Jason's Journal

Hi. Everyone

  I went home friday, memorial weekend. Had some issues with my home health, because it being a holiday. They are doing my inr testing until i get setup for at the clinic here locally. I finally Got all that setup, but i started to feel more and more dizzy when getting up to walk. By Sunday, i could barely stand and walk more then 10 steps before i felt like i was going to pass out. My blood pressure was low, 84/50/100. So I call the Surgeons hotline and waited for several hours with no return call. After my second call someone finally called me back. They said not to goto the hospital at this time, as what i discribed to them was normal and i was stable. So they set up some bloodwork and xrays for Tuesday. Long story short. That evening i got up to goto the bathroom. I barely made it to the bathroom. I started to see flashes of light, sweeting excessive, and my wife said i turned white as a ghost. I was like that for over 5 min. She call the ambulance at that time.
 After getting back to the hospital, they did xrays, blood work and a eco, its about 2am tuesday at this point. The tests showed fluid on my heart and low platlets. So they started me on blood platlets and starteded to prep me for surgery. By 6am i was in the operating room. 

The performed a Pericardial Window

A pericardial window is a surgery done on the sac around the heart. A small part of the sac is removed. This lets extra fluid drain from the sac. My operation went as planned and i do feel better. They removed the drain tubes yesterday (Thursday) morning.
 So far so good. Just hope everything starts to go in the right direction. I'm so happy they didnt have to open me up again.

 Anyway i will talk to you guys later.

Jason

Hi everyone
I got my drain tubes out yesterday 5/23/23 at about 2pm. At noon on the 23 i started getting a new pain in my chest. It was on my right side about dead center. That makes it really hard to breath in. So they thought it might just be the tubes. But After they removed them, it was about the same.
Today they removed the pacing wires and i took a shower. Its nice to not stink anymore.
I have gained about 25 to 30 lbs since my operation. They say its water weight and it should get back to normal soon. I was under the impresion i would loose lbs not gain.
They did a new blood test this morning to check for any infections. They had 4 bottles that reminded me of tobasco bottles with some kind of solution on the bottom. They took 2 from my right and 2 from my left arms. I've had a fever between 99 &100.8 a few times here and there, so they are checking to be on the safe side. I was told it normal, as your body is healing to have a temp change.
I should be home by friday 5/26/23. Possibly Thursday if all tests go well. But i'm in no hurry.
Anyway... I will talk to you all later.
Jason

Hi All

Its 3:37 am and about to take my last pre op shower, then heading to hospital for my 5:15am check in time. Will update when i'm at hospital and about to have my modified Bentall, MAV and graft.

Jason:(

Anyone know how to get the upcoming surgery box to come back up. I hit the x in the corner by accident. Now i cant see upcoming surgery. I left a message with (help) but no reply yet.

Hi all you Heart Warriors...

I just got off the phone with my surgeons scheduling department. My surgery will be on the 19th of this month. I will have a few things that i need to do before... like labs, cardiac pre op clinic on the 11th, plus Cardiac Education call on the 16th. They pulled my tooth last Thursday and bam, they are ready to get er done. Man i figured it would be longer. Its getting real now. I'm starting to freak out now..... But hearing all your storys on this site gives me hope going foward. Its a scary time and a major surgery. But im blessed to be living in a time when the medical advancements in this field of surgery, has such a great track record. Its almost has a 100% sucess rate. But its still no joke of a surgery. I hope everything goes smooth with no complications. No pace maker, bleeding, clots ect. I'm hoping i recover like some of you, and be up and around in a few weeks to a month.

Thanks you Adam for this site, and thank you all heart warriors and soon to be warriors...Thanks for reaching out, and helping others (like myself) during these scary and uncertain times in our lives.


Thanks all Jason

I talked with my surgeon last week and he is going to perform a bentall mechanical valve, no surgery date yet. Still need to remove my bad tooth that was refered to a oral surgeon 5 months ago. One or more of the roots are in my sinus cavity. So my dentist will not remove it. That has been a pain. He said if i cant get it done before my surgery date, i will be on antibiotics after surgery, until tooth is removed. I really dont want to have the tooth done after my surgery, but it is what it is. My surgeon woukd like my surgery be done in the next few weeks. He dosn't want to wait to long as my valve is so tight, it can damage the heart, the longer we wait, as my heart is doing great at this time. I'm freaking out about it.....but its out of my hands.

Has anyone here had the bentall done. If so how are you feeling now. Anything i should know. Any feed back would be awesome.
Thanks Everyone

Hi everyone.

Did any of you have any kidney damage from your OHS. I have read that some people do get AKI from the heart and lung machine.

Thanks Everyone.

Hi Everyone.

I just read that taking warfarin can damage internal organs like the kidneys, liver, and brain. I understand bleeding issues are possible, but this also, no good. Is this a true statement? Have any of you had this problem, or heard this. If so... My Valve selection has now been made.

Thanks Everyone