Ilana's Journal

Hi there! Still in Cleveland... Didn\'t get to got home bc of some fluid on my lungs. Will not need to drain it, just more lasix! I pee like a newborn baby... Lol! The pain got me bad once I left the ICU, but is better now. ICU was great! Then it got a little hardcore but I made it. My veins are famous now since people could not find them! They had to request a special team! Wow! The dude is a rockstar and got me a new iv line - after I had a whole unit of blood through a bad painful iv that didn\'t work! My arms are a mess... Going to work on my breathing.... And pee pee! Lol! More later!

Ilana had her surgery today. The good news is that Dr. Mihaljevic was able to do a repair. He believes that it was a success. We feel very fortunate since going in we were told that there was a 75% chance of a repair and a 25% chance that he would do a replacement. At present, she is in the excellerated ICU. She had a lot of pain. She told me it was an 8 on a 10 point scale. However, they switched her medication and it is down to a 2. Here is a run down of her day. 3:30AM: she had to take her antibacterial shower. 5:15AM she was admitted into the hospital 6:00AM she was in the pre-op 7:15AM she was sent to the anesthesiology prep area 9:09AM they made their first incision 10:08AM they were doing the major part of the work on the heart 2PM they removed the breathing tube 2:10PM her family was allowed to visit her in the ICU. I just left Ilana at the ICU at 5PM. The attending physician said she is way ahead of schedule and she is on one of her quickest recoveries that she has ever seen. I am really proud of Ilana\'s fighting spirit. She hates needles and this is her first surgery and she is doing great. I hope her progress continues. Ilana wants to thank all of her well wishers for all of your support and all of your heart felt prayers. Ethan

Had the last part of the pre-op today and met Dr.Mihaljevic. LONG freaking day, 5 hours delayed! I was SO grumpy I don\'t even know how I\'m still married... lol! My hubby is a saint :) And so is my Mammy! Dr. Tom (as Barry S. says) is going to try a repair, so lets hope for it! If he can\'t, then a tissues valve. I\'m starting to think about the mechanical since I don\'t think I can take this more than one time, but terrified of coumadin! Plus, I don\'t have human kids yet and Dr.Tom says mechanical is not a good match for pregnancy... so I REALLY pray the repair will be possible! Also, I was told today my leak is a number 4+! The worse case being 4... ouch! I guess that\'s why I feel like dog poop... lol. Btw, he says \"Hi\" back to Barry S and was very impressed with your half marathon :) He had a huge smile on his face when I told him! And he said his daughter is doing great, it was a false alarm. I have to check in at 5:15am tomorrow, so I better try to get some sleep... try is the right word! lol Hubby will update here. I hope I\'ll be doing it soon! Good luck to everybody out there!! Say a prayer for me if you can ;) Thank you!

The surgery is going to be next Wednesday and I\'ll meet with Dr.Mihaljevic on Tuesday. I had my pre-op this past Tuesday but didn\'t get to meet Dr.M because he had a surgery to do. I\'m upset because I didn\' want to discuss my surgery + ask all my questions the day before I actually have surgery! But c\'est la vie... I got some extra things yesterday like sport bras, cute slippers and a lightweight robe. And I finally packed ;) Now I just have to try and keep it together. I can tell I\'m going to have a huge meltdown when I go in for surgery... Gosh, I hate this!

Hello, I just got the date for my valve surgery - April 05! When I got the news, I just started shaking like a crazy person LOL! I was kind of ok before, but now I\'m freaking out. My husband is happy because we will be able to \"fix\" me soon, but I\'m not happy at all. I knew I should be glad because I\'ll be able to start living my life again, but every time I even think about this date I can\'t breath. I have my pre-op appointment March 29 at the Cleveland Clinic and I hope I will feel better after I talk to Dr.Mihaljevic and get all the details. I\'m not going to be too happy that day though because I have a bunch of tests to do as well... I already feel bad for my hubby! Needles and no food are a really bad combination for me, lol. The only good thing is that my Mammy will arrive here March 18, and that will make me very happy :) And she is going to stay 3 months, to make sure I\'m all good before she goes back home (to the amazing sunny place called Brazil!). Thanks for listening. I just had an awful week (a fellow animal rescuer lost her house, 4 of her own fur babies and 9 foster doggies on a nasty fire this week) and getting the surgery date didn\'t help it either... Ilana.

I\'m so happy my book finally arrived! I\'m going to start reading it asap :) I have so many questions for this one little book, and there is a line here at my house for it already lol! Thanks for all the good advise so far :)

Hello, This is my first time posting here. I don\'t know what to say really... I\'m waiting for a call from the Cleveland Clinic to set an app with Dr. Mihaljevic. My doctor told me to get a second opinion, and since I had to see a surgeon anyways I decided to go straight there. First we thought we would be able to wait longer before talking about surgery since I had no symptoms. I do have a severe leak in my congenital bicuspid aortic valve, so I\'m not that surprised that I started getting SO tired all the time. It\'s all too new and sometimes I still have to tell myself this is actually happening... I just found out I have a congenital bicuspid aortic valve last year after I got a nasty cold on Thanksgiving. I have SO many questions! Thanks for reading this.