Chris Freyer - Heart Valve Journal

My Journal

2 days ago

Markos Barrios, Adam Pick, Lynne Anderson and 2 others reacted to this

Well, it's Wednesday night (May 13), and I'll be reporting to the hospital for minimally invasive Mitral valve repair on Friday morning (4:30am).

My ...Read more

Well, it's Wednesday night (May 13), and I'll be reporting to the hospital for minimally invasive Mitral valve repair on Friday morning (4:30am).

My surgeon has me on a regimen of 3 protein shakes per day for the week before surgery and the week after I return home. I'll also drink two carbohydrate drinks the night before surgery and the morning of. Plus showers using an antibiotic wash.

At this point, I've learned everything I can -- about my surgeon, the hospital, the daVinci surgical robot, the surgery itself, the post-op process, the pain management process, and what to do at home. I also learned about Cardiac Depression from Adam's book (a great resource!)

My support system is ready (my whole family), and my legal documents are up-to-date. I even put together a binder with all my receipts, documents, handouts, etc for my wife.

Now...I wait. This is the hard part.

Markos Barrios Wishing you the best. Everything will be just as planned.

Marie Myers Great idea about the protein shakes pre and post op. I was advised to add whey protein to my diet als ... Read more

Marie Myers Great idea about the protein shakes pre and post op. I was advised to add whey protein to my diet also.. Best wishes for a smooth surgery and recovery!

Rose Madura Sounds like you have everything under control. God bless you in this journey.

Adam Pick You got this Chris! Thinking healthy heart-pumping thoughts for you and your heart! Please keep us u... Read more

Adam Pick You got this Chris! Thinking healthy heart-pumping thoughts for you and your heart! Please keep us updated!

Deena Z Impressed that your team talked about diet pre and post. I dont think most do. That’s a confidence ... Read more

Deena Z Impressed that your team talked about diet pre and post. I dont think most do. That’s a confidence booster.

Gail Ochi You are well prepared, Chris. My first year minimally invasive mitral valve repair anniversary was Ma ... Read more

Gail Ochi You are well prepared, Chris. My first year minimally invasive mitral valve repair anniversary was May 13! Best wishes.

Doris Wunsch Remarkable preparation you have been involved with!
All the best and looking forward to hearing y ... Read more

Doris Wunsch Remarkable preparation you have been involved with!
All the best and looking forward to hearing your after report !

Chris Freyerposted an update

20 days ago

I am scheduled to have robotic mitral valve repair on May 15. I was diagnosed with MVP about ~30 years ago and have remained active in my adult life (scouting, ...Read more

I am scheduled to have robotic mitral valve repair on May 15. I was diagnosed with MVP about ~30 years ago and have remained active in my adult life (scouting, biking, hiking, etc). My cardiologist says that now is the time to get the repair done because my ejection fraction is changing.

I did a lot of homework before consulting with a robotic surgeon, because information calms me down. This let me speak to the surgeon from an informed point of view. We discussed the robot itself, annuloplasty rings, my posterior leaflet, and a possible chord repair.

My surgeon says I'm a good candidate for the robotic approach due to my overall health and the absence of other complications. He showed me the all the images from my ECG, TEE, and heart catheterization, and he helped me visualize what my heart is actually doing (versus what it SHOULD be doing). This information helped me make my decision from a logical perspective, rather than an emotional one.

I know that recovery can be much shorter using a robotic approach, and I'm looking foward to that. My wife and I have some RV camping to do later this summer. :-)

Richard Munson Good to do research. Noticed you never mentioned maze procedure while in there

Chris Freyer Richard, I don't have AFib so that never came up. I didn't know about the maze procedure until I rea ... Read more

Chris Freyer Richard, I don't have AFib so that never came up. I didn't know about the maze procedure until I read about it here on the HVS website.

J Alexander Lassally Shorter but no free lunch! One of the fallacies of current medicine / surgical marketing is the idea ... Read more

J Alexander Lassally Shorter but no free lunch! One of the fallacies of current medicine / surgical marketing is the idea that the robot is "surgery" without surgery. It is still extreme and there are testimonials to patients who underestimated the impacts and recovery. Many post surgery issues are the same regardless of modality -

I say this in the spirit of eyes wide open. Ideally, you will have a great post surgery experience and be camping in no time !

Good luck.

Richard Munson The good thing about the robot is they got all a’s in medical school.

Fidel Martínez Ruiz He is a valedictorian made of steel and wires

Fidel Martínez Ruiz I think I´ve become outdated, I am afraid of robotic surgery and still would prefer by surgery hands ... Read more

Fidel Martínez Ruiz I think I´ve become outdated, I am afraid of robotic surgery and still would prefer by surgery hands, perhaps it´s my own lack of knowledge. Anyway, the important is the surgeon skill behind the robot.

Richard Munson I believe the surgeon is still guiding the robot. Not to compare the 2 but welds on automobile mfg. a ... Read more

Richard Munson I believe the surgeon is still guiding the robot. Not to compare the 2 but welds on automobile mfg. are way more precise than human welds. At least i am led to believe.

Thomas Brusstar Great work, Chris. I like having enough information that the nurses and doctors realize they don't have to "talk down" to me. I knew I'd done well when a doctor asked me what kind of medical background I had (I don't have one).

My mitral valve repair was by sternotomy in 2018 (my surgeon, Dr. McCarthy in Chicago, said he preferred it over robotic for my heart and to preserve options during surgery). I had a couple chordae that had snapped, making my valve "flail" -- which makes it kind of a big leaky mess in there. But the broken chordae were attached to the leaflet where they were cutting that one out anyhow, so they did not add any synthetic chordae. They just removed tissue and tightened the whole thing up. (And they added the metal annular ring around the base, too.)

I had an echo last week, just for a checkup. My cardiologist confirms the repaired valve is not leaking at all after 8 years, so that's good! Other valves have some leakage (not a concern), but the mitral one is still great. My left atrium was grossly enlarged (4x) before surgery, but it was much smaller (2x) right after the valve repair (like by the time I left the operating table), and has continued to move back toward normal over the years. Last week's measurement doesn't even call it enlarged any more.

I will note that ejection fraction is a deceiving number in mitral valve prolapse. EF measures how much of the left ventricle gets ejected in each beat, but it does measure which direction it goes. My EF before surgery was fine, but we know that way too much of it was going backwards as that mitral valve prolapse "backwash." That enlarged my left atrium (not built to withstand the big pressure of the left ventricle pushing back into it), and caused pulmonary hypertension as the blood backed up into my lungs (hard to measure if you're not actually up in there with a catheter). That is all a reason to do the surgery before it gets worse, and while you're still otherwise a healthy patient. You're doing this correctly.

You'll do great!