Waiting for surgery

[LivinMyLife]

First of all, I just want to say thanks to everyone! I am so glad that I found this forum. It has been a great way to calm some of my fears regarding my upcoming OHS.

I was first diagnosed with MVR in 1998. It has consistantly gotten worse over time. I never had any symptoms until about six months ago when I began experiencing shortness of breath, chest pain/pressure, light headedness and extreme fatigue. I went through a comedy of errors in diagnosis, through which I kept pushing for testing of my valve. Finally the OK Heart Hospital did a days worth of testing and I am currently scheduled to have surgery on March 13th. Dr. Mark Bodenhamer will be trying to repair the ring around my Mitral valve, but if he is not able to, he will replace the entire valve with a mechanical valve.

It's funny how relieved and nervous you can be at the same time! I'm so relieved to be finally getting something done about this and concerned about my chest being opened. The 13th seems too far away and yet I feel like I have so much to do beforehand. Life is good and at least I'm headed in the right direction.

 

[Mentu]

Welcome to VR. Like most everyone else, I know how it feels to suddenly discover there is a whole community of people who have/are experiencing the same concerns. I live in Tulsa and had surgery at Oklahoma Heart Institute so in the grand scheme of things we are neighbors. If I or any of the rest of us can be of help, let us know.

I think most would agree that the anxiety level rises when the day comes we are referred to a surgeon. That is very normal but it will get better. A lot of what we thought we knew about heart surgery turned out to be outdated. Today, this type of surgery has little risk for most of us. Surgery itself is just an empty memory then you are in recovery and on the road back to health. It almost always is less troublesome than we imagine.

Larry
Tulsa, OK

 

[SB42]

The anxiety and fear will not go away, but that is okay....find your release resource...BUT maintain positive attitude, have fun and joke about it knowing that you will be fixed and onto bigger and better things! I found the more research that I did, the more relaxed I became...Praying for you!

Scott

 

[LivinMyLife]

Thanks

Thanks

Thanks, for the positive words. I seems that the more I research the calmer I become also. I'm definiteley not looking forward to it but I am going through with it! My surgery date is actually on March 13th, my fingers are dyslexic today.

 

[Jkm7]

Welcome. Happy you found us but sorry for the reason.
Many of here agree the wait is about the worst part of this whole OHS experience.
For us patients, of course, it seems such a huge surgery and without question it is serious but for the surgeons and their teams, the nurses, techs etc, it's another day at the office and that is just how we want it. It is a remarkably successful surgery and you have reason to think you'll do just fine.

Imagine what they do and yet take such good care of us that a huge percentage are back home by day five post op if not before. It's almost shocking to think how advanced this surgery has become that we are well enough to be up, walking, and pretty much taking care of ourselves in under a week. That certainly is not to say that full recovery doesn't take much longer but I was showering, blowing my hair dry, sleeping in our bed, making myself light lunches, serving dinners from first day home after both my OHS.

Any questions...... ask away.
Hopefully someone will be able to help.

 

[Boston Tiger]

Welcome to the OHS club! Oh, do I recognize the symptoms you described. But, know what, in just a few months you are going to be walking around and the realization will hit you that they are gone for good. And the smile that will pop onto your face will make the lead-in to the surgery and the recovery well worth it!

 

[karla]

Hi, everyone,
I, too, am in the waiting room...meeting my surgeon tomorrow. A week and a half ago my cath results showed it was time to get rid of the old BAV. Good riddance to bad rubbish! I found this site later that day when I started to do a little research about what was coming. It is so comforting to hear from folks who are on the other side...thanks to everyone who take the time to help the rest of us get through the tough times. I hope in a while I can offer encouragement to other newbies - but in the meantime, I am soaking up everything here. So far, I am not terribly nervous...this has become such a routine procedure.....and when you consider the alternative it puts things in perspective pretty quickly. But maybe that's just denial on my part.....

 

[Ovie]

Welcome living.

