Franklin's Posts

I got to the hospital at 6 am and was thoroughly shaved and readied for my 8 AM surgery to replace my bicuspid aortic valve and replace a section of my ascending aorta to fixe an aneurysm. After a brief visit with the anesthesiologist he said he was gonna give me something to calm me down. The next thing I knew I woke up in a nightmare fighting for my life against some tube down my throat and was not allowing me to breath. At least that's how it seemed to me in my anesthetic , half awake but mostly asleep, state. I fought hard and feel sorry for the ICU nurses who finally pulled the tube. That was June second. Now its June 7th and I'm home. They say I'm doing great, and I don't have much pain. Only use Tylanol for pain. My biggest problem is I can't sleep. When I dose off I immediately wake up gasping for breath. They thought that the narcotics may be causing it so they took me off and that night I slept fairly well, but then the next night it was back. They can't figure it out, as I never had sleep apnea nor do I snore. I'm home but worry if I can sleep or not. Man this is a journey. Anyone else experience this sleep problem?

Well, its the night before my surgery and I'm so nervous I feel as if I'm going to jump out of my skin. I have read most of the stories here and it helps a lot to know that most every one is doing well and came out of surgery fine. I still have the fear of not making it. I know the success rate is high, something like 99 per cent, but there is always the doubt. I would give most anything to make this go away. I'm thankful to have you all here and it makes me feel optimistic to read the success stories. I will be talking to you on the other side of this surgery soon.