Scott's Journal

Im doing great. I had daily blind spots in my vision for about a year and a half, that would last for20min then leave me with a headache, but they were manageable. Now they happen once a week. Still some knumbness in the incision area but most of the feeling has returned to my upper right leg (where the heart lung machine attached) and chest. Im running a lot and playing basketball and havent really noticed any increase or decreased stamina. So things are good. Im greatful for having been blessed to have good insurance and a great surgeon in Dr Randal Chitwood at the East Carolina Heart Institute. My many heart palpitations a day that i grew up with are now down to one or two a week or month, if any (they are like little tiny weird heartbeats i feel inside). That's one of the best things i think, that i enjoy the most. They were horrible and would keep me away sometimes. So that's about it, not sure i really have much more to say. This chapter of my life is over for now. I probably won't need to journal anything anymore, hopefully. Thank you for reading this and feel free to email me any time if you have questions about your surgery (email is in older posts). Scott Isaiah 40:31

Hey everyone, Just wanted to post a quick update. I've been doing great. The numbness around my incisions is almost completely gone. You can barely see the scars. I've been running four or five times a week., and playing basketball. The ocular migraines are not as often anymore. I had them almost every day, for about five minutes at a time, for about a year and a half. Now I think I get them maybe once a week. There's not really anything that reminds me of my surgery anymore. I don't even notice my scars, they've really faded. With the ocular migraines/blind spots for a few minutes going away, and not occurring very often, I really forget that I even had heart surgery. I'm looking forward to the Virginia Beach rock 'n roll Marathon and 5K series in Virginia Beach, on August 31. Feel free to join us any other HVJ'ers out there. Send me a message for information. Well that's about it. I don't really know what else to say. My next echo is in a few months. My first one looked great, hoping this one is good too. I guess I'll update at that point. But this chapter of my life, seems to be coming to a close. With a happy ending. God bless, Scott

Hey Everyone, Just wanted to post an update on how things are going. I still get the blind spots in my vision but now they are not every day, and they are usually smaller, which is really nice. I've heard from a few other HVJ'ers that they have this too. The scars are healed very nicely. My heart palpitations and irregular heartbeats (that used to keep me awake at night) have completely gone away, thank God. I suffered from them for my whole life (never new they were abnormal, when i was younger, thought they were normal since it was all i knew). They continued a little after the surgery, but they kinds faded away at about the 6 month post surgery point. Words cannot express how grateful I am for this, for the first time in my life, i don't notice my heart beating weird, i can just forget about it for months at a time, and be like wow, this is really nice. I'm running 4 or 5 times a week and swimming a few times a week also and have gained a little endurance that i didnt have prior to the surgery, which is really nice. I had an echo 5 months ago and didnt see a single valve leak, what a wonderful sight! Thank God for these incredible blessings, The 4 dark days of surgery are a distant memory. I almost feel proud of being a OHS patient. I like to talk about it, i guess it's part of my identity now. I feel like it's really given me a better perspective on life and how short it is. No need to sweat the small stuff, our time on this earth is short. Anyone want to join a bunch of us in Virginia the weekend of AUg 31st this year for our first ever HVJ run? If you are out there are about to get OHS and wanna chat, feel free to call my cell 561-866-7234, i enjoy telling people the things i wish someone wouldve told me. Scott Phil 4:6

Hey Everyone, Doing great. I\'ll write a more detailed update later but wanted to ask the following question: Is anyone else getting migraines and strange blind spots in their vision each day? The blind spots last about 5 minutes and seem to migrate to other areas of my vision throught the 5 minutes. Seems to happen almost daily. I\'ve read some other posts that \"Occular Headaches\" are pretty common. Any input appreciated. Scott

3 months post robotic mitral valve repair by Dr. Randolph Chitwood at the East Carolina Heart Institute. You wouldn\'t be able to tell I had heart surgery if you saw me on the beach. You may think I got stabbed in the right side during a knife fight....I\'m gonna go with than one. Anyway, doing really well and feeling great. I did have some chest pain/cramp 2 weeks ago though. It felt like a belt was tightening on my upper chest and I wasn\'t sure if it was musculosceletal or not, so ER I went and two days on the hospital. Thank God all the tests came back great and I think it was just a muscle cramp from beginning to do more upper body exercise recently. Plus, I think I forgot to take my aspirin that morning, so since it\'s also a pain killer, than may have prompted the painful chest cramp. Anyway, although it sucked to be in the hospital, I did get to see my first echo since the surgery and WOW did my valve look gorgeous! Not a single drop of leaking. Im aware that it\'s common, normal and fine to have a mild leak after a repair, but I was hoping for none. What a sight. I\'m doing light running 5 times a week and have been cleared for weights. Cardiac depression is long over and seems like it\'s smooth sailing now and all behind me. Hopefully. Thanks for following me and if you have any questions about your own surgery feel free to shoot me an email anytime. Scott scottnewson@hotmail.com

