Glenn's Journal

Hi—this is Glenn’s wife, Peggy. Glenn made it through surgery at Mayo Clinic in Phoenix on Friday, September 12. He’s still in ICU, but improving daily. He’ll post an update soon.

Well, the time has come when I log onto this webpage and see my own smiling face as one of those now "on deck." It is getting close. My wife and I are currently travelling to be ready to do the pre-op visits September 11th. If all goes well I will begin my recovery September 12th. I'm mostly ready. I know everyone prepares for challenges like surgery differently, and we each have our approach for finding some strength in the midst of understandable bouts of emotions and anxiety. For me, these things have helped so far 1. Guided Imagery. The materials from Mayo Clinic recommended, among other options, the use of recorded guided meditations engaging in positive imagery. There apparently are studies showing a remarkable effectiveness to these methods for those going through and recovering from surgery. (A subject for an article or interview, Adam?). For a lot of reasons, this suggestion was something familiar and comfortable to me. It may not work for everyone. I have used a set of audio files recorded by Bellaruth Naperstack called "Guided Meditations To Promote Successful Surgery." You can find these for download or online listening on Amazon and elsewhere. For me, these have done a lot to overcome negativity and improve my readiness for surgery. I listen to one every night and am finding my mood much improved. There is more information out there, for example from the VA: https://www.va.gov/WHOLEHEALTHLIBRARY/tools/guided-imagery.asp 2. Statistics. It truly helped to keep the statistics we all know front of mind. These all reflect that it is a safe, secure bet and the risks of not going forward with the surgery are much greater over the long run. 3. Others' successful experiences. I was surprised to discover so many of my friends have had something like this and sailed through it. One friend brought me up short with her experience: We are getting my surgery done so I can recover and then help my wife who will have knee replacement surgery next spring. Our friend had both open heart surgery and a knee replacement. She announced my wife had drawn the more challenging card! 4. Make the decision, then stop. This site and other resources provided so much information and wisdom as to how to proceed. We prayed for wisdom, listened to others, took our time. It helped my wife and I to recall the times we made other good decisions using the wisdom we have brought with us to this set of decisions. We are grateful for those good decisions and their outcome, and that gives us hope that our decisions on this set of issues will be good. Perfect? Of course not. But the odds are on it being a good decision. While we don't want to be stubborn or naive, once we made the decision I spent a lot less time on the research and videos on this site and elsewhere. That helps with the positivity. 5. Feel the feels, then stop. I believe in the truism: If you don't have your emotions, they will have you. I have made it a practice to notice them, name them, talk about them, journal about them. But I also eventually realized I was wallowing in feelings just to maintain whatever it was that made them linger. I went for walks, distracted myself with tasks and eventually got out of the funks. Yes, the feelings pop up unexpectedly, but I try to notice them and accept them and then be productive about something. Try is the operative word - while I'm better at this I am far from accomplished at this. 6. Don't get sucked in by other's fear of surgery. As I have grown more "ready," I've noticed what reaction I receive when I tell neighbors or acquaintances of the upcoming surgery. Just like I felt shock and aversion to something so bizarre as open heart surgery at the beginning of my journey, they will have that same early reaction. They will react with fear and concern and share that with you. You will find you are doing the reassuring of them! This is OK, but I am trying to avoid a steady diet of these conversations for my own mindset. 7. I have a number of other thoughts, but this is long enough. Pray for me, as I pray for you.

Question for the group: I'm a mostly retired attorney doing about 6 - 10 hours a week of work for a family commercial property working on leasing, financial matters, and managing maintenance teams. Generally I am sitting at a desk with emails and zoom meetings, all in the comfort of my home office. I have good people to delegate most anything I have going on for a period of time, but I want to have conversations about how long I will need them to be on the front line on such matters. Any insight to offer? I am thinking 4 weeks from my surgery to replace an aortic valve, deal with an aortic aneurysm, repair a mitral valve all on a relatively healthy 63 year old heart. This would be the start of a ramp up process - probably only checking emails and some calls for a few hours a week until say 8 weeks out. Is that realistic?

I’m now six weeks from my scheduled heart valve surgery.  It’s surreal to think the surgery is “next month” (September 12th).  

I want to thank each of you who have reported your own steps along your journey. Whether your surgery was in the last week , the last few years, or decades ago, your narratives and perspectives have been immensely helpful to me in my own preparation for surgery.  

I’m finally wrapping my head around being on this path and am more “ready” than not.  I’m keeping my eyes on the good things to be enjoyed with a repaired heart for years to come.  

Any alums of Mayo Clinic in Phoenix out there? I'm scheduled for Aortic Valve Replacement, Bentall Procedure and Mitral repair Sept. 12th with Dr. Sell-Dottin. I would love to hear what to expect.

’m looking to hear from others who have elected to proceed with valve replacement surgery when asymptomatic, and input they can offer me on getting one’s head around the decision to proceed.
I am a 63 year old male born with sub aortic stenosis. I had open heart surgery at age 14 which was successful. I have always diligently consulted with cardiologists regarding the remaining regurgitations and how to best navigate aging with the conditions I have.
My Mayo Clinic (AZ) cardiologist and cardiac surgeon have advised that it’s time to undergo another surgery to address some long-standing issues. Specifically, the plan is undergo surgery in September to repair an aortic aneurysm, replace the Aortic valve and repair (or replace) the mitral valve. The measurements all suggest it is time to go forward, even though I am asymptomatic. The aorta is at 53 mm at the root and ascending aorta, and the aortic and mitral valves are in the moderate to severe range. Ejection Fraction is 52%, Left ventricle is enlarged (60 mm) and left atrium is also enlarged. These have been watched over the past five years and there is a general progression of these symptoms, but not catastrophically so.
The issue is I am asymptomatic. I feel great, in fact. I’m trying to get my head (and heart) around the decision to go forward while still feeling quite well. I can understand that it is better to address these issues while I am healthy, and that these issues will not spontaneously improve. I also am convinced that if I want to ensure a healthy and long life in the future, I should proceed with the surgery.
Yet, the decision to go forward with open heart surgery means a decision to go through a process that has a small but non-negligible amount of risk of death and a larger risk of some non-morbid complication (e.g. pacemaker implantation). A friend has also just recently had emergency open heart surgery to address an infected Aortic valve and he and his family are struggling with some pretty gruesome complications. It is unclear at this point whether he will survive, and if he does it will be in a significantly worse status than he was in before the surgery.
I’m hoping to hear from people with similar issues or who have navigated this process of going forward even when asymptomatic. For those of you who did so, what can you tell me about your experiences? Thanks!