tim's Guestbook

tim miller  Thank you! I keep telling myself the same, great place with an awesome surgeon to help keep me motivated.
Hope you continue to get better as well

tim miller  Hey Joey, thank you my fellow heart warrior. It’s getting tough, mentally the closer it gets. I’m set to go at 5:15am so my first prayer has been answered as I wanted to go early to get it going. And I keep telling myself that I’m in an awesome place with a great surgeon with a great team and support staff.
I’m going to try to get my wife to update as much as possible as reading everyone’s stories has helped me and I want to help others.
Thank you again and I greatly appreciate your thoughts and prayers

tim miller  hey Joey
i am so glad you are doing well, I've been following you and thank you for all the updates.
We went to Cleveland Thursday and got all my pre-op and meet with Dr. Roselli and some of his team Friday. What an incredible person he is. He explained everything, answered any questions we had and some we did not even think about. He met every expectation i had prior to meeting him in person based off of what i watched and read about him. He even looked dead at my wife and reached out to her and told her that if surgery took longer, that it doesn't mean things weren't going good and also if it did not take as long that it didn't mean it did not go good which helps reassure that there is not really a time limit to determine an outcome. He also told my youngest daughter that he would take very good care of her daddy. So I believe I'm where i need to go and he is the right person which helps put some ease on things. While doing the pre_op appointments in met a nice man by the name of Rusty from Greenville SC, another South Carolinian so we chatted up a great deal. He had his valve re-done at CC as where he originally went did not get it seated correctly. He told me that CC was awesome and not to worry as I was in good hands. He goes up there every year for follow up.
again i am so glad your doing great. I cant wait to get this behind me and get on the recovery side. I told Dr. Roselli that the operation did not really scare me too much it was the waking up afterwards that i am more concerned about and the recovery but they assured me that they will be with me each step of the way.
take care and please keep me updated

tim miller  hey Joey
i am so glad you are doing well, I've been following you and thank you for all the updates.
We went to Cleveland Thursday and got all my pre-op and meet with Dr. Roselli and some of his team Friday. What an incredible person he is. He explained everything, answered any questions we had and some we did not even think about. He met every expectation i had prior to meeting him in person based off of what i watched and read about him. He even looked dead at my wife and reached out to her and told her that if surgery took longer, that it doesn't mean things weren't going good and also if it did not take as long that it didn't mean it did not go good which helps reassure that there is not really a time limit to determine an outcome. He also told my youngest daughter that he would take very good care of her daddy. So I believe I'm where i need to go and he is the right person which helps put some ease on things. While doing the pre_op appointments in met a nice man by the name of Rusty from Greenville SC, another South Carolinian so we chatted up a great deal. He had his valve re-done at CC as where he originally went did not get it seated correctly. He told me that CC was awesome and not to worry as I was in good hands. He goes up there every year for follow up.
again i am so glad your doing great. I cant wait to get this behind me and get on the recovery side. I told Dr. Roselli that the operation did not really scare me too much it was the waking up afterwards that i am more concerned about and the recovery but they assured me that they will be with me each step of the way.
take care and please keep me updated

Joey Hardee  Hey Tim. That's awesome. I know Dr Roselli is an awesome surgeon and I have heard many say what a great person he is. Happy for you that you are in his care. I felt the same way about the surgery. I didn't go in with a lot of fear but worried more about the early part of recovery. The team did a great job getting me through those steps pretty smoothly and I know CC is awesome so you'll be past all that before you know it. I'll be following you and praying all goes well and recovery is speedy. Thanks for the update!!

