Waiting for surgery

[JH51]

I'm currently on a waiting list for surgery ( valve and bypass). I've been in the 'moderate' range for a few years, but was slightly shocked to be told by the surgeon at my consultation last month that my stenosis was severe, & without intervention, my life expectancy would be 1-2 years. Still reeling from this news to be honest, as my only real symptoms are tiredness and occasional bouts of lightheartedness.

My operation will happen in the next two months, so everything is in place, but my question for the community is this: should I be concerned about increasing symptoms; will they get worse/ more frequent over the next few weeks, & are they caused by the stenosis or the artery disease? I will admit to be a bit worried-l'm 73,& otherwise reasonably well.

I’m also hyper alert to the slightest hint of any pain or twinges in and around my chest,& panic can set in when these happen in those dark hours around 4am when I wake. So far, I can convince myself that these are muscle related, especially when paracetamol and or ibuprofen do help.

I’m not sure what any pain from the stenosis or diseased arteries should feel like , as any I’m feeling comes and goes,& is mild..



I’ll be glad when I get the call: I’ve never thought of myself as anxious, but I guess this is the biggest challenge I’ve had to deal with, so who knows?

Thanks in advance for any and all help or comments

John

 

[dornole]

Hi there, my mitral stenosis got severe this year after 22 years moderate (post repair) and I had mitral valve replacement, tricuspid repair, maze procedure, left atrial appendage ligation on 10/16. Then a pacemaker a few days later.

In many years of stenosis I never had any pain. Even when the stenosis was very severe (pre repair in 2002) I had severe dry cough when lying down and coughing up blood, shortness of breath (had to rest twice to go upstairs) but NO chest pain. This time in the run up to surgery I only had subtle fatigue UNLESS I was having an afib with RVR episode then the fatigue and shortness of breath made it tough to even walk a few feet to go to the mailbox.

It doesn’t seem like it’s common for people to have a rapid crash like you are fearing while waiting a couple months for valve surgery. My team had me start practicing breathing exercises and various relaxation techniques several weeks prior to surgery. This was a good idea because when I needed to do them post surgery in the hospital I already had that toolkit and experience. Maybe that’s an idea that could help you.

Remember they are seeking to operate at the right time so you DON’T get debilitating symptoms. Chances are pretty good that you'll just roll along pretty much how you are till your surgery date. If things get alarming they’ll move you up.

Hang in there

 

[dornole]

Just re read and see you’re waiting for scheduling call - that was tough for me also. But I was told by both my surgeon and a second opinion “if you weren’t having these afib episodes and that TIA we would be fine waiting 6-9 months to schedule with severe stenosis.” So to them the date 6 weeks after the decision to proceed to surgery WAS expedited. Even though I was very much “cut me now!!”