Open Heart Surgery and mortality rates

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maiae said:
Hello Marge77 :)

I can tell you that, in my opinion, nicotine addiction is very individual--some of my friends just threw theirs out without much trouble, yet I continue to smoke after trying everything but voodoo to quit. Unfortunately, nicotine addiction (like many other addictions) can make a rational, educated person look like a complete fool as they continue with their bad habit even though they completely understand the often deadly ramifications of smoking.

Best wishes,
Maia
Click to expand...


Maia - so RIGHT you are. I was a very heavy smoker for 30 years (2+ packs a day). Began waking up in the middle of the night (yes, things DO go bump in the night) and just asking myself - "Self, you are a 48 year old man and you are smoking like a chimney - what in the hell do you think you are doing?" I then set a date for Jan 17 (a Friday as I remember) to quit. Well, the night before, as I was leaving work, I was smoking on the way to the car. For some reason it tasted pretty stale, like a lot of cigarettes do when you are a chain smoker. I ground it out and made up my mind that I would beat my target date by one day. Now .... listen carefully. Quiting was one of the easiest things I ever did. Maybe 2 - 3 days of MILD discomfort, put down by chomping on sliced carrot sticks. I never looked back and honestly within a week I KNEW I would never pick one up again. BTW - that was the very first time I had ever tried to quit. That was 15 years ago.

And also BTW - you are too damn pretty to let the cigarettes start aging you. Give a try - it really IS all in the mind.
DB
 
maiae said:
Hello Marge77 :)

I can tell you that I've been a smoker for 32 years. Maia
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You've been smoking since you were 10 years old? :confused: How did you get your cigarettes?
 
Re:

Re:

Der Biermeister said:
Maia - so RIGHT you are. I was a very heavy smoker for 30 years (2+ packs a day). Began waking up in the middle of the night (yes, things DO go bump in the night) and just asking myself - "Self, you are a 48 year old man and you are smoking like a chimney - what in the hell do you think you are doing?" I then set a date for Jan 17 (a Friday as I remember) to quit. Well, the night before, as I was leaving work, I was smoking on the way to the car. For some reason it tasted pretty stale, like a lot of cigarettes do when you are a chain smoker. I ground it out and made up my mind that I would beat my target date by one day. Now .... listen carefully. Quiting was one of the easiest things I ever did. Maybe 2 - 3 days of MILD discomfort, put down by chomping on sliced carrot sticks. I never looked back and honestly within a week I KNEW I would never pick one up again. BTW - that was the very first time I had ever tried to quit. That was 15 years ago.

And also BTW - you are too damn pretty to let the cigarettes start aging you. Give a try - it really IS all in the mind.
DB
Click to expand...

Thank you for the encouraging words--and the lovely compliment. :)

Ross-- I used to run around with my babysitter when I was 10--she taught me how to smoke...I grew up in a very small town and always hung around with older kids, so getting cigs were no problem. I think back to my behavior as a child and compare it to my children ... wow, what a difference! I can't imagine my children every smoking; much less at 10. On the bright side, my delinquent behavior as a child has made me aware.. much more vigilant about cigarettes and drugs where my children are concerned... they will have a tough time getting anything by this old girl. :)
 
I wondered, thinking back, I think I was around 12 or 13. I never really got into smoking big time until I was 15. Now I kick myself in the tail end everyday for it!
 
It was a different ballgame back then.

It was a different ballgame back then.

Ross said:
You've been smoking since you were 10 years old? :confused: How did you get your cigarettes?
Click to expand...


Most kids had no problem buying back then, my parents used to give me money and I had to pedal my bike in to town to get them a carten. They also
were everywhere in vending machine. It is hard to beleive what is was like
thirty years ago as far as smoking when you compare it to the attitude today!
IT IS A GOOD THING!
 
thanks for the advice!

thanks for the advice!

i appreciate the generous replies, they are v. helpful - what a terrific site.
 
Good morning!

Good morning!

I've had three mitral valve replacements so far and well, here I am again waiting for my fourth. Tomorrow I'm going to the cardio to see how the old valve's doing and as usual, I always get a bit nervous before getting an echo done. Please, keep you in your prayers tomorrow!
Débora
 
That's nice!

That's nice!

Thanks for your reply. I see your are from Australia!?? It's about 10:00pm there now, isn't it? I have a VR friend in Auckland/NZ and I'm going to visit her next year. That's one of the reasons why I'm quite aprehensive about this echo tomorrow! I'm from Brazil which's 15 hours behind NZ, but Wendy and I chat every day without fail and today I was up at 4:00pm for a chat!!LOL!!
Débora
 
Sunday morning!LOL!!

Sunday morning!LOL!!

When people think of Brazil, the first thing that comes to their head is our famous "football, carnival and Rio de Janeiro"!!LOL!! I live in the south of Brazil, about 6 hours drive from the fifth largest city in the world, I think, and it's called S%Eão Paulo. Here the weather is quite changeable and it can get very cold. Many people think we speak Spanish, but Brazil's the only country in South America where Portuguese is spoken since we used to belong to Portugal. I see Australia a lot on Animal Planet and I think it must be a great place! My husband's from Scotland and we were pen friends before we actually met in person. But that was over 20 years ago when we didn't even dream that one day we would be able to use the internet like we do now. . It's just after 8:00am here now and our Sunday's just starting!!LOL!! Take care!
Débora
 
Cleveland Clinic Stats

Cleveland Clinic Stats

Thanks so much for posting the link to the cleveland clinic about OHS stats including mortality.

Valve replacement is mostly minimally invasive and mostly tissue valves.

Things are getting better all the time. Isn't progress great?



QUOTE=barbwil]http://www.clevelandclinic.org/hear...e1.asp?firstCat=59&secondCat=440&thirdCat=443

There are three pages of data here for the CCF surgical (valve) rates for the year 2004.

Being a 74 yr old female I was very hesitant about undergoing mitral valve and the Maze procedure, especially after reading on the American College of Cardiologists' site that people over 75 did not do well with this surgery.
However my cardiologist and the surgeon to whom I was referred at the Cleveland Clinic assured me that I should do well and indeed I did. I am 22 days post-op and doing very well.

I think the thing is to chose the best surgeon and hospital and thereby increasing your chances for a successful outcome.

Barb[/QUOTE]
 
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