Well I\'m 8 weeks post robotic mitral valve repair surgery. I\'m doing great. The low mood/cardiac depression lasted about 4 weeks but now is fading and I\'m feeling much better. Being back in my exercise routine, light jogging couple miles a day, and back at work and doing everythhing i like to do, has been great. My right pectoral muscle area is still completely numb but ive heard that will be about 9 months to a year to get some feeling back, if any. Im also feeling a little stronger and more energy. My appetite is coming back as well. It\'s hard to believe the surgery was just 8 wks ago. Scott

Hey Everyone, 5 weeks post surgery and doing well. Doing lots of walking. Cardiologist said I can start jogging next week. Only on two medications (Aspirin and metoprolol). My big question is will feeling return to my right pectoral muscle area and under my right arm? I had the min invasive robotic approach and this is where the incisions are but Im wondering if other people had numbness around their incision areas and how long it took feeling to come back if at all? Thanks Scott

Hey everyone, Day 19 post surgery and doing great. I think the minimally invasive robotic approach is way easier to recover from than the regular full sternonomy (which I\'ll refer to as \"FS\"). Just from reading some of the other journals, this is my guess. For one, I got let out of the hospital after only 4 days. I think the FS\'ers usually take about 5-7 days in the hospital. Second, I was able to sleep in a bed right away. I hear many of the FS\'ers have to sleep in a recliner for the first couple weeks because it is too painful to lay back. Third, I was able to walk around (though at a snail\'s pace) the Intermediate Care Unit halls by Day 2 for 15 min at a time, and now I am walking outside around the block and being driven to do small random errands here and there without much difficultly (as I\'m not cleared to drive,) Don\'t get me wrong, it was pretty painful, and still is, and I\'m still on 600 mg of Ibuprofen every 6 hours, but something tells me I\'m incredibly blessed to have been a candidate for the minimally invasive robotic approach with Dr Randolph Chitwood. Or maybe I\'m just doing so well being young (33 yrs). Either way, it\'s nice to be recovering so well. (I did hear though that generally younger people feel way more pain that older people after surgery...younger nerves maybe?...and also that a FS isn\'t as painful as a right-thoracotomy because with the FS, they are only cutting skin and bone, whereas with the mini-thorc. they are cutting into the right pectoral and other muscles..muscles hurt more i guess). My incisions still hurt to the touch, and it\'s hard for me to sit or stand with good posture, and generally I am clutching my chest while doing anything. I also feel tight in the chest when I\'m taking in a deep breath and cannot take in as much air as I used to, but this is increasing a little each day as I use the incentive spirometer. I can\'t lay on my right side (the side with the 4 holes and the 2 inch incision, which constitutes all my \"incisions\") or on my stomach yet. My entire right side was all black and blue from bruising, I have no idea from what, but now most of that has cleared up. Looking back, now with some perspective, only 2 days out of the last 19 were REALLY BAD and scary, the rest were just moderately bad, and after going through the REALLY BAD days, the moderately bad are like a walk in the park. The 2 REALLY BAD days were day 3 and 4 in Intermediate Care (ill use \"IC\"). On day 2 I suggested changing up the pain meds a little, reducing them and trying some non narcotic tylenol (since i read someone in the heart journals doing fine with this). Big mistake! within 10 hours of the new pain meds i started having a weird involuntary inhalation reflex where my lungs sucked in air but couldn\'t blow it out. I think it was a shock-type reaction because the only other time i\'ve felt that in my life was when I jumped into 32 degree water while white water rafting. My body went into a strange state of shock from the cold and sucked in a tonn of air and I had trouble blowing it out. Well this was me in the IC room, panicking because I could barely breath out. The worst part was not really understanding what was wrong with me, not putting two and two together that it was the pain med change that caused it, and also losing some control over my body to a small extent. I was terrified. The nurses called in one of the head nurses and it wasn\'t long before they realized that we had just gotten too far \"behind\" the pain and shouldve stayed on the narcotic (Tardol and Norco). It was really strange because I didn\'t feel a lot of pain. Ya I felt pain but not some crazy amount of more pain than usual, just the regular amount. Anyway, it wasn\'t long before they got me back on the narcotics and my difficulty breathing stopped. That was the worst part of the entire heart surgery experience for me. If I ever have to go through this again, it\'s gonna be strong narcotics from day 1. I was afraid of being addicted, but now I know that it\'s absolutely necessary. And I\'ve also found that over the last 2 weeks, I\'ve been able to taper myself almost completely off the narcotics just fine. To all you out there going into your surgeries, I really recommend having a conversation with your doctors about what their plan will be for pain control. Everyone is different and will need varying levels and types, but it is a good idea to know they have a set schedule of something with sufficient strength right from the get go. The only other really difficult parts were also in Day 3 and 4 when we were either making the pain med changes or I was just taking my regular doses, they made me feel very uncomfortable, almost paranoid. Maybe it was because I wasn\'t eating much due to the nausea and all I had in my system was the pain meds, but I think they made me feel a little crazy. Thank God by then my drainage tube was detached from the collector thingy (technical term) and I could get out of my bed (after detaching my pulse cord, blood pressure cuff and grabbing my heart monitor remote which was attached to 5 wires stuck to my chest) and walk around the IC area. This helped me not feel so stir crazy and paranoid. I could let out some anxious energy and get a lot of smiles from all the nurses as I was showing great progress by walking. Otherwise, i\'d just sit in my bed, fluctuate from wayyy to hot to freezing so much my legs wouldn\'t stop shaking (the room\'s A/C / Heater had two settings, \"Dante\'s Inferno\" and \"Arctic Ice\" ;) ) and my mind would just race through a minefield of negative thoughts. \"What\'s that beeping sound? Is that my heart monitor? What if my valve repair isn\'t good?\" So to escape this irrationality, walking became my best friend, which also eventually sped me to a speedy recovery and allowed me to leave so quickly on Day 4. So that\'s about it for now. i wanted to add some more detail about the experience, which I have above, to help those who are going into their surgeries. As each day passes and I recover a little more, I realize that what I said above is true, there were only really 2 very difficult days, the rest were bearable and I could honestly face again if I had to. The good thing is I know (for if there ever is a next time) that I can avoid those 2 scary days like that by having and sticking to a good pain med plan. Scott

