Michael's Guestbook

Michael Greco  Hi Frank, it’s Mike’s wife/publicist here. 😄 I just read him your comment, he was very grateful! Hope your recovery will be less eventful that Mike’s, but will move as quickly as his has once they worked out the initial kinks. He’s doing great, and so will you!

Scott Ainsworth  Michael/Andrea what a team you both make. Frank your spot on Mike is amazing and has that true fighting spirit! Andrea your doing amazing, my wife has been through hell with me the last 4 years and she still surprises me daily on how she could stay with such a medically exciting lol man! All the very best to you both 🙏🏻

Michael Greco  Scott, I’m sure your wife would agree with me that we’ll each take our guys any which way we can get them! Healthy is best when the winds blow that way, but if things get rocky, we got plenty of fight in us to weather anything! Mike continues doing well, no complaints here! Hope your recovery continues as well!

Scott Ainsworth  Andrea, your more than likely right but I still don’t understand why she has stuck around lol. She did admit recently that when I had heart and lung failure and was in ICU pre-op she was close to walking, not because she did not love me but seeing me like that was killing her. So I am a very lucky man and understand the saying now that ‘ behind every great man is an even greater woman’! So happy Mike is on the up and up! Keep up the great works guys 🙏🏻

Michael Greco  Thanks Tom! We’ve been following your recovery and are very happy to hear you’re making progress. Keep up the good attitude, and all good things will follow. Can’t wait to join you on the recovery side of this thing!

Mike Roskowinski  Hey Michael hoping and praying for a great surgery and recovery for you. There are a lot of us here on the recovery side so feel free to ask questions if you have any. I am sure someone here will be able to get an answer for you. Good luck and we will all be waiting here for you.

Adam Pick  You got this Michael!!! You are in the best of hands with Dr. Adams.  https://www.heart-valve-surgery.com/surgeons/dr-David-Adams-New+York-New%20York.php

Michael Greco  Thank you Susan! Mike is settled in his room at Mt. Sinai, and I’ll be by his side again in the morning and we’ll see this through together. All the nurses and patient care team we met today were great, friendly and informative, so we’re both feeling good and confident. Plus, he lucked out with a room with a wonderful view of Central Park, so, unexpected bonus!

Susan Lynn  Glad you're settling in and got a room with a view! You're both in my thoughts and prayers tonight! You've got this! ❤

Michael Greco  Thanks Joey! Looking forward to returning the favor on the 18th! Let’s amaze everyone with our recovery! 👍

Joey Hardee  Absolutely, Michael! Going in very positive! Knock it out of the park!! Will be looking forward to your first recovery update!

Michael Meyer  Andrea:
Dr. Adams is one of the best mitral valve surgeons I would dare to say in the world. He was on my top 3 list. I had mitral valve surgery in 2014 at Cleveland Clinic, minimally invasive, robotic. Dr. Gillinov also one of best. There may be some unique things depending on the selected surgery. I had more pain than I anticipated, I was warned so not the physician's issue. My alternative was an upper sternotomy, the approach is likely a function of the surgeons experience, comfort and safety statistics with the procedure. My biggest concerns were not getting sick before going into surgery and would care after. Wound care is especially difficult for minimally invasive as the would cannot be well seen by the patient so my wife was of great assistance in inspecting the wound. She is a nurse so that is also a help. Michael will feel immediately better after surgery and be up on his feet in no time.

Michael Greco  Thank you for sharing your experience, Michael! I have to say, our choice of Dr. Adams for this surgery is one of the most reassuring parts of this process. Mike already knew him from his previous surgery in 2002, but I hadn’t had a chance to meet him until recently, and although he has not in any way minimized the inherent difficulty or risk of the surgery, he has been so easily confident that his team can and will obtain positive results for us, it’s impossible not to feel reassured. I cannot question his competence or experience, and while on the whole I would fervently wish to spare Mike this ordeal altogether, I believe his health could not be in better hands.

Michael Greco  Thanks for the welcome and encouragement, Susan! This is Mike’s 3rd sternotomy. Mostly, I would like to know how other people who’ve undergone this kind of surgery multiple times coped with the pain/discomfort of the repeated trauma to the same area of the body. Tips and tricks, if you will, to help make this as painless an experience as possible for him. Any ideas?

Susan Lynn  I would suggest looking into a mini-thoracotomy. It's a minimally invasive procedure using an entry incision on the right side. I have an extremely small scar and it was virtually painless. There's also something called MitraClip and that procedure is done via femoral catheter. I would be hesitant to have a traditional sternotomy if I had prior procedures completed that way. Best of luck! Please keep us posted.

Michael Greco  We did consider other minimally or at least less-invasive approaches with Dr. Adams, but they are not an option for Mike, due to the extensive scar tissue and adhesions from all his previous surgeries. This will be his 3rd sternotomy, but his 5th heart surgery in his lifetime, so every other approach has turned out to present additional complications at this point. Since coming to terms with that, we’ve switched gears into making the recovery the least painful it can be, given the lack of other viable approaches.