What to do; broken ribs and need Mitrial valve

[hpuehler]

Spa Day, Good for you!

Spa Day, Good for you!

Micheal,

Yea for you for thinking enough of yourself to have a spa day. I once bought my husband a massage for sweetest day, it took him two months to use it and tried to get me to go instead. He came home and said, "Honey, I love you and I will never offer you my massage again!" He loved it! Grannybon is right about the intenet, mental acuity is not on the top of the list of skills post OHS. My husband was fearful about my forgetfullness. He said I repeated myself 2 and 3 times in the same conversations. It is just starting to get better. For the first 2 weeks, I could not manage my own meds and I'm an RN. Make sure you write down any meds you take with the day and time so you don't mess up the dosage.

I will add you to my prayer list, you will do fine. Like you said God is not done with you yet. If you can get ahold of a copy, "NINETY MINUTES IN HEAVEN" is and inspiring and awesome good book. It's an easy read too.

God bless,
Heather
AVR St. Jude's mechanical on Jan 4, 2006

 

[Michaelka]

Thursday, and Monday is surgery

Thursday, and Monday is surgery

I get to meet the surgeon and anesthesiologist today. My surgery is Monday the 6th, right after the Seahawks win the superbowl!!!

THANK YOU All of you who have responded on this forum. I am going to try to get someone to fill in my progress on this forum when I am in the hospital.

The ideas I have gotten and the lists that I have received and copied from this forum are AWSOME! Thank you all.

I have some questions for the surgeon today about exactly what they are going to do about my ribs. I did bring my Xrays just in case. My name is on them with "Property of xxxxxx" all over them so I hope I get them back.

 

[Praline]

Opposite problem here

Opposite problem here

You say that you have a high tolerance for meds. I have just the opposite. I have such a low tolerance for any kind of meds that it is dangerous.
Twenty-three years ago when I donated a kidney to my brpther, they gave me morphine for pain and my blood pressure hit rock bottom.They thought it was an allergic reaction but it was not. When they cut the dosage way down, I was fine. It was just too much for ME.
Just came home from the hospital after having Mitral Valve repair, one bypass, and Maze procedure. I had a setback in the hospital. I had what they call a vetricular standstill. One of my ventricals stopped "firing "for 4-5 beats. They think it was a reaction to some meds they gave me.
On the other hand, it takes not much to knock me out or kill my pains.
Good luck with your surgery.

 

[twinmaker]

Michael, I'll be thinking of you on Monday. I know everything will go well. My husband and I were stationed at Ft. Lewis back in 1974-1976. We loved the area. Lots of memories for us there. In fact, that's where I was first diagnosed with mitral stenosis (by Army doctors). They were great! My first OHS was at Letterman Army Medical Center in San Francisco. The Army flew us down there from Ft. Lewis. Sorry, I didn't mean to run on...but you do live in one of the most beautiful areas of the country! You'll be in my prayers. We hope you'll have someone post for you to keep us up on how you are progressing. We'll talk with you on the other side of the mountain! Best wishes, LINDA P.S. Enjoy your day at the spa!

 

[Karlynn]

You will be in my thoughts and prayers.

 

[Michaelka]

Hand over to my good friend Al

Hand over to my good friend Al

My good friend (since 1980 believe it or not) Al F. will be filling in my forum entries from Monday to the time that I am able to type coherently again. (Thank you Al). I requested that he be as forthcoming as I am, up to the point of saying anything that would embarass me later.

The Spa day was great. I recommend it to anyone who is going through this stress. Guy or Gal! You deserve it. If not now, when? (When you recover?) Forget that! You need to do something to move from distress to de-stress as soon as possible.

I did request some tranqualizers. I told the doctor that I would not ask if I was not really getting some significant issues. He agreed. They are helping some. (Some is all I need, I need to be coherent to complete the rest of the items on my checklists)

The Surgeon had quite a few interresting things to say. First about my ribs, he whistled and said I was lucky to be alive. (I had enough forseight to bring in my own x-rays and Cat Scans from previous exams) I made sure to get them back also! as my left side is crushed by 15%, and a photo of the car crash dropped out of the envelope when I was showing him the xrays, he was quite impressed that I was still moving around. The Xrays did show that a Sternacotomy (cutting through the Sternum) would be the way to go.
He will perform the full Cox-Maize proceedure where I have an approximately 80% chance of not having A-Fib anymore and eventually getting off of coumadin (YAY!)
The heart takes first priority as I have appartly moved into moderative congestive heart failure. I told him that I had noted what seemed to be a URI issue with my sinuses always draining and constant coughing up of phlegm. He said, yep that is not an alergy, it is a good sign of Congestive heart failure. We both watched the Angio tapes and I could certainly see the backflow of dye back into the Atrium. (Enlarged also).
In fact if I did not have my T-Bone Crash one year ago, and did not hurt my ribs 3 months ago, to get an echo and further tests, I could easily have gone into major congestive heart failure within another year. My heart is crashing if the valve is not repaired now.

So, as strange as it seems, almost being killed by the T-Bone accident and breaking 13 ribs, could have been indirectly for saving my life today. You just never know do you.

I had a good talk with the anesthesiologist who I made a few requests. One, that a soft wedge be placed under my rib section on my left side if it does not affect the surgery as I will be in extreme pain if I am forced to lay on my ribs for an extended period. (At home I use 2 body pillows) to soften the bed. Those are fantastic. I also use Lidoderm patches on my ribs before I go to bed. (Topical Lidocaine). Between those, an oxycontin and an ocassional temazapam, I can often get 6-8 hours of sleep. Yes even now a year after the wreck.

I also told the anesthesiologist about my resistance to meds such as "versed" and the doses that are routinely given during an angiogram. I told him that they do NOTHING. I am fully awake. I also mentioned that I believe that I think most anesthesiologists believe that "I will never remember it anyway as I have versed on board". The anesthesiologist said that because of the combination of meds that I am currently on, this can happen, and he will work with the dosages more carefuly than anyone has before. Naturally I have to trust him, but I will let you know after the surgery in a few weeks.
I also asked about my questions about memory loss. He did say that memory loss was comon the first week, but after 6 months I should not have any congnitive impairment. That helps.

Naturally everyone repeatadly told me the stats of complications/strokes/death. I know them and I really have little choice but to accept them. I have my living will, and other documents filled out so that side of things is taken care of.

I will write more Saturday (Or Friday night) as this forum helps me to vent. I hope no one minds!

 

[Mary]

Please keep posting while you wait. Having support from others is very helpful during this time.

I did not suffer from memory loss after surgery. Mine actually improved. I hope you find yourself in the same situation.

It's good that you had the frank talk with the anesthesiologist. I bet it helps.
Finally, it's great that you've got someone to post for you. We look forward to hearing updates from Al.
Mary

 

[Michaelka]

Moving on to Post Surgery

Moving on to Post Surgery

My link will move to Post surgery and my friend Al F. will be dropping information about my progress until I am able. So go to the link below for further details:

http://valvereplacement.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14686:D