Debra's Guestbook

Susan Lynn  Debra and Ginny - There are lots of mitral valve heart warriors on this site. Feel free to ask any questions you may have and they will be answered! All the best to both of you!

Ginny Turner  Thanks for your notes, Susan and Debra. Appreciate all the encouragement from others who’ve had mitral valve surgery. Debra, hope you’re doing well 3 weeks post surgery! So glad you liked Dr. Gillinov.

Debra Swan  I’m a teacher, so I’d say it’s pretty high stress! My plan is to return at Thanksgiving! Then I would work a few weeks and get another break in case I’m too tired! Thanks for the positive thoughts. I’m ready to feel better!

Paul Rose  I’d definitely categorise your job as high stress! I was Chief Operating Officer at a medium sized company that was subject to a fairly hostile takeover 😖To the best of recollection my return to work started with two mornings, the first week, three the next, then worked up to two full days Monday and Thursday for a couple of weeks, then Three days and eventually five. The first few weeks I was absolutely wiped out mentally and pretty tired physically. The scary part was the occasional PVCs and PACs as my heart remodelled was not helped by work stress! At first I worried about any small anomaly that I perceived or indeed imagined, it’s amazing how sensitive you become😬I had a BP monitor at the ready and religiously tracked my pulse and BP for the first year, I found it reassuring to monitor 😁! I know a little ADD but it came in useful when talking to my Cardiologist and getting off of all the meds. In hindsight I know it was overreacting, but at the time I needed to reassure myself that everything was going to be OK and I was not in AFib- have p-wave so all is good and happy to say now that it was and still is 👍🏿😎 I still find it hard to believe that it’s over 9 years ago !

Just take it as easy as you can when you return, from experience it will be both physically and emotionally tiring. My Cardio Rehab nurse kept a mantra “It’s a marathon not a sprint” whenever I pushed too hard - she was spot on. So good luck next week and don’t worry, soon you’ll be a fully fledged Mitral Valve Fixed team member 😎

Paul Rose  Richard 😂😂 Absolutely, however my boards are in the UK and the water is way too cold 🥶. When we were in MA I did sailacross Buzzards Bay from Marion (Ned’s point) over to Mattapoisett with a buddy (a fellow Brit) . When we reached the beach we asked some sunbathers in our best British accents where are we! They of course said Mattapoisett, to which we replied Mattapoisett, where. The next reply was Mattapoisett, MA, USA at which point I turned to my buddy and said “I told you we should have stopped at Ireland”.😱 we then asked for immigration, drank some water and then sailed back to Marion. The look on their faces was priceless 😎

Paul Rose  Hi Geof, I too had severe mitral valve regurgitation and had a complex mitral valve repair 9 years ago. At the time I also had AFib but that too resolved after my heart remodelled down to a normal size. Thankfully, I’m meds free and have been for 8 years. It took some time and research to find the Surgeon I trusted and who would give me the best guarantee that it would be a repair vs replace. but thankfully I did and I have been fine since that fateful day. I am still active but starting to slow down as I no longer run 40+ miles a week now but have resigned myself to at least 3 rounds of golf a week. I documented my progress in my journal. Good luck and all the best for your choice and surgery.

Geof Delaney  Yeh, couldn't understand ,why just not replace, but the Dr is 95% sure he can repair, from what everyone say ,original eauient is bezt

Paul Rose  95% is pretty good odds with great upside. A repair and you’ll be as good as or better than new. Hope all comes out the best for you.

Richard Munson  I had a mitral valve repair done at mass general in january and never worried about longevity. My surgeon told me he prefers a repair vs. replace
So i listened to his advice as mitral valves were his main thing.