Mary's Journal

6 of the hardest days of my life. I am home, recovering in spite of a nasty UTI. All I can say is I cried tears of joy waking up from surgery, cried tears of pain, tears of exhaustion. But, I am home with my family. In fact my surgeon says I have the smallest internal organs and heart he has seen. Far too small to use the smallest valve made, so he had to enlarge the area to replace the valve. I suffered a severe allergic reaction during surgery to which medication, they are unsure. It almost cost me my life, but I am still here for some reason. Praise God.

My surgery was bumped to Friday June 6th, which is fine...someone is sicker than me. Heres the strange thing, I got a letter from my insurance Thursday saying I was approved for surgical admission June 5th- 10th. Yesterday, I got another one saying I was approved June 6th-11th. Nobody called me..... I got online this afternoon to see if something had changed and I called them and it was changed to Friday. I got a letter on Monday from my insurance...they had to have submitted last week and nobody even called to tell me. Venting....

I spent 5 hours yesterday getting all my pre-op tests done. I cant believe its only 6 days until my first OHS. It went so fast. While I could think of about a 1000 other things I would rather be doing and have always HATED my cardiology check ups (since 2 years old I have been a cardiac pt) ...... i am so thankful for the work they do and thankful I can be helped. Without intervention I would have only survived to 25 years old. I am very lucky to have gone another 30 years before I needed more intervention. I feel like theres so much I want to do in the next days. One thing I will be doing for sure is driving tractor. Helping my husband bring hay in before surgery.

I am scheduled June 5th for my first open heart surgery to replace my aortic valve. Looking for tios to prep and what to expect after getting home. We have 2 second floor bathrooms, but none on the first floor. How difficult will it be to get up the stairs every couple of hours? We have a large newly remodeled bedroom on the second floor. Should I plan to stay there for the week? Its fairly simple, we dont like a lot of clutter. Its our space. The rest of the house is a bit crazy with 2 dogs, 2 cats, my stepson, his gf, and our 6 month old grandson. We all get along great and its a great living situation. Should I ask my husband to put a chair, tv and mini fridge and stay close to our bathroom during the early days? This is the space before we officialy moved in.

This was last fall at Yellowstone National Park. I hope it back because I didnt see any wolves in my travels. I had my TEE (which was far worse than the angio) and only need surgery on my aortic valve which is huge relief. I woke up from TEE and my teeth had been embedded in my upper lip and the swelling was ridiculous and I bit my tongue so hard my tongue is purple and still numb like I got a shot of novacaine and a huge sore to the bottom of my tongue. But, I am scheduled June 5th for surgery.

I made my first post here yesterday and I am have a few comments that have raised some thoughts for me. How many of you have had 2 valves worked on? Were they done in one surgery? Thursday I had my R and L heart cath and I was told that the pressures in my heart are severely elevated, but my pulmonary hypertension is extremely high and while I have severe aortic stenosis, my cardiologists agree that my pulmonary valve has closed up again. I am getting a TEE next week to get a better view. I asked...ooohhh, then you can fix both valves at the same time? The surgeon said he will be doing each surgery in 2 seperate surgeries. A ballon valvuloplasty for pulmonary and because of my age I need an open surgery for my aortic valve. My mouth literally dropped open. He has also indicated best case scenario, I have both done within a month and not to wait much longer. I was supposed to start a new job next week and I was hoping to work 6 months before the surgery and he said time is not on my side. A big thank you to the ladies who have given something to think about.

I found out Thursday after R and L heart cath that I need 2 seperate heart surgeries. A pulmonary valvuloplasty and an open heart aortic valve replacement. Feeling very overwhelmed