Rob's Journal

But only for about 5 hours. And then I came back to life, and with a brand new aortic valve. So far it has worked well. It hasn\'t made me 35 years old again but probably that was too much to expect. So, for all you newbies out there: there is life after death, and it is a great feeling.

I haven\'t posted in my journal for a while. No good reason to do so since things have been pretty normal and ordinary for quite a while. As noted above today is exactly 6 months for me. That period of time ago I was on the table, dead for 4 hours (kept alive only via machine), and hoping (had my mind been functioning) to someday recover from the ordeal. Well, it has happened. I\'m now fully back, have been back for several months in fact. I\'m doing 3 miles a day on my treadmill, going on hikes with my long-suffering wife, and enjoying life as before. So thanks again to all my friends on the heart valve forum. It has been good to have this medium for fellow sufferers. I hope everyone can have the same success I\'ve enjoyed as we\'ve ridden down the aortic cascades together.

Today is for me eleven weeks \'off the table.\' I continue to make normal progress and consider myself about 95% of the way back to normal. I\'m seeing my cardiologist every 3 months at this point. I did go to cardiac rehab for about a month and then decided I could do the same thing on my home equipment with less expenditure of time and money. I\'m walking 2 miles a day which is pretty much what I did before surgery. And I am working outside doing autumn tasks, which are plentiful where I live. The bed experience is pretty much back to normal. The first month at home it was painful getting in and out of bed or turning over. Now it is not a problem. I am glad I had the recliner for the first week or two but I haven\'t been back to it. I would sell the thing - not the most attractive piece of furniture - but my wife wants to keep it for whatever reason. So, again many thanks to all my well-wishers on this site and elsewhere. I believe I have made it through. And it turned out to be quite a bit less traumatic than I assumed would be the case. For newcomers to the forum who have yet to go through the \'great experience\' take comfort from my story. You will, almost surely, make it through - as I did.

For me it has been now 6 weeks 2 days since the surgical invasion and I continue to progress sweetly with no setbacks (knock on wood). I estimate I\'m now about 75% of the way back. I still have a tender chest and I watch my movements, don\'t lift anything serious, and turn carefully in bed. And if I wasn\'t retired I think I\'d be back at work by now. And I\'m off all meds beyond aspirin. Pain? - only when I turn the wrong way or lift too much and then it is only moderate discomfort. Have taken no pain meds for at least 2 weeks. I can even sneeze successfully now. So, the bottom line is: open heart surgery is definitely a do-able thing, even for geezers like me. If you have it coming up chances are you\'ll make it through just fine.

Two days ago I had my one month anniversary. During the week I saw my surgeon and got the green light on almost everything short of lifting anything heavy. So I am driving now and leading a fairly normal if sedate lifestyle. All meds are now history except for lopressor and aspirin, both of which I will be on for the foreseeable future. My chest remains sore - that is fairly normal I think - and I don\'t have the energy I once possessed. But I can see things progressing almost on a daily basis. I am up to a mile a day on the treadmill and will begin cardiac rehab this week, assuming my insurance pays. If not I will conduct my own private rehab. For some moronic reason the insurance company requires that cardiac rehab is referred by one\'s general provider and not the cardiologist who is in charge of all questions having to do with the heart. This could be a stickler for me. We\'ll have to see. I still have to move slowly in bed and find turning, which I need to do frequently, a task. But I am sleeping fairly well. So, with no setbacks so far, I have little to complain about. And therefore will not complain but instead thank everyone for their kind support and best wishes.

Today I celebrated the end of my third week out of the hospital. I have had no setbacks so far (knock on wood) and seem to be improving a bit every day. There remains an extremely tender spot in my chest which requires me to move gingerly, especially when getting in and out of bed. I\'m guessing this is fairly normal since they did after all saw my sternum in twain and it takes more than a few weeks to heal. But I am getting stronger and am now off most of my meds. This week I see my surgeon for the one month meet-up and I begin cardiac rehab. Actually I have already begun my own program on my treadmill and am up to walking one mile per day. Of course I go fairly slowly but am gradually speeding up. I don\'t know what to expect from official cardiac rehab but I think I have a good head-start on it. So things have gone well so far (again knock on wood). I anticipate being given the green light to drive very soon and that will take a lot of pressure off Loll (my wife) who has been chauffeur as well as everything else for me. Open heart surgery is not something I am recommending to everyone, (unless of course you need it,) as it is no walk in the park. But so far it has not been as bad as I had feared going into it. Thanks again to everyone here on the forum for all the encouragement and advice. It has been a big help for me.

