Dawn's Journal

3 weeks post op tomorrow! I have experienced much improvement over the past week. My energy level is not great, but I don’t need naps during the day, am able to cook, make the bed, etc. I have not been outside walking yet, but we have had a boatload of snow, so that’s my excuse. I’m on no pain meds. I have been able to wean off of oxygen during the day, just use it at night with my bipap. The hypoxia I’ve had is not just due to the mitral valve regurgitation, but also to our elevation of 8600 ft. We are not staying in the mountains in the future. It is harder on the heart, and I certainly don’t want that! Other than post op pain, the other 2 bothersome symptoms I’ve had are the lack of taste or foods just tasting weird, and the numbness around my chest and back from the nerve block. It hasn’t been just numbness, but a discomfort that I wouldn’t really call pain. However, suddenly in the past 2 days, this problem has almost resolved! I share these things with you just in case it happens to you. I had minimally invasive robotic mitral valve repair. They weren’t sure they could repair it but were able to do so, which really makes me happy. I highly recommend my surgeon, Dr. Jessica Rove in Denver at UC Health. She’s great.

Hello Friends!
Wanted to share that I’m 2 weeks post mitral valve repair and all is well. Those first few days were very hard while in the hospital, but I survived! I will see my surgeon this week and expect she will agree that I’m doing well. I will say it was a much bigger deal than I expected…just the OR itself was huge and full of robots and people. I’m not ready to go run a marathon or anything, but each day I improve a little.

Getting close to the Big Day next week and getting nervous! Wondering if any of you have had experience with the cryo anesthesia…I at first told my surgeon I didn’t want it, but I’m reading that it works very well.

Hello all! This website with its videos and interviews has been very helpful. I’m looking at mitral valve repair or replacement soon. I’m kind of overwhelmed about where to have the procedure done. I’ve contacted Cleveland Clinic, Mayo in Arizona, and UT Southwestern in Dallas. I have started the process at Anschutz Cardiac Center in Denver, which would be the most convenient. The first cardiac surgeon I saw wanted to do open heart and mitral valve replacement. So, I’m looking at options. It looks like many of you have gone to CC, Mayo, NYC-several choices there. So I just keep reading and searching over and over, trying to make the best choice. I would guess that some of you have gone through this process?