I was referred to this site, and wow is all I have to say, wonderful community and very informative on issues you may address or have the links to things you should know. I knew in 08 I had a heart murmur, they said watch it over the years, being 22 at the time it made me nervous, but was also told I wouldn't need surgery for many years. Last summer I too started having same issues as yourself, things just weren't right. Saw my cardiologist, he said a minor surgery was in order, went to another cardiologist, he said a more serious operation was in order. Found out in November I needed an AVR, met with surgeon start of December, made the date and now here I am 25, almost 26 and exactly 1 week from my surgery. Time goes slow, but also creeps up on you quickly, if that makes sense? For me it's been a rollarcoaster ride of emotions, I still think I'm in denial about the whole thing, but come the 23 I'm sure that'll change.

Good to have a date set and hopefully when it's over you'll feel much better. Don't feel shy on asking any question, the more knowledge the better the feeling.

Ovie.

 

[LivinMyLife]

Thanks for the encouragement Boston Tiger! I will look forward to that!

I'll be praying for you on the 23rd, Ovie, expecting the best outcome. I totally understand the denial thing! I find myself swinging from denial to certainty and back again! I woke up this morning feeling good and thinking maybe I won't have to have this done and a few minutes later I'm breathless walking down the hall and realizing I do have to have this done. At least it's never boring! LOL I'm looking forward to the "other side" scars and all!

 

[Sarah_Louise]

Welcome to the boards!!
Hope everything goes well for you on the 13th March, will be thinking of you
Love Sarah xxx

 

[Ovie]

Absolutely living, with such a precedure not only do you get your health back but you get an awesome, and rewarding scar as you said! Thank you for your thoughts.

 

[dcc617]

I can't believe that my surgery was 8 days ago. A week ago today I was moved out of ICU and into the Tele unit. As EVERYONE says, the waiting is the worst part. The worst part of the entire stay? Answer - my roommate who made and received phone calls after midnight, had drunk visitors after visiting hours and then blaming the staff for everything. His cardilogist basically lied to him and blamed it on the staff. We know this because the decision was made late on Sunday to give him a pacemaker and then promised him that surgery would happen first thing on Monday - the busiest day in the OR. The surgeon delicately and very professionally told him that there was no way to guarantee being on Monday's schedule when the scheduler wasn't even in the 'house' on Sunday. (it was a painful day and I felt awful for the staff) Anyway - I digress.

Do you know if you're having a mini-sternotomy?

 

[Ovie]

Dcc, knew you were pushed back, but didn't know you had your surgery yet. Hope things are going smoothe for you!

 

[dcc617]

Thanks Ovie. Everything went incredibly great. Today marks one week home. I'm continuing to cough a bit (which....let's be honest.....is no walk in the park) but I have pillow in hand and just go for it. I'm using non-narcotic pain killers but have some handy for those heavier days. We sent to the grocery store twice last week. The schedule they gave me had 'out' trips scheduled for this week. I know what you're going to say - I was a bad willtle boy. Those short trips (3 aisles max) really kicked my butt. I'm noticing that when I crash - I really crash. But I'm lucky that my partner is an Emergency Room nurse and is taking great care of me. Plus, many of our ER Nurse friends have volunteered for babysitting duty if needed.

I see my cardiologist on Wed and will have more news then.

I said it before and I'll say it again - I can't believe how much easier this whole thing was from what I expected.

 

[LivinMyLife]

I'm not sure about the mini-sternotomy yet. I meet with my doctor on Friday and should have more answers then. Currently I am talking to them about the sternal talons, but I haven't heard anything back yet. After your hospital story, I definitely think I will be bringing earplugs and my mp3 player to the hospital! LOL

I spoke to Dr. Bodenhamer's office yesterday and they are checking on the Talons for me. They also told me that I will have a full sternotomy (that was a little scary). I full faith that everything will go well. Dr Bodenhamer hasn't used the Talons before and usually uses a cabel lock system. Has anyone else had that done?