Newbie introduction

[Guest]

Hi, everyone.
I’ve been lurking for a while gaining as much information and understanding as possible, as I’ve awaited my Fitness For Surgery, and then a date for my op.
As I now have a date (May 2nd) I thought I’d introduce myself.

I’m Geoff, 66, with severe Aortic Stenosis diagnosed last Summer. I live in Buckinghamshire some 25 miles from London, and my surgery will be at Harefield Hospital.
The first inkling was in the Winter of 2016/2017. I noticed that walking our dog led me to feel breathless and almost nauseous. As I’d just had a bad cold/virus I thought the symptoms would go away. They didn’t. By May 2017 I decided to visit the GP. He detected a ‘murmur’ and conducted an ECG. I was referred to a consultant at Wycombe General, where an echo/ultrasound confirmed Aortic Stenosis. Later tests on my carotids showed them to be clear.
In August I was admitted as a day patient for an angiogram This confirmed my AS as severe, and led to my referral to Harefield.
I went to Harefield in October, learning that I needed a dental clearance letter.
As someone with a bad gag reflex, I needed some roots removed at an NHS hospital. This caused a delay until January 30th. The next six weeks were then a comedy of errors as cancelled appointments threatened to block my ‘fitness’ for up to a month at a time.
I finally emailed my dentist’s dental clearance letter (I wasn’t risking losing it in the post !) , and confirmed receipt the next day. A week later my Fitness Specialist Nurse rang to say she was still waiting for my letter. I re-emailed it.

Since then I’ve been offered two cancellations. The first was during my daughter’s holiday, which logistically wasn’t helpful (and I thought unfair asking her to enjoy her holiday, with me in hospital.) The second was for tomorrow April 14th, but I’ve had another cold/virus, and have nasal congestion, so I couldn’t take it.

In preparation for posting, I signed up, but once signed in, am unable to post. There is simply no New Topic button. So for the last six days I've explored all possibilities. Only today I logged out, went into Forums, then Heart Talk, and found a New Topic button. Anyone understand what's going on ?

Thanks for all your collective wisdom, which has been most helpful.
Geoff - my login name is libra rising, if I ever get to use it ; )

 

[pellicle]

Welcome Geoff

You sure sound like you got the royal runaround...

I can attempt an answer to your question....

​​​​

In preparation for posting, I signed up, but once signed in, am unable to post. There is simply no New Topic button. So for the last six days I've explored all possibilities. Only today I logged out, went into Forums, then Heart Talk, and found a New Topic button. Anyone understand what's going on ?
)

Server software is crap... In a nutshell

 

[honeybunny]

Geoff, we had another newbie here not long ago who had the same problem. One of our members contacted Hank, who told her that the newbie had not completed the registration process, which Hank did for him. Now, I don't know what completing registration entails, but perhaps you can look at your profile and see if there are any fields that you need to complete.

That said, welcome to the site. Your journey toward diagnosis is very similar to my own...shortness of breath, mummur, EKG (normal), then an echo which revealed the bicuspid valve and stenosis, which turned out to be moderate to severe. I was stunned at the diagnosis because there is no history of heart problems in my family. I had surgery four months later and recovered nicely. Wishing you the same going forward.

 

[Paleowoman]

Hi Geoff - welcome to the forum from another UK member ! I'm just on the outskirts of London and had my aortic valve replaced just over four years ago. I knew I had bicuspid valve back when I was 25 when a doctor heard the murmur of it, so it was many years until I had it replaced when I was 60, though I was still asymtomatic then.

As honeybunny said, make sure you have completed your registration process fully just in case that's the issue with your appearing as Guest instead of libra rising.

 

[LondonAndy]

Welcome from another Brit too, Geoff! I had severe stenosis too, and was frustrated by delays between appointments for months until a "funny turn" that I thought was a heart attack (but thankfully was not) occurred one Sunday afternoon, and I ended up going into my local hospital by ambulance. Everything then just happened, and soon I had a mechanical valve.

I don't know if you have already seen this, but I posted some thoughts for preparations before surgery here if you are interested.

Looking forward to hearing your progress now that things are happening.