Beth's Journal

It has been four years now, on Jan.6th, or five? I would have to look it up! My husband, Dave, had OHS for aortic valve replacement and has a bovine valve. This website helped me tremendously deal with my stress on seeing him go through this. I am just the wife, not the patient! God bless you all. He is doing wonderfully now and does not even have to go to the cardiologist for checkups anymore. His family doctor keeps tabs and sees him every three months for other reasons, so I am still amazed and grateful to his heart surgeon and the whole medical staff for seeing him (and me) through a very scary time.

Dave and I spent 6 days in the hospital and have been home now for about two weeks. Now it really is about recovery and healing. He is doing very well and that is what the home health nurses are saying. Be sure you get your home health care nurses as they are invaluable for assessing and reassuring you. Also, I would say, as the spouse of the patient, be sure to have another significant person with you through the hospital stay and at home. I could not imagine someone doing this without someone else there for them. You need that other person to hear what the numerous hospital staff say to you during the hospital stay, such as nurses, respiratory staff, doctors and numerous others and for reassurance. It has just been these last two days that I have felt "back to my normal self" and feeling more confident that we can do what is required to help the healing and building back up the strength and stamina. I want to thank all of you here who gave me comments to help get through the before part of surgery and for this website and all the people who share their experiences.

We are ready as we can be and will get back to you when we come back home with the great news we all like to hear. Many friends have said the waiting is the hard part and after that, its all about recovery. Thanks for this website as has been most helpful and uplifting.

My husband will be having aortic valve replacement open heart surgery this coming Wednesday. He evidently was born with a valve with only two flaps instead of three and his family doctor has been following this heart "murmur" for a few years It has now reached the severe stenosis stage as seen through the echo and stress tests. He is fifty years old and his father's father and uncle died at around that age from "heart disease". We are amazed that through God's grace he is able to get this surgery to extend his life. However, I am getting nervous as to the risks and how he will do throughout the week in the hospital setting.