Nasser's Journal

Dan Fouratt  Nassar, you are in the hardest part of the journey - waiting.  In this period I spent time getting ready for surgery and recovery.  I spoke with a dietician who provided advice on my pre and post surgery diets.  My surgeon said I should exercise (not strenuous) as much as I could, I did.  I prepared meals for post surgery in line with he dietician recommendations, even though my wife could cooked them.  I completly stopped drinking alcohol. I went shopping for recovery clothes (sweat pants and a front button shirt) as I was not planning on wearing the gown. I bought dietician approve snacks for the hospital recovery and home (good thing as the food was awful at Duke). I did everything I could to distract me from thinking about the upcoming event  and give me some sense of control. Good luck on your journey you are in a great hospital system so you will do well.  PS recovery is the fun part as you actually do have control on what is done.

John Cook  I found out that I would likely be having SAVR in February and in April was schedule for a Ross Procedure in 27 days.

The more I’ve found out about the surgery and the statistics, the less worried I am about the actual surgery.  We have a better than 99% chance of our surgeries going well and having normal or close to normal longevity prospects as people who don’t have valve problems. Reading lots of information and watching videos helped me get over the anxiety of the surgery.

What worries me is the recovery process.  I have difficulty not working for two weeks when I take a vacation.  The prospect of having to take 4 - 12 weeks off for recovery is daunting. 

Then there are the other questions: When am I going to be able to return to full duties? When will I be able to run again? How much medication will they have to put me on to keep my BP below 110?

I’m having dreams about both the surgery and the recovery and I know it’s just me working through my anxiety.

I’ll see the other side of my surgery and you will see the other side of yours.

Good luck.

Daniel Bellezzo  Dear Nassar, I had a valve sparring aortic root repair Aug 4th 2023, the anxiety and wait was horrible, you can’t help but think about it, the wait was one of the worst parts, the surgery, well the surgery was no big deal. It’s the waking up and recovering that’s challenging. But you’ll do better than you think. I was at 5.1 cm , so what choice do you have. Live with this time bomb or take care of it . The time bomb  and every year watching it grow will be in the past soon. And that my friend will be a huge huge burden off your shoulders 

Glenn Tremper  Certainly understanding the challenges posed by the ramp up to surgery.  Walking the path together. . . .