About Me (In My Own Words)
A year ago today I had open heart surgery. It’s been quite a year! Here’s my story.
My cardo-thoracic surgeon was Dr. John Grehan, United Hospital, St. Paul, MN. I highly recommend him. I felt so comfortable with him after our first appointment. I knew I could trust him with my life. His staff was awesome as well.
My story started about 5 years earlier when I found out I had a bicuspid aortic valve. My cardiologist told me I would need to have it replaced in the future, but I didn’t figure I would be only 59 when I needed it.
One evening In July, 2015 I had a stabbing pain in my chest and back and ended up in the ER. The tests they did showed severe aortic stenosis. My cardiologist determined that it was time to replace the valve! She sent me to see Dr. Grehan. We discussed the valve replacement and he also scheduled numerous tests one of which showed I had 75% blockage in one of my coronary arteries. So, we scheduled surgery to replace my aortic valve with a porcine valve, and do a bypass using the mammary artery on the inside of my chest wall.
I was a little nervous the day of surgery but thanks to my family and friends, I was able to laugh while waiting to go into surgery (maybe it was the drugs!) After 4 hours of surgery,
Dr. Grehan met with my family and explained all that he had done. My daughter recorded him on her cell phone so I would be able to listen to it later. I ended up having the aortic valve replacement, aortic root replacement and replacement of ascending aorta and CABG X 1! Apparently I had an aortic aneurism which was the reason for replacing part of my aorta with a Dacron graft. To do this they had to cool my body down to 20 degrees Centigrade (normal is 37), drain the blood out of me and stop the heart lung machine for 20 minutes! Total time my heart was stopped during surgery was 141 minutes! I got out of surgery about 8:00 pm and my family was in my room at 10 when I was waking up.
The morning after surgery a chest x-ray revealed there was blood accumulating in my chest that wasn’t being drained by the chest tubes. When they cool the body down, sometimes the blood doesn’t coagulate like it should. They had to take me back into surgery and open me up again to remove the blood! I was pretty much out of it the rest of that day but the next day they had me up walking! My surgery was on a Tuesday and I went home on Saturday.
Two weeks later I was at cardiac therapy 3 times a week for 12 weeks. I can’t say enough good things about it. It helped me regain the energy I needed. Plus the camaraderie was amazing. I was missing my friends at work so this helped a lot. New friends, all with a common goal of getting stronger and being healthy.
Two months after my heart surgery (Oct, 2015) I ended up with a hernia just below my incision, rightfully called an incisional hernia! I went back to see Dr. Grehan and we scheduled surgery to repair it. A piece of mesh, another 5 inch scar just below my first scar, 2 nights in the hospital and I was fixed! By the time I recovered from that surgery I had been off work a total of 16 weeks.
Thought I was done with surgeries but NO! In February of this year the hernia was back!
Dr. Grehan recommended a general surgeon, so I went to one who specialized in hernia repair. After having a CT scan pre-surgery a large nodule was noticed on my thyroid. I had a biopsy which was inconclusive. My hernia doctor suggested I see another surgeon in his office regarding the thyroid. It was recommended that I have half my thyroid removed and tested for cancer. So in March, my hernia incision was opened and the muscles were sutured together. Then he went in arthroscopically and replaced the mesh covering the hernia with a larger piece. When they were done, I was repositioned for thyroid surgery and half my thyroid was removed! 2 for 1 sale!! Ha! Ha! Two more nights in the hospital, a diagnosis of NO thyroid cancer and I was home for a 4 week recovery.
Needless to say, it has been quite a year. I found internal strength I didn’t know I had. Faith helped too. Physically, I don’t think I know what “normal” feels like. I’m still tired quite a bit but I’m hoping it’s just because my body has been through a lot. Had my one year follow-up echo last Friday and waiting on the results. God willing, everything will be ok.
More Info About Me & My Heart
More About Me
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I am from:
Lakeville, MN
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My surgery date is:
August 11, 2015
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I was diagnosed with:
Aortic Stenosis
Bicuspid Aortic Valve
Coronary Artery Disease
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My surgery was:
Aortic Valve Replacement
Aortic Aneurysm Replacement
Coronary Artery Bypass Graft
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My surgeon is:
Dr. John Grehan
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My hospital is:
United Hospital St Paul, MN