Sasha's Journal

What made you feel better during your hospital stay after your surgery? Or better yet, what made you feel right at home? I would like to gather some things to make my husband's stay at the hospital as comfortable as possible. I thought of bringing a frame with our family photo on it, maybe a robe and some slippers. What do you all think?

For those with a mechanical valve, when were you required to start taking blood thinners? I have heard of people starting to take them a couple of days before their surgery. Is this true? Or did you start taking them immediately following surgery?

My husband has to get two root canals one week before surgery! He's getting one done right now as I write this. The other one is scheduled for tomorrow. Anyone had this done before their surgery?

Met with Dr. Trento yesterday! Hubby's surgery is scheduled for May 31st. Meeting was very brief. His assistant answered most of our questions and Dr Trento was mainly there to go over what he was going to do. Dr Trento concluded that the On-X mechanical valve would be the best choice. Dr Trento did also mention my hubby would be on blood thinners for only a short while. Lastly, the thing that kind of scared me was that he said his leak is very bad so they have to intervene and get the surgery done right away. Not exactly what I wanted to hear but I suppose if it was extremely urgent, he would have had to do an emergency surgery. More updates to come. Looks like his pre-op tests will be scheduled for next week and then the surgery the week after that!

I'm a nervous wreck it seems ever since my husband's aortic regurgitation diagnosis. Sometimes, it feels like I'm the one going in for surgery because I'm the one freaking out over everything while my husband tries to calm me down. Tomorrow is his meeting with his surgeon, Dr. Trento from Cedars Sinai. What's the first meeting like with the surgeon? Do you just go over symptoms? Maybe even establish a surgery date? I'm so thankful for this community. You all have been a real inspiration & you are all warriors! Thanks so much in advance.

Question: Was your heart already dilated before going into surgery? My husband's left ventricle and left atrium are already dilated quite a bit and I just want to know if any of you have experienced this while you were waiting. My husband will meet with Dr. Trento from Cedars Sinai next week! Hopefully we can get his surgery scheduled soon. Much prayers to you all. Blessings.

It's been a while since I last posted, but it looks like my husband was able to get into Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles. We are meeting with his primary care physician tomorrow morning to figure out the next step. It's been a slow process as we were going back and forth with his insurance company as well as running additional tests on him. Also, his surgeon will probably be Dr. Alfredo Trento. Did any of you have him as a surgeon? What was your experience like? *My husband was diagnosed with severe Aortic Regurgitation January of this year.

Hi everyone. So we just found out a couple of months ago that my husband is going to need surgery to replace his aortic valve which is severely leaky. From your experience, is it best for him to get his surgery in our hometown in a standard hospital or travel out of town to do his surgery at Cedars-Sinai? The convenience of getting it done here in our hometown is that he will be nearby and I wouldn't have to drive 2 hours back and forth just to see him. The other upside of getting it done in LA is he will be operated by the best of the best. My husband is only 31 and the doctor found a murmur during a routine check up. My husband's primary doctor thinks he should be fine staying in town for the surgery. But since his brother works at Cedars, he wants us to do it there. Any thoughts/prayers are appreciated as we begin to start making some important decisions. And wishing you all a speedy and mighty recovery!