Judy's Journal

Well, the surgery is over as is the ICU experience, the Step Down Unit, and the post-op clearance sessions. We are celebrating with a last night's dinner in the city's Little Italy section. I highly recommend CC for heart surgery, and at the least, for a second opinion. I will continue my after care with my cardiologist at Penn Medicine in Philly. I am looking forward to being with all the friends and family at home who weren't physically here with me in CLE, but incredibly supportive throughout the journey. Thank you to my Adam Pick Heart Valve group support buddies. I am most willing to lend any assistsnce to members beginning their journey.

The surgery is over! I am in a step down unit at the Cleveland Clinic. Today I am free of chest tubes, wires, big guaze patches. There are quite a few incisions as this was an AVR redo. The docs told me that all went well. Looking forward to release from the hospital in a couple of days. Then, after a post release visit two days thereafter, we should be heading home to Philly!

My surgery - an AVR redo- is a week away at the Cleveland Clinic. I finally organized all the information that CC sent to me into a binder that I will review on the drive to Ohio from Philly on Saturday. I am ready to get the surgery behind and to let the healing begin. It is really tough on a person's mental and emotional state to have to go thru two OHS experiences in less than 5 years.

Hello- this is my first time sharing my story in this community. I will try to be brief. I had an AVR at HUP in May, 2012. My native valve had become seriously stenotic and had to be replaced. My surgery went well, and recovery was fine, although it was quite painful at times. Anyhow, less than three years later, a routine Echo showed that the valve ( a tissue valve) was leaking. For a year, I was monitored by my cardiologist, and the leak was becoming more serious. I was scheduled for an AVR redo at HUP on September 26, 2016 after having a series of tests throughout the summer. At the time of the pre-admission testing, after I did all of the usual testing, my surgeon entered the exam room and told me that I could decide to wait and be monitored every 4 months with an Echo. I was quite distressed by this turn of events. I visited my cardiologist the next day. He advised me to seek a second opinion out of the Philadelphia area as my surgeon is quite well known in the cardiac surgery community and I should seek an unbiased opinion. Fast forward, I went to Cleveland Clinic for a two day testing and consultation experience with a cardiologist and a cardiac surgeon. These doctors were amazing. They reviewed my records from Penn ( including the report of my first AVR in 2012), and the results of the CC tests, including an Echo administered on the first day of testing. Their opinion - the valve was leaking seriously and my aorta was mildly enlarged due to the leak. Recommendation - an AVR redo sooner rather than later. So I am scheduled to return to Cleveland Clinic for a day of pre-op testing on Monday, March 6 and the surgery on Tuesday, March 7. I have complete faith in the staff and doctors at the Cleveland Clinic. However, I am a bit overwhelmed by the logistics of having such serious surgery so far away from home. I welcome any advice, suggestions, insight from members of this community. Thank you