Hey Everyone, Haven\'t posted anything for a while as things have been going pretty smoothly. Just boring recovery at home, which is good. No news is good news. I\'ve been able to taper myself down a little from the strong pain killers (narcotics i think) since the surgery. Pain and numbness around my the incisions are still there but it is being well managed with the pain medication. Wow...I\'m totally seeing how this entire process would be almost impossible without the pain medication. Right after the surgery I was taking pain meds every 4 hours, including at night. Thank God, now I\'m on a slightly reduced dosage every 6 hours. I\'ve been walking short distances each day since day 2 post surgery. When I was in the ICU, it was a nice way to escape all beeping sounds and helpless feeling in bed. Now it\'s a nice way to deal with the pain, and feel some accomplishment each day. We walked a short distance on the beach yesterday which was nice. Everything, sneezing, walking, sleeping, riding in car, is a little easier if I hold my incision area with my lefft hand. The last few nights have gotten a little easier as I\'ve been able to make it through most of the night before having to get up and take more pain medication. Saw my cardiologist a few days ago and she said everything looks to be on track. The discharge staff at the hospital said I can\'t drive for 4 weeks. Thank God my family is able to be with me to assist with everything. I\'m really glad I got the less invasive robotic procedure and think the recovery would be way more difficult and longer had I gone the partial sternonomy route. Thank you everyone for all your prayers and well wishes in my guestbook, Scott