Yesterday marked my first full week at home and day #12 since surgery. Things are going well so far with no setbacks beyond the fact the recliner occasionally breaks down. This would have been critical the first 3 or 4 days but now I have managed to pull off sleeping in my own bed. This is a delicate issue for me since turning over requires great care. I\'m guessing this is a common dilemma for persons who have their sternum sawed in two. I don\'t find pain to be a serious problem and I am weaning myself off the oxycodone. Sneezing is a real bummer - it often comes on me fast and I have no time to prepare with a pillow. Then you simply stifle as best you can and accept the hurt. Fortunately I don\'t sneeze all that often. So far anyway. I\'ve been outside a bit - to get the paper - and maybe I will try a walk around the block with my Loll (wifey). I am winding down some of my meds, the ones that were intended only for a week. My appetite seems good, I just wish I could get some exercise beyond walking around my house. But that will have to wait. Wednesday I go in to have the chest bandage removed. I guess at that point I go bare naked. And I\'ll have nothing to remind me I just had open heart surgery. Yeah, right. Many thanks to all the heart valve forum folks who have lent kind words, encouragement, advice and support. It has been a great source of knowledge about the \'great adventure,\' none better in fact.

Well, I made it. Which is obvious from from the fact I am writing. Thanks to all the heart valve forum people who sent me their prayers and best wishes. I went in to surgery on the appointed day - Wed Aug. 17. My family saw me off and I have only a vague recollection of going in to the surgery. I don\'t even recall any serious anxiety, which is somewhat surprising. But there is no denying - OHS is definitely not for sissies. It is the big leagues. When I woke up in the Cardiac ICU I was aware eventually my family was there but a lot of the interaction I could not recall. They were relieved I had come out \"whole,\" as was I when later had a better grasp on things. Not until I went into telemetry recovery, which was the next day, did I feel the process was really moving forward. That was also when I felt significant pain when I had to learn the technique of movement - from bed to chair and back, from bed or chair to the bathroom or the floor of the hospital. It is not easy to learn this and one probably never grasps it totally. Not news for all the OHS veterans on this site. Glenn Barnhart was the surgeon who worked the magic - he has very fine videos on YouTube. A pioneer in minimally invasive surgery. So although I have a small scar I do not have a small pain. Today is my second day at home and it is going well. I\'ll write more later.

Actually, as I write this there are 12 hours until we are off to Cherry Hill - check-in at 530AM. The adventure starts likely at about 730 or 800, tomorrow, Wed the 17th of August, 2011. And if all goes well I will be in cardiac ICU by early afternoon, perhaps awake by mid-afternoon. Of course I am anxious, and attempting to do all the last minute things that should be done before-hand. I suppose keeping busy makes me think less about tomorrow. So that is good. There is one small part of me that continues to ask: why are you putting yourself through this when you feel almost totally normal. And the rational part of me answers: get wise, you need this to stay alive. My surgery will be - if we stick with the plan and nothing untoward is discovered - minimally invasive with only one focus - the feebly performing aortic valve. It will be cut out and replaced with a valve fabricated from pericardial bovine tissue. So I will become literally part cow. OK by me if this is the best solution, and I am convinced that it is. The surgeon, Glenn Barnhart, believes it is and I\'ve gone along. It is unlikely there will be any updates on my situation until after I am home since I am the only one on this site. I will not burden my wife or any other family member with having to input info. Family and friends will be in touch in other ways. So wish me luck, godspeed, send good thoughts, etc. as I begin the journey that everyone else here on the site has gone through, or will eventually. We have all made it through so far as I am aware and I am planning on being in that company. See you in a while, and thanks much for all the support. Rob Fairchild

Tomorrow morning, plus one week, will be the beginning of my great adventure - that will be the time of my surgery at Swedish Hospital, Cherry Hill campus. I feel perfectly fine though I anticipate a lot of anxiety as the day approaches. I am essentially asymptomatic except when I exert myself, which I don\'t do if I can help it. So it is a little strange to be anticipating a major surgery when I feel almost totally normal. But I am aware of the realities. I can almost feel the AV closing down and if I did nothing likely I would be dead from some kind of heart incident over the course of the next several years. I will be having, if all goes according to plan, minimally invasive surgery. That means a smaller incision, less time on the \'machine\', a more rapid recovery. All to the good I guess although one part of me wants to give the surgeon a maximum amount of space to work in. I suppose the thing I am most apprehensive about is the time on the \'machine.\' This is when one is technically dead, kept alive artificially. I read it is easy to stop the heart but a bit trickier to start it up again. And even if they do manage that there is the possibility the brain will have suffered some insult while being supplied oxygen by the machine. So one wakes up and has trouble remembering who they are, or worse. But, I know the odds are with me. Most people make it through. This forum is, among other things, evidence of that. Since I\'ve been following events here everyone has survived to write a post-op journal. And I plan on doing that myself.