tim miller  thanks for sharing and your kind words. My heart background is a little extensive. To sum it up i was born with a ventricular septal defect, i've had two corrective surgeries, one before the age of 1 and the other at 6. The did a PA banding on the first one and corrected the VSD the second one. I've had issues with v-tach in my teen to twenties so i have an ICD for that. I was also born with a bicuspid valve which is the culprit of my current issue today. We moved to good ole Knoxville TN from Charleston SC in 2015 and i did some research and found a new cardiologist here. He did an echo and said, "you need your valve replaced" i was like WHAT? I've seen the same cardiologist since i was 15 at home and knew he was keeping a watchful eye on something but was not sure, but i had not seen him as regularly as i should have. So we waited and 3 months another echo and again he recommended replacement. I had him send all the echos to my cardiologist at home and he called me about 2 weeks later and said he agreed with the dr here to get it done. He also told me that due to the scare tissue from my previous surgeries to have a very good surgeon perform the work, thats when i set off to research and came up with CC and Dr. Roselli. My Dr at home told me that it was very important not to wait to have symptoms but it also was not something i had to rush into as well. I've had echos done every 3 months to monitor and a cath performed last October to measure pressures and get a better look. With that information i was told a year or 2 max, so last visit i told them to put in a referral to Dr. Roselli at CC. He reviewed all the information and test results and agreed to do it, had an available date of july 30th and meet july 12th so i took it. I procrastinate by nature but i want to be around for my wife and my kids and i know that if i wait to have symptoms then you may not have the choices you have before symptoms and i believe this has better outcomes when you can control as much of it as possible, like the who and the where. SO here we are today waiting and researching the type of valve to go with.
as for day of surgery I'm more worried about the recovery then the actual surgery, that's a little weird right? I figure, i'll be knocked out cold during the surgery and if anything happens i'll never know but its the waking up, all the tubes, the vent, the pacing wires, the foley that gets me more. it's like what goes in has got to come out and the out worries me the most.
again THANK YOU for your words and good luck to you too

T.C. Sayles  WOW!!! Amazing!! You are doing the right thing for sure!
I 100% agree with not waiting until something happens and get it done. Most doctors don't practice that unfortunately. Being in good health and strong for the upcoming surgery and recovery is KEY! You can do it!
I do not think it is weird at all you being worried about the recovery! It SUCKS!!! lol When you are a very active type person this laying around and having people help you with almost everything is a bit hard! Anyway....the worst worst worst thing for me after surgery was the following and trust me, knowing about it ahead of time makes it easier to go through it...
1. waking up with the tube in my throat! They won't let you go back to sleep because they need to see you are breathing on own...ask them before surgery to please have something lined up to help relax you. I don't take any sedatives so the morphine just made me puke and gag. I had it in my while I was WIDE awake for several hours. WORST! (Sorry, no sugar coating!)
2. 1st night in ICU is a bit painful. They are trying to figure out your comfort level. But it is not your chest that hurts.
3. The tubes and wires in you and coming out of you are not unbearable. Just get a great nurse who knows how to wrangle them and you are good! But....when they are ready to pull out your chest tubes, that hurts like a MOTHER for about 10 seconds! Nurse tells you to breath out and she pulls one out and cinches your sutures up. Every swear word comes out of you and then you have to do it again for tube #2!
3. First time getting up and into the chair hurts, and climbing into bed the first week.
4. The first breathing treatment may hurt.
Other than that, it is all bearable. Recovery, your mind is saying you are good, but the body is not there yet. Listen to your body and sleep! And as a bit of wisdom that I found worked well....the nurses should be great! Treat them nice and they will treat you nicer! If you do not like someone, or you feel one of them is having a bad day, dismiss her/him and ask for another one. Seriously! If they had a fight with boy/girlfriend or if they are having a bad day, it will come to you and how their mind is elsewhere and not treating you gently or kindly and they won't even notice. I was in a private hospital and every nurse but 2 were amazing! And when I found one I really liked I requested to have her on all her days she was there. I told each one at the beginning of shift, "if you don't smile don't come in" They ALL loved it! I stayed happy and up the entire time. I greeted them by their first names and wrote a little positive card up for them each day! The hospital put out these cards.
Ok, sorry I have rambled! You will have ups and downs even into the 3rd month, but listen to your body! You are going to do great!

Bill L.  Hi Tim. I'm new here and just wanted to commend you for your revelations and honesty regarding your fears.

tim miller  Tom, good luck to you too! I'm 54 and my next step is to figure out what type of valve i would like. I would prefer one that will last a very long time but i know that the forever valve is not an option yet. As for blood thinners i've been on eliquis for a few years due to random afib episodes as a precaution, no weekly test and adjustments like coumadin or warfarin. not sure if that is an option for a mechanical valve or not but if so i've not noticed any abnormal bleeding compared to when i was not on it.
again thank you for your input and take care