Hey Everyone! It\'s Scott, I\'m back with my first post since the operation. Wow my brother did a great job below summarizing what happened to me! Holy Cow, I just read it and found out a lot of stuff THAT I DIDN\'T EVEN KNOW...LOL...and it was MY OPERATION. I\'m going to cherish his detailed style below for the rest of my life...I\'ll be printing this whole thing off eventually as part of a life journal. Heart Surgery? Ya I think that qualifies as a major life event. Speaking of brotherly support, holy crap was my bro a champ through the dark times of this process. We grew up the typical brothers, fighting, competing, trying to rain on each other\'s parade all the time, so love, tenderness and unequivocal giving of oneself for another wasn\'t exactly in our brotherly protocol! But his 24/7 selfless devotion to me over the last 4 days, was absolutely wonderful and has almost made this process rewarding. Almost. I do remember waking up with the breathing tube, communicating with the others on James\' iPad and laying there with so many tubes coming out of me. The good thing was I was very sedated so was able to happily fall back asleep and then wake up for the removal of the breathing tube, which wasn\'t too bad, they just said to take a deep breath and then it was pulled out and I felt much better. The next days James described were difficult but with the help of my support team and prayers of friends and family I was able to get to a point where I could get out of bed and walk a few laps around the ICU. Discharge came on Saturday morning and we moved to a hotel, which is where we are now. Now it\'s a process of sticking to the pain medication prescribed to me and trusting it, no matter how difficult it seems to wake up every few hours to take it. One time I stopped for a few doses thinking i was fine and started to be unable to breath, which was quite scary. Biggest piece of advice I can give to others, TRUST YOUR PAIN MEDS!, even if the first day or two on them you feel like they make you a little paranoid and unbalanced, or give you a headache. Eventually your body will get used to them and brilliantly incorporate them into your overall wellbeing, this came about for me around Recovery Day 5 (yesterday), when I noticed I wasn’t as cranky as usual and had reached a new comfort level and routine with them, and could sit comfortably still for more than 2 seconds. So being on Recovery day 5 now (second day out of the hospital, recovering in the hotel) I’m on my way and the bruising and swelling is slowly going down and today I walked more and felt better. It\'s funny, going through the last 4 days, I would say they were some of the most difficult of my life. Seriously dark times, but now looking back, starting to feel somewhat good...well maybe not \"good\" per say, yet, but not horrible..I would say that it wasn\'t so bad. I think what made it tough was that everything was new for me (i.e. my first breathing tube, my first ICU, my first time being \"all tubbed up\", first time recovering from a major operation). And because it was all new, I didn\'t know that IT WAS NORMAL... because...IT SURE AS HECK DIDN\'T LOOK NORMAL, or sound normal. [[[SIDE NOTE--Gosh if the post surgery pain doesn\'t drive you bonkers, the beeping will! Everything is always beeping, like that sound on Wheel of Fortune when a contestant guesses a letter and it lights up to be turned by Vanna? Imagine that beeping going on day and night for 4 days! mmm...maybe they do that to give you incentive to get up and walk and leave the room? ...in order to recover quicker :) ...which is what I was doing quite often after day 2. That\'s why I was able to leave so quickly. It was my \"escape\" from my Vanna White deathcage! ;)]]] Ya, so if I had to do it again, it wouldn’t be so bad, now that I have a frame of reference and know what to expect, that was it....everything was only scary because I wasn’t familiar with it and everything had that “hospital emergency” look and sound to it. But the whole time, my care staff were completely calm and in control and saw it all as just another day at work, which it was. Well it’s late and I’m getting tired. Thanks and God Bless, Scott

Yesterday finished off quite well. There were a few issues the last few days around his medications, and which pain meds were right for him. With all the switching we were getting a little concerned, and there was hesitation to continue popping all these different kinds of pills. So the nurse practitioner came by and formulated a full and consistent medication plan for us to stick to. Once this was established, everything got MUCH better. We now understand that the occasional breathing concerns he was recently having, were caused by the pain getting ahead of the meds. With the set plan, all issues got better. By the end of the day he was doing 6 laps around the ICU. With all the activity he has been doing, all the tubes removed, and all his systems fully functional, the doctors said last night that he could probably be released Saturday morning. Scott was released this morning around 11 am.

