Jim's Posts

Well, the surgery came...I slept thru it...don't really remember ICU; but, they had me up walking right away. I remember day two and three as being pretty good. There was soreness; but, the meds worked fine. I felt stronger walking than prior to the surgery. Unfortunately, I came out with three chest tubes and on day five, they inserted another one to take care of air building up on the chest cavity and not where the lungs could handle it. The insertion of the new tube was the worst pain of the whole ordeal. This made my expected 4-6 day hospitalization become 15 days; but, I came home last Monday and am feeling much improved this week. I've had some ankle swelling, which was fixed by diuretics. I can say that there is soreness, but not significant. I can walk; but, my stamina is not yet back to normal. I'm wearing a "Life Vest" which is really a vest with a built-in defibrillator, in case my heart goes off on a VTT tear while healing. I'm officially told that after healing, my heart will be much stronger than it's been in ages; but, until it heals, I have a higher risk of a heart attack, thus the LifeVest. The "before & after" pictures clearly indicate that I needed this surgery; I was told that I was only getting 45-50% blood flow through the valve, at best. The surgeon - - the greatest! Did a wonderful job. The hospital staff - - outstanding support while I was there. I guess in summary I'd advise anyone needing a mitral valve repair to go for it; get the best surgeon and hospital you can find in your area; get in the best shape you can before the surgery; use the meds when they even hint of being needed; get off the pain meds as soon as you can after you get home (I used meds for one day, and now pain is controlled with Tylenol and an occasional hot-pad). Glad I did it!