pre-op anxiety

[Granbonny]

Hi C

Hi C

Got a first name?..I am one of those people who do not remember anything from telling my son not to worry and waking up the next afternoon in a private room..No tubes, No pain....Just a beautiful smile from my daughter..I had my surgery at St. Joseph's in Atlanta. 5 star nursing staff. They keep you on the good stuff.. Until all tubes are pulled.....A lot will depend on where you plan to go for your surgery..If you know, there are probably people on VR.com who can tell you what type treatment you will receive....Bonnie

 

[ccrawford]

Hi Granbonnie - My first name is Chris and I'm a retired executive with 4 grown children, a loving and patient wife, Phyllis, 3 grandchildren, and 3 female bird dogs, and I love um all. I've apparently stirred up a lot of text messaging with all my anxieties about surgery that may or may not come down the pike for some time. All this stuff is new to me and I have already learned a bunch from you guys which I appreciate so much I can't describe it. I'm proud to say that I'm not near as worried about doing a TEE nor the prospects of the ventilator tube stuck down my throat thanks to you guys, and some others. I still have a lot of reading to do on the forum to get up to where most of you guys are, but be assured, I plan to do it. I've gotta do it piece by piece though, because this stuff sends my systolic soaring. There is a good chance I may not need surgery for some time, but being the control freak that I am, I feel an overt need to be prepared. Yes, I'm a former boy scout. I went thru quite a scare with a thrown blood clot and several bouts of temporary blindness, then a whole host of diagnostic procedures, and a subsequent consumption of every pill known to mankind. At this point, I'm pretty reflective, thankful to be alive and know what problems I'm facing, and sure as hell thankful for this forum and all you wonderful people who have been absolutely great. I've really been overwhelmed by the caring here and already know I owe a lot of dues which I will try to pay in the future. I'm pretty good at funny lymricks (sp) so will try to keep you entertained from time to time.Hope to get to know each of you better and have already started with a few. Can't thank you enough. Chris

 

[Ross]

Oh Oh, now you did it. You responded to my therapist and this can be extremely dangerous to anyone!

 

[ccrawford]

Sorry Ross - Didn't know I was messin with the sheriff's girl. Chris

 

[Granbonny]

Chris

Chris

As a matter of truth..the Sheriff's Mother..and a small Southern town at that..Beware Bonnie

 

[Andrea]

Surgery for me March 10th

Surgery for me March 10th

I know how you are feeling. I am 31 and have severe Mytral Valve Regurge. I just found out yesterday that my surgery is on March 10th!!! My Mom used to be a charge nurse on SICU (which is where post op hearts go) so that helps ease my mind. But holy moley I have to admit I am super scared! I am happy to know that it will be over soon but I have a baby who just turned one and and three year old. I will miss holding them everyday like I do now. The biggest fear I have in all of this is also the waking up on the vent. My Mom told me that you have to meet certain permameters before they will pull it. If you freak out, they wont pull it. You must maintain steady breathing and calmness. They will then draw a arterial blood sample to determine if you are ready. So just try to remember when you wake up to take slow steady calm breaths and you will be off sooner. I have a feeling that once we have had the surgery that it wont seem as bad as it does now. I also am not looking foward to coumadin but so be it. Good luck to you. And please anyone who has any words of encouragement for me too, please let me know. Surgery is in four weeks! YIKES!
Andrea [email protected]

 

[Ross]

Andrea take some long deep breaths and relax. It's not as bad as it may seem. Read all the threads and some personal stories and you'll soon see what I mean.

Another thing, what doesn't get done before surgery, will get done eventually. Don't stress over that stuff. It's not worth it!

 

[ccrawford]

Andrea - I'm sure not an expert on all of this, but maybe this will help. Coumadin isn't such a bad deal. I've been using it for two months since I threw a clot, and have had no problems. I've had a few more nosebleeds since the inside air is dry, but I just bought a humidifier and that seems to help. A few more bruises, and I'm more careful than I was, but consider the alternative. Please let your surgeon know you are anxious, and see if you can meet your RN who will be there for you so you'll have the best idea as to what to expect, and you'll know who is squeezing your hand. If you think about it, we'll all be squeezing your hand, and wishing you the very best. You'll do fine, just spend a little more time identifying your anxieties, get the information you need, and then relax and look forward to getting better. Chris

 

[pegne]

Chris & Andrea

Chris & Andrea

I agree with Ross, it's not as bad as you would think. I have personally had 4 heart surgeries and I can honestly say that I DO NOT remember the breathing tube in any of them. My family said that at several times I tried to fight it but it is not something I remember. You will be so far in lahlah land you won't remember anything anyway. If you wake up while it's still in it won't be long before you go back to sleep. I wish you both the best. Peggy

 

[terry40]

ccrawford

ccrawford

I'd worry about anyone who "wasn't" scared about going into this type of surgery.

