Chris's Guestbook

HI Debbie, I'm sorry that it took a while for me to get back to you. Samantha and I have been away on vacation for the past week or so. I see you've been getting some good advice from Deb Z. Very nice lady. She and I had surgery in Cleveland around the same time frame and actually only lived about 20 minutes away from each other at the time. I will give you my thoughts on both of my surgeries but I encourage you to do your research and ask Dr. Gillinov a lot of questions. My first surgery was in September of 2011. It was performed robotically and repaired my posterior leaflet and replaced some of the chordae. The repair was apparently successful as the post surgical echos showed only trace amounts of leakage. Initial pain and discomfort weren't as bad as I imagined they would be and were much better after my drain tube was removed. I was able to leave the hospital in 4 days and flew home. Sleeping was rough for a few weeks and I had some skin sensitivity around the incision site for a few months as I recall. Recovery time was pretty short. I was able to drive quickly as I was off pain meds in pretty short order. I attended cardiac rehab and seemed to be doing well. Then I had my three month echo and found out that I once again had a moderate to severe leak. I couldn't believe it. After more tests and sending my results to Cleveland to get their thoughts, it was decided that I needed to have a re-operation performed. I scheduled it for June of 2012, nine months after the initial procedure. This time the surgery was performed via a sternotomy due to scar tissue from the first surgery. I dreaded this procedure for fear of sternal pain and recovery issues. Truth be told, I believe there was less pain with the full sternotomy. Recovery time was certainly longer and there were more restrictions, but again, nowhere near as bad as I had expected. At my follow up echo last October, everything seemed to be working just fine and I'm feeling good. Knowing what I do now, if I had to choose today between robotic and traditional (or recommend one to a family member) I would choose traditional. Since the time of my first surgery, I have met or conversed with at least 4 people who have had issues with their robotic procedure, requiring a second surgery be performed. We may be exceptions to the rule but that seems like too many cases to me. In addition, I believe the extra recovery time of the sternotomy is a fair price to pay for the surgeon to have a full clear view of everything going on. I hope that doesn't scare or confuse you. That is just how I feel after my experience. I still liked Dr. Gillinov and thought Cleveland Clinic was a great place, but maybe the robotic procedure wasn't the best choice for me. I would encourage you to ask Dr G. questions about the robotic procedure. I asked quite a few before I had it done, but I would be interested in knowing how many robotic mitral valve repairs he did during 2010 and 2011 and how many of those had to have another repair done within a year or two (I know of at least 3). Also , how many were done traditionally and how many of those needed a re-op. Please let me know if you have any other questions or would like to talk further about the procedures themselves, Cleveland Clinic or anything else. Take Care, Chris