Judi's Guestbook

Judi, welcome to our heart community. So glad your on the other side. I was very nauseous too, after my surgery. One of my nurses suggested I have a smoothie or milkshake. , and my appetite increased and nauseau stopped. Also stopped taking the anti nauseau meds. Then I felt better. Other suggestion is eat a graham cracker or saltines with milk before your meds. This helps settle the stomach. You are on your way to a healthier you! Let the healing begin. I am almost 7 months post op and feel fabulous!! You have all your heart brothers and sisters thinking and praying for you. Thank you for letting all of us know how you are doing. Have a good night. Remember baby steps!!! Hugs from my heart to yours! Mary (Mia) kidsjunction@gmail.com

I was thinking of you today when everything was happening at Brigham and hoping everyone in your party including Dr. Davidson were safe. I just saw from a comment you posted that you and your husband were right there meeting with him today! My fiancé and I had spent all day scouring the net trying to find out who it was and when we did, my heart just sunk. I also had him ,on my short list after hearing many great things. hoping that his continued surgeries tonight will allow him to see his family. I cannot imagine what you and your husband experienced, my heart goes out to you all tonight...

Judi, on your less invasive question. My dr gave me an option do a less invasive procedure where they enter from the right side, just near the nipple. Other people I have read about had the "less invasive" smaller sternotomy incision. Which one are you asking about? I opted to not do the less invasive for a number of reasons. My dr told me that it one of the biggest reasons to do it that way is cosmetic. (Going in from the side). Apparently they had to collapse your lung during surgery and you are longer on the heart/lung bypass machine. I didn't want to risk my chance of repair just for a less noticeable scar. I will join the rest of the people on Wednesday, soon to post a "scar selfie". I will let you know how it goes.

Judi, I know that I am definitely not the only person on this site who will tell you that your anxiety is not the least bit unusual. In October 2013 I thought that aside from bad hips I was a healthy 34 year old and was scheduled to ride the Death Valley Century at the end of the month. Then after a preventive echo I received quite the shock, an aortic root aneurysm diagnosis. I went through various stages of adjustment, including worry, denial, and eventually acceptance. One morning during my denial phase I woke up thinking how great it was that my aneurysm diagnosis was a dream, and how bad it would have been if it was real. Then I woke up more and realized it wasn't a dream. I did feel much better after I scheduled a date to get it fixed, with a David valve sparing procedure. I'm very grateful that my recovery has gone well, and very happy with my surgeon who replaced my aortic root with a Dacron graft while saving my natural (healthy tricuspid) valve. Now that I've lived the experience I definitely agree with the mantra that the waiting period is much worse than the procedure and recovery. Nothing you've said in your journal sounds surprising to me, because I felt the same way when I was diagnosed.

Hi and welcome to our ❤️ Club! Like you, it was a whirlwind of emotions once I found out the next steps were going to be needed. Originally, we felt this might have been something we would be addressing a year from now. But after a TEE, it moved up dramatically. I have MVP with severe regurgitation and both the posterior and anterior leaflets are damaged. Looking to have surgery by the end of March, so also in the process of consulting with surgeons. My first one is now next Thursday in Boston at brighams and Womens and another with dr adams at my Sinai in New York in a few weeks. What I find, the more reading and research, the more comfortable I become with this whole scenario. My only anxiety is actually getting a surgery date pinned down, which all the veterans in here say once you have, things calm down! My hope is that you meet the right surgeon that fits you and gets you to that comfort zone. Then the rest, we will be right with you!