was unresponsive. I was rushed back to the er where I had a ct scan and a ultrasound. From there I took an ambulance ride to the cardiac ICU, there I was told I had a bicuspid heart valve and a aortic dissection. I was immediately sent to surgery. I was in surgery for 6 hours and woke up 3 days later. I am now the proud owner of a ON-X heart valve, a Dacron sleeve for my aorta and titatum chest plates.
Recovery has gone fairly well, I get a little better everyday. I am back to work and in my third week of therapy. I can't hear my valve but I can feel it. I still stand in front of the mirror and look at the scar and wonder what the hell happened.
Again tthanks,
Dave

 

[Paleowoman]

Good grief ! Very lucky your wife took you to your primary physician and that he sent you to hospital. I would think a complaint to the first ER will be in order when you're more recovered ! You are extremely lucky ! Wishing you continued smooth recovery !

 

[DWZ1969]

We filed a report to the hospital, we didn't want it to seem as we were point fingers or anything but more that we don't want this to happen again. The next person may not be as lucky as I was.
Yes I am very blessed to have a great wife that takes care of me. I feel a little guilty about us having to change some plans because of my surgery and therapy, this year is our 25th anniversary and we had to cancel a trip we had planned.

 

[pellicle]

Thats a close shave there DWZ1969 , glad you're still with us. I understand that Aortic Dissections are hard to pick up, but you were in the right place at the right time!

Hope you settle into recovery with no problems.

I'm sure you won't hesitate to ask any questions here.

Best Wishes

 

[DachsieMom]

What a story! So lucky you were already at the hospital.

 

[AZ Don]

Wow. You are very lucky. Hope the rest of your recovery is much less exciting.

 

[Warrick]

"I still stand in front of the mirror and look at the scar and wonder what the hell happened."

I know how that feels, still very surreal , ditto on the good recovery

 

[almost_hectic]

This frustrates me so much! Acid reflux?!! Glad you made it!

 

[Paleowoman]

This frustrates me so much! Acid reflux?!!

That's the stock diagnosis these days - very frustrating for patients. I was diagnosed with that once when in actuality I had (have) small airways disease. It's laziness on the part of doctors and downright dangerous - I was going to be sent away for a three month trial of proton pump inhibitor ! Thankgoodness I refused and had further tests done. Anyone who is diagnosed with acid refulx these days without having either barium swallow or endoscope should be very wary of the diagnosis - and push for tests to confirm it or find out what is really wrong. And in the example of Dave I'm still shocked. If this had happened in the UK (where I live) he would have been unlikely to see his primary physician the following morning so you can only guess what might have happened.

 

[cldlhd]

I wouldn't feel too guilty about the change of plans though. Its not like you ran off to Vegas with a stripper.

 

[Seaton]

Extraordinary tale!
Cautionary and humbling.
Very glad you got the final treatment and result you did. And viva the surgical team.
I wish you wellness and a smooth recovery.

 

[honeybunny]

You should change your user name to MiracleGuy! So glad it was caught and that your surgery was successful. Best wishes for your continued recovery.

 

[DWZ1969]

Thanks everyone! Today I go see my Cardiologist. I have a ton of questions for him. I will let everyone know if he tells me anything that's not already here.

 

[DWZ1969]

So I'm almost four months out from my surgery and everything is going great. My sternum still aches a little a night when I sleep on my side. Stairs still seam to wear me out, but that's getting better. What I would like to know is how long before the incision sight doesn't get sore? when I have my seat belt on in the truck it rubs right on the incision and its very tender. Just wondering if anybody else has had this issue. I had it looked at by my doctor and he says it looks normal.

 

[pellicle]

Hi

So I'm almost four months out from my surgery and everything is going great.
My sternum still aches a little a night when I sleep on my side....
What I would like to know is how long before the incision sight doesn't get sore? when I have my seat belt on in the truck it rubs right on the incision and its very tender.

well I think it can be a while. I took to wearing a pad just under the chest strap of the seat belt because of exactly the reason that it irritated my scar.

My sugery was perhaps complicated with some other issues, but its really only recently that I can drive places and go "oh, hey my seatbelt didn't even bother me"

The last surgery on that place was 2012 (which was also my last sugery, but it wasn't heart surgery on that place).

Just keep an eye on it and report any problems or if it gets more irritated than less.

 

[epstns]

Sometimes it just stays that way. My incision from the heart surgery itself doesn't bother me at all any more, but even now (5 years out), the seatbelt still irritates the area under which my pacemaker is implanted. Sometimes worse than others, but it seems to never really go away. I just got used to it, and as long as it doesn't get any worse, I'll just let it be.

 

[Heart Of The Sunrise]

Best of luck with your continued recovery. Other than the chest plates we pretty much had the same surgery! Been three year for me...no problems.

 

[JulienDu]

I just received a detailed written report from my cardio and my occupational therapist following different kind of appointments I had. Here is a quote from that report ( when they were giving recommendations for return to work ) :

Recent research indicates only 24% of patients are healed by 6 months post-operation (Raman 2012). Though patients often start to feel stronger about 8 weeks post surgery, healing is still occurring at a microscopic level as the sternum continues to knit together

 

[Protimenow]

Wow. That's scary as hell. I know of a number of celebrities who died of aortic dissections, in minutes. The emergency room probably should have done a lot more digging than they did, and determined the real cause of your symptoms. They probably gave you the 'gerd cocktail (donatol, antacid)' to cure your 'gastric reflux' and figured out, when that didn't help, that your problems were more severe.
Part of the issue may have been in triage - where they first evaluate your symptoms - what you had wasn't given enough weight to do a thorough diagnosis. (I know about this -- three years ago, I was having weakness and numbness in my lower left leg. It took them ten hours before they decided to see if I had a stroke - my initial impression minutes after experiencing the symptoms, minutes before taking aspirin to reduce the damage, and minutes before testing my blood (2.6 on an erroneous meter - 1.7 in the hospital). If you get the wrong Triage person, or describe your symptoms in a less 'dangerous to life' way, you're pushed to the bottom of the pile).

I'm really glad to hear that you got through this. I don't recall a lot of problem with my seat belt rubbing my incision - but the seatbelts in the 1980s may have been a bit less snug than the ones in use today. The idea of a cloth or towel between belt and chest makes sense to me....

 

[DWZ1969]

Well 1 year came and went and I'm still ticking (really loudly). I had my six month check up in June and everything looks good. its still uncomfortable to lay on my side for long periods of time but its getting better. the monthly INR trips are kind of a pain in the a%& but it better than the alternative.