This does not make you a "Wuss"

You are in very sympathetic company here, 'cause we all have our sad stories to tell.

In hind site, even though I hated the "tubes" that was not the worst thing.
I keep saying I will do everything right now so I will never have to go through that surgery again.

Keep us update, and welcome to a wonderful, informative, group

Terry40

 

[Granbonny]

Terry

Terry

You are such a good cheerleader. How about a face instead of the snowman?..Bonnie

 

[ccrawford]

Terry, thanks for the insight. You say the tube wasn't the worst-----hmmm. Remind me to ask you in a week or so what you thought was the worst. I really don't want to know right now, as I'm still chewing on getting Tubes and TEE's down to a managable level. I do feel better about those, but not ready to tackle another hangup quite yet. By the way, I had an interesting insight today. I drove to town for my PT test, and did some other errands while there. Went to lunch at Micky D's and splurged a little. On the way home, I thought to myself, boy aren't I a badass, I had a forbidden cheeseburger. If I would have ordered a shake, the shierff prabably would have picked me up for disorderly conduct.This is pretty mild behavior for a guy who typically doesn't like to be on a short leash. How things can change !!Tomorrow, I may take my pills at 8:30 rather than 8:00, just to be rebellious. Have a nice night.

 

[wlaldridge]

I think you are going through the WORST right now. It is the waiting, and the unknown that are far worse than most of the physical stuff. And as I said before, I was a BIG wuss/wimp.

You will be fine, take the word of all that have been there.

 

[terry40]

ccrawford

ccrawford

They recommended that I go out and get myself a thick juicy steak and eat it of course, before surgery, that was after the Cath and the pictures of my beautiful wide open coronary arteries.

You will do fine!

Granbonny
My daughter and I are working on getting a picture up, but the snowman fit my winter, and how cold I feel on the coumadin.

Terry40

 

[Ross]

My daughter and I are working on getting a picture up, but the snowman fit my winter, and how cold I feel on the coumadin.

Bah excuses, excuses. Get to it.

I stood outside in a thunderstorm making steak the day before surgery, so I can relate to eating steak very well.

 

[ccrawford]

I browsed around a little today, trying to find out where else I need to get educated, and what other fears I need to conquer via the learning process. Happened upon the replacement valve option website complete with discussion of mortality and complications. Whoa big fella !!!!!! Not ready for that one yet. If I spend much time at that site I better have my Altace and Toprol handy. Anybody got other topics they were really fearful about that they think would be worth discussing ??

 

[wlaldridge]

Chris!!

You sound like you want to "worry about worring". I was really fearful about monsters living under my bed and neeldles, but why would you want to know more things to worry about.

As my granny used to say "Don't borrow trouble" Let's talk about what really worries or concerns you but don't get us to bring things to the table that you haven't thought about as being fearful. You could drive yourself nuts looking for things to worry about. I know the unknow is unnerving but rest assured that all of this will seem like a bad dream once you have gone through it. Try to relax and read many of the pre and post op threads. I believe I was as much a nervous nelly worrier before as anyone but those threads and the many replies did much to calm me down.

 

[Granbonny]

Chris

Chris

Ask Bill Aldridge aka as Billy Bob to me as he left Yankee land and came south.. Who was his Biggest Cheerleader Pre- surgery..Was he a Wuss or what..But little old me kept telling him..put all your worries in a box..close it up and just go for it..Now he is the biggest Cheerleader on line..Trying to take my job away from me. Bonnie

 

[Andrea]

WOW ... maybe I'm not the biggest worrier afterall.

Have Ativan, will share

I have 31 days till surgery and everyday I am actually calming down a bit. Who needs to think about the negative possiblities anyways? Its 2003! This shouldn't be too bad

Think I'll go recliner shopping with my tax return ... WOOHOO!

 

[ccrawford]

Tough nut to crack

Tough nut to crack

Bill - Your observation was good, and also accurate. To be precise, I'm a control freak. What is that ? Somebody who likes predictability and reliability. How do you upset a control freak ? Tell him you're gonna get him a surprise for his birthday. How do you really upset him ? Give him a failing heart valve and all the potential surprises that go along with it. Just learned that an infection is causing my BP to zoom and the infection as well as the antibiotics will also cause INR to zoom. My reaction ? "Where's the owners manual for Coumadin ?" What do you tell a control freak ? Whatever you want, but he probably won't listen. Maybe I'll borrow Ross's therapist. Chris