Travel for surgery questions

[leecrowley]

Hello everyone,

Thank you all for the wonderful responses. I knew you'd all be a wealth of information.

Luckily, my wife's parents live here in Tulsa, so we'll have a lot of support with the baby and my surgery. Also, my parents are retired in Gulf Shores, AL, and have offered to come to stay with us and help out as long as they are needed. It will be a very trying time for my wife, but hopefully the help from both our parents will make it a little easier on her.

I made an appointment to see Dr. Ryan at Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas for the end of this month. Knowing that he'll take me as a patient makes me feel a lot better about the surgery. I know there are always risks involved with such a major surgery, but I feel more confident in going forward.

Thank you to everyone again.

Lee

 

[mmarshall]

i know that there are a million things running through your head but don't worry....the pre-surgery stress is the worst thing about ohs. i know most people that have gone through this surgery has nothing but great things to say about their surgeon but dr. ryan is by far one of the best and lives up to his reputation. he is a great surgeon and is really easy to talk to. it will be a year since i had my ohs at the end of this month so if you have any questions about what to expect, let me know. if you are thinking about a ross procedure he is the man to see. the plan for me was to have the ross done and he recommended that as a backup we do the latest tissue valve. i ended up with a tissue valve since the size of my heart was too enlarged at the time but everyone is different. i'm glad of the outcome i had and was also pleased that he did not try to force the ross procedure. i had one of my cardio's assistant recommend dr. ryan and then i had a couple of members here recommend him also....chilihead(jim) and arossguy(doug). they were both able to get the ross procedure done and had a great experience too. i saw 3 different surgeons before i made my decision and dr. ryan was the best one to explain everything in terms that made since to me and did not come off as arrogant. i had so many questions before surgery that he even called me on the friday before my surgery around 7 that evening to talk to me. i actually will be seeing him around the same time as you for my yearly follow up so keep me updated on your situation...and tell dr. ryan i said hi...tell him i'm the one that has the m&m tattoo on the chest...i don't think anyone in the operating room forgot about that one...good times...lol

 

[tommy]

Lee,

Dr Ryan is in the same group as my Dr Mack. At least one VR.com member had a ross procedure by Dr Ryan at Presby Dallas. Great choice IMO.

 

[greg]

Lee,
Hers is some of my expierience.
I live on the north border of Az. and the closest place was in Phoenix (300 or so miles) . My cardio doc lives in Flagstaff but they didn't do vlv replacements there. I had to go further south.
I scheduled my first meeting with Dr Hessel for the Monday following my cardiac cathiterization (sp?). He seemed like a nice guy and compitent and confident and kind of put me at ease. After agreeing he was the Doc I wanted and what valve I wanted and stuff like that, he said "the only other question is when". I said " as soon as possible I guess", thinking several weeks away.
He said he had just been studying my cardio cath and "how does 7:00 am in the morning sound". Several big breaths later I said "OK, I guess". My wife and I hadn't even brought a tooth brush..... We were not staying the night. We changed plans, went to Wally World for a change of cloths, tooth brushes, anti-bactierial soap, delco-lax and jammies.
She stayed in a motel room close to St Lukes with her sister that came over from Vegas for the week. Other family drove in as available but didn't stay as long.
Sunday, about noon, I was released and with the help of pain killers and 3 stops to move around we drove home that afternoon.
Best thing in the world, for me, was to not have much thinking time. I was already going of the deep end.
It all worked perfect for me.
I'm sure it will for you also.
Get a doc you trust and get it done before too much damage is done.
Good luck and God bless.
greg

 

[Natanni]

We drove from Northern MN to Southern MN for Nathan's surgery at the Mayo in Rochester. It was about a 4.5 hour drive by car, and we had made this trip many times as he had endocarditis and there were about 3 trips to and fro prior to surgery. On the ride home post op-- Pillows and more pillows. Pick up some of your favorite snacks/beverages that you can have available as there are very few things you will feel like eating on the road. Frequent stops are a must for post operative heart pts, with little walks. We have a larger duragno, and Nathan took up the entire back seat. No position was very comfortable. Time your meds right. Nathan took his pain med about 20 minutes prior to when we THOUGHT we would be discharged, but the entire process took 2 hours longer. I think I remember posting here at VR.COM pre surgery, wondering if Nathan HAD to sit in the back...well there is no way he would have tolerated the front seat well. We also ran into multiple rain storms which was not alot of fun either. Funny thing is, I had a far easier time getting him into the house 4 days post open heart surgery than I did getting him into the house 8 hours post cardiac cath that went bad. Go figure!