{"id":1441,"date":"2010-07-03T13:07:24","date_gmt":"2010-07-03T18:07:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/?p=1441"},"modified":"2019-06-08T11:50:32","modified_gmt":"2019-06-08T16:50:32","slug":"top-7-tips-aortic-valve-replacements","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/2010\/07\/03\/top-7-tips-aortic-valve-replacements\/","title":{"rendered":"Steve’s Top 7 Tips For Patients!"},"content":{"rendered":"

I just received this insightful email from Steve, who recently had heart valve surgery. I thought you might really enjoy it… So, here it is:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"
\nSteve Miller – Heart Valve Replacement Patient<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Dear Adam –\u00a0 Congratulations on getting that article published in The Chicago Tribune<\/a>! Also, thank you for writing such an informative and helpful book. I am a nine week recipient of a St. Jude’s mechanical aortic valve<\/a>. It is working well and I am on my way to full recovery.<\/p>\n

I would like to share the following tips, thoughts and ideas – many of which you previously mentioned – to stress their importance to fellow patients.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Get a second opinion. It was amazing to me that 35% of heart valve patients DO NOT get a second opinion. Get one, if only for your piece of mind. It’s not a hangnail that’s being fixed!!<\/li>\n
  2. Research and interview! Be picky (no pun intended) about who does your surgery and where it’s done.\u00a0 In rural western Colorado, I highly recommend Dr. James Narrod and St. Mary’s Hospital in Grand Junction.<\/li>\n
  3. This surgery is a big deal. Recovery for me has been more difficult than I expected. I had a\u00a0minimally invasive sternotomy<\/a>. Years ago, I had a fractured sternum in a car accident and thought this recovery\u00a0would be similar – wrong!! Allow yourself more time\u00a0 than you think for recovery.<\/li>\n
  4. Don’t be afraid to investigate mechanical valves. The one I have has been used for 25+yrs with little problems. Everyone is different but Coumadin (blood thinner)<\/a> has not been a big deal for me.<\/li>\n
  5. Get sleep! An interesting phenomenon happened to me for maybe 2-3 weeks after surgery. I was afraid to fall asleep for fear that I would not wake up. A nurse stressed to me that I needed my sleep for my body to recover. It eventually passed. If you experience this, talk to your doctor. He can give you anti-anxiety medicine that will help.<\/li>\n
  6. Sign up for cardio-rehab. It is essential for your timely recovery. Cardiac rehab <\/a>has been a great experience for me.<\/li>\n
  7. Appreciate your medical team. Thank God we live in an era with some great doctors and wonderful technology that can fix your heart.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    I am 63 yrs old. I mountain bike, hike, fish, golf, hunt and play with my 4 year old granddaughter and I intend to “keep ticking” for years to come.<\/p>\n

    Finally, your heart valve surgery book<\/a> was extremely helpful in my decision making process and in what to expect before and after surgery.<\/p>\n

    Thanks again!<\/p>\n

    Steve Miller
    \nGlenwood Springs, Colorado<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22553,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-patient-stories"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1441"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1441\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}