Sorry I missed the update yesterday, Scott is much more mobile now and we didn\'t get around to it. Each day has a few successes and a few new challenges. The positives are that the nausea has been brought under control, and his mobility has been steadily increasing. He has managed to have beef broth, juice, water, and oral medications without getting ill. And this morning he had his first (semi) solid food, oatmeal. The main challenge lately has been some anxiety and paranoia. We were thinking it may have been due to the medicine cocktail in his system, as it isn\'t like Scott to be in that state. To overcome this, we got him playing some puzzle games and watching movies on the tablet. With all the thought and preparation that went into the surgey, we never really planned for \'activities\' to keep the mind occupied during this part of the recovery. The puzzles needed to be very easy yesterday as his energy levels were low. But I think he may be up to more challenging ones today. We also got his contact lenses in, and he is now motoring up and down the halls at the blistering pace of a tortoise! This has been made easier by the fact that a few more tubes have been removed; he is now down to just an IV connection for when he needs medication, and the electrical sensors that are stuck to his chest to monitor vitals. He also spends much more time in the recliner, or the chair next to the massive floor-to-ceiling window; we really have a great room. So today should be focused on more of the same. Increase the consumption, increase the exercise, and continue proper pain management by the nurses.

Mom arrived this morning at 8 am to relieve me of the night shift. Scott\'s friend, Miguel, also arrived this morning and was able to spend most of the day here while I caught a nap back at the hotel. I got back here at 6 pm, and Scott is still in rough shape. However, compared to yesterday, he has made some great progress. Scott has managed to eat a few spoons of jello and to start drinking a little bit of water, however, the nausea is still an issue. There has been a little bit of vomiting, which causes a lot of pain, so the consumption step may be slowed down. The nurse has also added some medications to address the issue. In regards to mobility, he has been sitting upright on the bed numerous times, and has just been moved off the bed onto a recliner facing the TV. It was a painful move that needed assistance. His best friend right now is a big red heart shaped pillow that he hugs. It positions the arms in a way that holds them in a more comfortable position a little off the chest, which also helps reduce arm movement. The nurse said that the days of \'bed rest\' in hospitals is over, and that they want to encourage movement as it reduces the chances of clots and pneumonia. This hospital is quite great about visitors, 1 person is allowed to stay overnight, and the only time period we need to work around is the nurse shift change. From 7 to 8 (both AM and PM), the nurses take an hour to transition to the next shift. During this time they prefer that people don\'t come and go, due to privacy concerns around the discussions that take place between the nurses. A nurse mentioned another hospital that only allows 4 fifteen minutes visits a day, and that is it! That would have been horrible for Scott to not have a support person here!! I am glad we here at the East Carolina Heart Institute.

It\'s the morning and Scott is doing really well. Overnight, the nurses have removed a number of machines and tubes, so he is starting to look less intimidating. The breathing tubes and related machine are now out of the room, and early this morning the cluster of IV\'s entering the jugular artery were removed, with a subset being relocated to the IV entering the arm. There were a total of about 8 or 10 concurrent IV drips last night and now we are down to about 5. Scott was also able to stand this morning, so the bladder catheter was also removed. I believe the plan for today is to overcome the nausea, and to start including some activity in the day. He has also just started drinking water and getting the stomach working again. We will also be moving out of the Intensive Care Unit today and up to the 4th floor, which I assume is more for recovering patients that are past the critical stage.

At 2:45 am, the breathing tube was removed! It was quite a relief to him as the small tube was actually quite difficult to breath through. The removal of the tube was also quite difficult as it had been in all day; it seemed that it was quite difficult to get in the first few gulps of air. But once passed that, everything improved. The ability to communicate how he feels makes a huge difference, and I am now much more comfortable with his condition. A lot of worries have subsided. They have now taken a few x-rays directly from the bed, and have done a number of blood tests related to monitoring oxygen levels now that he is breathing on his own. They have also given him some lung strength tests, and he actually shocked the nurses with his results. On one test, (incentive spirometer), he blew a 2500, where most people only reach 500 (the scale only goes to 2500). Once again his daily jogs have greatly benefited him in this process. All his vitals are now steady... Whereas for most of the day, his blood pressure would suddenly drop, and then climb back to normal levels. He is still quite tired... So time for a few hours of sleep before the nurses have more work to do.

