Best wishes for a speedy recovery. The magnitude of this procedure is much higher than a coronary artery bypass so don't downplay it. A valve job is a big hit since the actual heart muscle is cut open and the conducting system can be damaged during the valve replacement. I don't miss handling those cases.
So 7 weeks later. I am not gonna lie. It sucked. You will never look at pain the same way again. I had 4 surgeries in 2 weeks. They fixed my valve thank God instead of a mechanical one. I had a "maze" at the same time. I had a external pacemaker for a couple of days and then back into OR for the internal one. 10 days later I am not feeling well. I go to the my primary and he says don't see much wrong but lets get a chest x-ray. Next day I come back feeling worse and he turns white and asked " what are you doing here? we left a message for you to go to the ER and the way I feel I agree. My blood pressure was less than 90 and I was blacking out. Ambulance ride and the "hey your gonna be alright just relax'. My surgeon meets the ambulance. Turns out my blood thinner was way off and my heart was bleeding and had filled up the sack surrounding it. 3 units of plasma and back to the OR. They all said "Hi Tom" when the wheeled me in. They opened me part way back up and pulled out three coffee cups worth of blood.
Long story short I feel better now than I have in 20 years. I can dive again in 6 months. Do anything I want.
I had the best care possible. My hospital is rated top 50 in the nation for cardiac. I had the best surgeon around. In ICU I had my own nurse that sat at the foot of my bed. (after all, this is the heart attack capital of America)
Wow! Glad you made it through the storm! That sounds like quite a bumpy ride, but good for you now that you're feeling better. Take it easy, and get better, God Bless!
The power of prayer! I bet everything looks a little better, tastes a little better, smells a little better, sky is a little bluer etc...... Glad to hear you're feeling good.....