I\'m now signed up for Aug. 17, 20 days from today. I saw the second surgeon and was impressed with his demeanor and presentation. So I decided to go with him. He is a specialist in minimally invasive surgery and convinced me that route is just as safe as the full open chest operation. And he recommended the pericardial tissue valve (bovine) which my research had been pointing me to. So it was a good fit. I don\'t think a layman can ever have all the facts at his disposal to choose the proper surgeon. I went with a feeling of comfort which one of the numerous videos I watched convinced me was the best approach. There are many advantages to minimally invasive - most of them are fairly obvious. So if things go well for me I may be able to enjoy the autumn, which is always a favorite time for me and my family. With 20 days to go, and the decision made, and committed to, I feel better about the whole enterprise. There is much to do - one has to prepare for all possible contingencies - and I need to get to it. I\'m anxious and I suppose I will be a good deal more anxious the closer I get to the big date. I\'m following a number of other journalists and the success they are having is giving me a fairly good sense that I too can make it through. Any suggestions or tips from fellow valve club members will be most welcome. Rob F.

Had oral surgery yesterday as part of the program to get my dental regime in good shape. It went well but I could have done without it. My surgery will be in as few as 17 days or as many as 22. So the time grows closer.

My pre-op is now scheduled for Aug. 4. So between now and then I have much to do. And even more until the actual surgery which will follow a week to 12 days later. I can\'t pinpoint it precisely yet because I still have to see one more surgeon. But I am fairly sure it will be one or the other of the dates. It is definitely dawning on me that I need to get this thing done. I can\'t really wait any longer if I wish to err on the side of safety and continuing to live. I can almost feel the valve closing up on me, the opening getting smaller and smaller, the heart having to work harder and harder to do its job. It is definitely time. But hopefully not past time.

I\'ve now had the cath and pretty much like everyone said here it was no big deal. I went home mid-day and felt fairly normal the next day. Even drove the car. And there was a bonus - arteries proved to be in fine shape meaning I require only a new aortic valve. (Of course that is plenty.) And even though this result apparently made me a candidate for minimally invasive I have decided instead to go the traditional whole way. I\'ve been convinced it is safer - less time on the machine - and allows the surgeon more space to work in. I know the scar will be larger - don\'t care about that - and the post-op pain greater but I have decided to accept all of that for the sake of safety and a greater chance to come out of the experience intact. I have also decided on a tissue valve versus mechanical. The surgeon seems to strongly recommend it for someone my age - I am 73. I have not decided on porcine versus pericardial and would appreciate some comments about that choice in this forum. I have heard the pericardial lasts longer but the porcine has the advantage of being a real valve whereas the other is fashioned from cow heart tissue. Again, if forum members have experience here please share it. And I do have a time-frame for the surgery - 2nd week in August. It came sooner than I expected. I\'ve been waiting for the day for about 5 years, knowing it would come but hoping, unrealistically, that it would stretch out indefinitely. So, wish me luck. And thanks for all the commentary and support to this point. Rob F.

First, many thanks to the persons who commented on my initial entry. It is nice to know that we are not alone, that many are in the same boat. By getting closer I mean my cath is now only 3 days away. I\'m not apprehensive about the cath as much as I was but I am aware it may reveal faults beyond the bad AV. The worst thing it could reveal is that I am not a candidate for minimally invasive. Speaking of the latter what is the opinion of the veterans on this site about minimally invasive? I think I would opt for it if I am eligible but what are the pros and cons from your perspective? Another issue - mechanical or tissue? I like the idea of tissue but I am aware of the negatives. I definitely would appreciate any input on these fascinating topics. Or on any other issue that you think would be good for a rookie.

Not much to say at this point. So I won\'t say anything. Changed my mind. I will say that I am having my catheterization in 6 days. Someone said to me it is more unpleasant than the actual OHS, which is fairly hard to believe. And not particularly comforting. But it is part of the deal so no turning back now.