At 7:30pm, we permanently migrated from the waiting room, over to Scott\'s room in the ICU. We were hoping the breathing tube would be out by now, but Scott seems to have mixed feelings about the idea. He will wake up and be completely lucid, and motion in odd sign-language: \"why is this thing still in my lungs? I clearly look and feel fantastic! Just take it out already\". 30 seconds later he will be fast asleep, and if the breathing machine is turned off, he stops breathing and we have to wake him up and remind him of the crucial role oxygen plays in life. This process is then repeated a few minutes later. We have tried turning it off a few times and he isn\'t quite ready yet. We are now aiming for midnight because he is still too sleepy from the anesthesia. There have been a few scares, mainly around the breathing, sudden chest pain, the odd nausea spell, or the sudden look of panic without the capability of communicating effectively. To overcome this, we have him writing letters on an Ipad. This has also given insight into his progress. A few hours ago he couldn\'t write properly with his fingers, but now it is quite legible. His motor skills are also improving as his movements are getting much more deliberate. More updates later...

At 4 pm we were let into his room in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for about 5 minutes. This was definitely the most difficult part on our end. He has slightly come out of anesthesia and was able to open his eyes for just a moment. He appeared to have some conscious thought and appeared to recognize our voices. He lifted his head a little but it was difficult because of the assortment of tubes that were ensuring stable vital functions, and the majority of the anesthesia still in his system. He quickly put his head back down and fell back to sleep. Any response beyond this was not possible because of the breathing tube. My mom handled it very well but I actually felt a bit faint and had to sit down. We were told that he probably wouldn\'t remember any of this later. It is not easy to see a brother or a son in that state. However, everything he is experiencing is normal and expected, so that\'s fantastic news. The nurses began placing heating pads around his legs to reduce the chances of blood clots, which at this point, I believe is one of the major risks we still face. The next step is in about 5 more hours where they think he will be awake enough to breath on his own, and the breathing tube will be removed. I have read from others on this site that they see a real improvement at that point in time, so we are really looking forward to that!

We just spoke with Dr. Chitwood and his colleague, Dr. Alwair, and things are looking great! Timeline: - 9:23 start - 9:27 heart/lung machine turned on - 11:47 heart/lung machine turned off - 12:14 close - 12:41 finish call The surgery was the minimally invasive procedure, using the DiVinci robot to repair Scott\'s mitral valve and stop the backwards flow of blood through this valve (regurgitation). Small incisions were made on the sides of his chest so that the small robotic instruments can gain access to the heart. A folding plasty was performed on p2 and p3 (2 sections of the posterior leaflet) using 4 gore-tex chords. The chords were left untied and a 38 annuloplasty band was inserted and secured. The posterior leaflet was then adjusted via the 4 goretex chords to create a proper seal between the anterior and posterior leaflets, and then they were secured. A saline test was done to test the valve. Once everything was sealed, and the heart was restarted, an echocardiogram was performed so that a comparison could be done to the pre-op echocardiogram. This showed the valve is now sealing correctly, and no regurgitation was found. He will soon be taken to his recovery room where he will be stabilized, and we should be able to get in to see him in about 3 more hours. They prefer to let him come out of the anesthesia naturally so he probably will not wake up for several more hours after that. There are still a number of risks ahead, but I think we are now through the worst of it! Thank you everyone for your ongoing support, prayers, and kind words. I am hoping he will be able to send the next update later tonight... perhaps missing an eye-brow. ;) James

Hey Everyone, This is Scott\'s younger brother, James. I will be giving his updates for the next little while. We arrived at the hospital at 4:30 am, and walked straight in thanks to valet parking! After a quick check-in, they took him back to start his prep. They hooked up the IV drip and performed a full body manscaping! (I recommended they take the eyebrows but the nurse insisted it wasn\'t necessary). After the shave, we were let in for chat #1. At this point, they usually give the patient a pill to slow the heart rate and calm them down, but the nurse said that Scott didn\'t need it as he is a runner and the heart rate was already exactly where it needed to be... A good sign to start this off! After about 15 minutes, we split up and they took him up to the 2nd floor, where we met him for the second time. At this point, it was close to 7:00 am and spirits were high as we had him laughing hysterically. Dr. Chitwood soon joined us with a colleague, Dr. Alwair, and we had a quick chat about the surgery, some of the risks, and his plan. Scott was very calm through it all... He said to Dr. Chitwood that he had spent so much time studying the procedure, that he had already gotten over the risks and dealt with them emotionally a long time ago. I don\'t think Scott could have done anything more to prepare! Our meeting ended with some quick hugs at about 7:40, and they took him right in to surgery while we retreated to the waiting room. I was very pleased to see him so calm and in such high spirits throughout the morning, even before any of the drugs were administered! So now we wait... I understand that the first hour is focused on the anesthesia, followed by the actual procedure which is expected to last about 4 hours. I will add updates as they come in. Prayers for both Scott and Dr. Chitwood are appreciated! James

