Dave's Guestbook

Hi Dave, I am having my Aortic Anuerysm and Aortic Valve replaced May 15th. Can I email and ask you a few questions? My email is eichhorn33@gmail.com Thank you!

Congratulations. Welcome to the recovery side of your surgery. That was actually the easy part. Love the moose heart pillow. You’ll get plenty of use out of him. Best Wishes, Melissa

Hey Dave!! Seen you haven't posted anything, hope all is well for you 😁. Hopefully you've gotten to go home by now. I'm still in the hospital waiting on x-ray results and INR rate to go up to 2.0. Mine's at 1.7, woohoo!!!. Lol. Best of luck to you same heart surgery date buddy.

Good afternoon Dave. I live in Buxton, not far from you. I had my open heart surgery in Sept. of 2017. I had a tricuspid valve repair in Boston at the Childrens Hospital. I now volunteer to visit patients at Maine Medical Center. I hope everything is going well for you, and if you ever need someone to talk to local don't be afraid to contact me. Again good luck with everything.

Hope this is helpful. I am seven weeks post surgery that replaced my bicuspid valve and recovery is going well! I had the surgery on a Monday, January 22, 2018 and they released me on Friday. -When you wake up in ICU, you will have tubes and wires protruding from every orifice. - I told my spouse to implore the ICU nurse to get the breathing tube out before I regained consciousness (it was !!) - They will constantly hassle you to blow into a pressure measurement device to restore lung function - Expect some A-fib post surgery; very common. They treated mine with amioderone to restore normal rhythm. Horrible stuff with side effects but it did the job. - Get out of the hospital at the first opportunity- The food on the cardiac floor is the most tasteless bland stuff ever (no salt of course). Inedible. - I felt so much better psychologically at home -A nurse checked up on me at home every few days. - Able to shower and groom right away -I started walking up and down our block the first day home; wasn't too bad. I actually felt pretty strong -Pain from the surgery was constant but manageable -About two weeks after I got home I had a real low period of several days where I just felt awful. It wasn't acute pain, it was a feeling of intense weakness and tiredness It eventually passed. -My cardiologist said having the surgery is like being in a car wreck. Your body has to spend all of it's energy repairing the damaged tissue and bones leaving nothing to make you feel good. _ Able to drive again in 4 weeks -It has been a steady recovery. I walk and or use the elliptical machine 3 to 4 miles. I am going back to work part time next Monday work after six weeks. -I was fortunate, did not take pain medicine, just prescription Tylenol Good luck tomorrow. I was nervous like you but now am so glad it is behind me Best, Tim Hill

Dave, you may already have found this resource, but here's a link in case you haven't. It's a downloadable 20 page E-booklet you might find useful (especially questions 1 and 5, since your surgery date is almost here):  https://www.heart-valve-surgery.com/5-critical-questions.php

I had my bi-cuspid valve replaced on May 23,2017. Nervous, worried and scared sums it up pretty good for all of us who have gone through OHS. The mind plays not so nice tricks on us. Be positive, that’s important. It’s not as bad as our mind tells us it’s going to be. When you wake up, do everything the Drs and nurses tell you to do and you’ll be home recovering in 3-4 days. I went back to work full time August 1, 2017.