James's Posts

Hi Jim, Welcome to the community! I had minimally-invasive robot surgery to repair my mitral valve in October 2016. I went in early Thursday morning, went to step down from ICU Friday afternoon (had to wait for an open bed), was able to shower by myself at the hospital on Sunday, and was out Monday morning. I was sore and tired, but not doing too badly. Four weeks after surgery, I was able to drive short distances. Cardiac rehab was faster for me too, because I didn't have a cracked sternum so could do more resistance training very early on. What type of minimally invasive surgery are you discussing?

Welcome, James! I had a minimally invasive mini-thoracotomy from Dr. Scott Goldman at Lankenau Heart Pavillion (part of Main Line Health) in Wynnewood, PA. I went in on a Friday morning, was out by Monday at lunchtime, and had no driving restrictions. I found the procedure to be painless. I was connected to by-pass for approximately 1.5 hours via a femoral cannula. I was amazed that heart surgery was a non-event. You may also require a TEE and cardiac catherization prior to surgery to get a better look at the valve and to ensure that there aren't any heart blockages, respectively - they're both a piece of cake. No worries. If you have any questions, just ask! We're happy to answer. Best of luck with your research. You're going to do just fine!

Thanks for the greeting and info, Phyllis and Susan! Phyllis, did you have an option between robotic and non-robotic? What are the reason for one over the other? How soon did you start PT, and how many sessions? Susan, I had a TEE as part of diagnostic process, you're right, very easy. My surgery is repair not replace. The doc specializes in valve surgery and has done hundreds of minimally invasives, so I feel good about that. I have to admit it felt good to learn that minimal is an option for me. Of course my surgery is on hold now, but my symptoms aren't bad at the moment. Tx again!

Hi Jim, I don't want to be a Debbie Downer, but I had robotic mitral valve surgery at CC in 2017. It wasn't a piece of cake for me. I had terrible bruising and pain for weeks after. I think it's worse for women due to going through the breast tissue. I don't know exactly what happened other then post surgery they had to do compressions, maybe that's why. Also realty low blood pressure. I also had a blood transfusion.I guess it's different for everyone. I hope things go better for you.

I went to Cleveland Clinic because I had been told by my local cardiologist that I was probably a good candidate for robotic but it wasn't available locally. Plus, Dr. Gillinov, who's the top robotic mitral surgeon in the world, thought I'd be a good candidate and was willing to do my surgery. I didn't consider anything else after that. The requirements for robotic are stricter than other methods. There are a lot of discussions of pros and cons, but I knew I want to minimize my recovery. It's supposedly more painful initially, but the pain subsided relatively quickly and I only needed limited pain meds after the first week or two. I was cleared for rehab after about 3 weeks, but insurance took another 3 weeks, so I started 6 weeks after surgery. The cardiac rehab program I entered was awesome and the exercise physiologist tweaked each person's program regularly. I progressed quickly, but when my heart rate went too high and didn't come down quickly enough on my low interval, my intervals were adjusted for a lower, longer rest interval. My strength training was able to ramp up faster than many of the others in the center. I did a full 36 sessions and then paid for another 6 months using the rehab center with access to the cardiac team. Being able to drive short distances after only 4 weeks was another plus for me.