chuck barton
Member
I had written a couple of times on the website before I had my AVR but not since, so I thought I would put in a line in case anyone is interested, and perhaps a few precautionary tales. I had a Sorin pericardial aortic valve put in at the Texas Heart Institute in the Woodlands Texas (St Lukes), around the first of November. Dr Mark Mettauer did the operation which went quite well in under 2 hours. Dr. Mettauer talked with my family afterwards and they said he seemed very cheerful about the about the operation, since, despite having been on the planet for 72 years I have no vascular disease or plaque whatsoever (at least that shows on any tests, such as echo or tee). He said he could have shoehorned in the largest size but went for the second largest.
I ran 3 miles the day before the surgery and Dr. Mettauer said I should breeze through it with no problems. I was released from the hospital after 4 days and thankfully returned home to a more comfortable bed. I had enjoyed the morphine for pain for a couple of days, since I had very unusual dreams under the influence, but they switched to Vicodin after a couple of day and the hospital drugs were much less fun. The most pain was really from the hospital beds.
My ability to walk and recover from the surgery seemed to decrease every day. After two week I went back to see the surgeon but only talked to the nurse, who advised that I should man up and walk more despite the difficulty and I would thank her for it later. Since I was making no progress I called my cardiologist and told him I could not recover my breath after even short walks. When I went in to see him he could tell that I had an enormous buildup of fluid so I went directly to the ER at a different hospital closer and with more comfortable beds. After a few days of injecting lassix they had removed most of the fluid. This was, to some extent, my fault as I was told to weigh myself every day but did not do so. I would had noticed 20 or so lbs. Also did not like the characterization as congestive heart failure, since I have always thought of that as more of a vascular problem, on the interior of the heart and arteries rather than external fluid.
At this point a started to try to walk more every day, but every day that I attempted significant exercise, I wound up in the emergency room with a fib or flutter. I was using a wrist monitor so it was very obvious when my resting heart rate went from normal (about 50) to 130 or more. I was trying to get an ablation but the preferred cardiologist had a difficult time scheduling me. I went to the ER 8 or so times for the problem and finally stopped trying to do any significant exercise. The first time in the ER they tried to administer heparin, to which I was allergic and that stay was 10 days. The surgeon that did the valve finally called the cardiologist and I got scheduled the day before Thanksgiving. I usually do the cooking in our house, and we had invited about 12 people for Thanksgiving, so I got everything prepared, and told my wife to just put it in the oven. Fortunately, I was home to cook and to enjoy the holiday with friends.
The ablation seemed to solve most of the problems, so I could start increasing the exercise load. I started 32 sessions of cardiac rehab in Dec. but dropped it, with my cardiologist blessing, after about 10 sessions and started at the regular gym. It was a blessing to be able to test my endurance while being monitored until I gained the confidence to exercise on my own. I am still unable to really run much but I walk 2 miles every other day on a tread (2 miles at 3.5) and do an elliptical after that. Every other day I use weights.
I told my cardiologist at the 2 month checkup for the ablation that I wanted to drop Coreg (beta blocker) because it dropped my resting heart rate to about 40 which made me dizzy from time to time. Now the resting and stress heart rate seems about normal. So overall it was not a bad experience and would have been better if I had followed instructions to weigh myself every day, had a test for HIT before they administered a full dose and pressed to get the ablation sooner.
Best regards to everyone on the site. I really helped me make the choices that I needed to make before surgery.
I ran 3 miles the day before the surgery and Dr. Mettauer said I should breeze through it with no problems. I was released from the hospital after 4 days and thankfully returned home to a more comfortable bed. I had enjoyed the morphine for pain for a couple of days, since I had very unusual dreams under the influence, but they switched to Vicodin after a couple of day and the hospital drugs were much less fun. The most pain was really from the hospital beds.
My ability to walk and recover from the surgery seemed to decrease every day. After two week I went back to see the surgeon but only talked to the nurse, who advised that I should man up and walk more despite the difficulty and I would thank her for it later. Since I was making no progress I called my cardiologist and told him I could not recover my breath after even short walks. When I went in to see him he could tell that I had an enormous buildup of fluid so I went directly to the ER at a different hospital closer and with more comfortable beds. After a few days of injecting lassix they had removed most of the fluid. This was, to some extent, my fault as I was told to weigh myself every day but did not do so. I would had noticed 20 or so lbs. Also did not like the characterization as congestive heart failure, since I have always thought of that as more of a vascular problem, on the interior of the heart and arteries rather than external fluid.
At this point a started to try to walk more every day, but every day that I attempted significant exercise, I wound up in the emergency room with a fib or flutter. I was using a wrist monitor so it was very obvious when my resting heart rate went from normal (about 50) to 130 or more. I was trying to get an ablation but the preferred cardiologist had a difficult time scheduling me. I went to the ER 8 or so times for the problem and finally stopped trying to do any significant exercise. The first time in the ER they tried to administer heparin, to which I was allergic and that stay was 10 days. The surgeon that did the valve finally called the cardiologist and I got scheduled the day before Thanksgiving. I usually do the cooking in our house, and we had invited about 12 people for Thanksgiving, so I got everything prepared, and told my wife to just put it in the oven. Fortunately, I was home to cook and to enjoy the holiday with friends.
The ablation seemed to solve most of the problems, so I could start increasing the exercise load. I started 32 sessions of cardiac rehab in Dec. but dropped it, with my cardiologist blessing, after about 10 sessions and started at the regular gym. It was a blessing to be able to test my endurance while being monitored until I gained the confidence to exercise on my own. I am still unable to really run much but I walk 2 miles every other day on a tread (2 miles at 3.5) and do an elliptical after that. Every other day I use weights.
I told my cardiologist at the 2 month checkup for the ablation that I wanted to drop Coreg (beta blocker) because it dropped my resting heart rate to about 40 which made me dizzy from time to time. Now the resting and stress heart rate seems about normal. So overall it was not a bad experience and would have been better if I had followed instructions to weigh myself every day, had a test for HIT before they administered a full dose and pressed to get the ablation sooner.
Best regards to everyone on the site. I really helped me make the choices that I needed to make before surgery.