Hey everyone, Tomorrow is the big day. I have to be at the hospital at 4:30am for my full body hair removal session....that should be fun! Had my pre-op appointments today during the morning. Chest X-ray, blood work, met with nurses and got full run down on what\'s going to happen tomorrow. Feeling pretty good and not much nervousness or worry. I think maybe because I\'ve researched and gone over this whole thing a million times, so much that i could probably do it myself! I feel like I faced all the \"bad news\" and difficult to hear stuff over the last month or two, maybe this is the key for personalities like mine, to just be fully informed, and well prepared, and make the best decision I can, then I can relax for the rest. thank you to everyone for all your prayers and for signing my guest book. That and these journals have made a lonely scary process, not so bad. My Brother or Mom will post an update tomorrow after the surgery. Scott

Leaving for Greenville, NC today. Surgery is at The Vidant Medical Center (formerly Pitt Cnty Memorial Hospital). Big day is Tuesday. The big day is almost here. I\'m glad to finally get it over with and looking forward to meeting my family up in NC. I have a great peace about it and am feeling great. I\'m sure that will change, oh im guessing, the night before or the day of when they are \"wheeling me in.\"

Has anyone else experienced a low stress tolerance WELL PRIOR to surgery? After about 2 hours of work at my job, I\'m pooped, feel like I\'ve done a 12 hour shift. I\'m not speaking of actual physical exhaustion, but mental. My heart and body are fine, Im asymptomatic, feel physically great and run a few miles a day to keep myself sane....but mentally, I\'m at 30%! I can concentrate for about 20 mins, then I need a break. Just not as sharp, and easily feel overwhelmed. This is one thing I definitely underestimated...the stress component. But it\'s strange...because I feel fine, and rather happy sometimes, and the surgery doesn\'t really scare me or make me sad when I think about it. It almost seems as though the extra sensitivity to stress is from something else, but I know it\'s not since Ive completely simplified everything. What I need is to laugh as much as I can each day, that really helps. Anyone know any heart surgery jokes? ;) LOL...(is that even possible?...mmmm....what did the aortic valve say to the mitral valve? I can\'t take you anywhere! You\'re always regurgitating all over yourself!...ok i set the bar low, i know)

Surgery Date: 11/20/12 Location: Pitt County Memorial Hospital, Greenville, NC. Dr. Randolph Chitwood called me last Friday from the East Carolina Heart Institute. He was one of the guys on my short list due to his extensive experience with the less invasive robotic surgical procedure. I liked him. He checked all the boxes for me and so the date is set. I feel like the 800 lb. heart surgery gorilla is off my back now. Huge relief to be done the selection process. Called the insurance yesterday and praise God everything is approved. Looking forward to seeing my family when they meet me there. Makes it not seem as bad. -Scott

Well the last few weeks have been....[insert here-a 45 second pause whereby I realize I have no idea how to describe the plethora of emotions and the spectrum of learning i have traversed over the last 3 weeks]...wow, exciting, stressful, exhausting, confusing, difficult, hopeful, enlightening. Overall I\'d say it\'s been a positive process. I have met in person with 4 of the best surgeons in Florida and learned a lot. Praise God they all said similar things. Bileaflet prolapse is what I have. Posterior leaflet disease is the most common and easiest to fix, anterior is more difficult and more rare...well I have both at the same time..hence \"bileaflet\". It\'s interesting, 5% of people have Mitral Valve Prolapse (valve bends back too far), of those 5% have a leak (\"regurgitation\") bad enough to require surgery, of those about 20% have bileaflet disease (Barlow\'s)...and there you find me. Winning the wrong kind of lottery. Once I met with those four, I realized I need to throw out 2 of them, and another 3rd because....well.....he just seemed kinda cold and I didn\'t have a good feeling about him. But that left me with a great guy in FLorida, maybe the best in Florida...Dr, Accola and my other guy being Gillinov at the Cleveland clinic. I learned I am a good candidate for Minimally Invasive Robotic surgery, where the scars are much smaller than the traditional open chest approach. So I put a few more Robotics guys on the list, Murphy in Atlanta and Chitwood in North Carolina. They both do about 1 to 3 bileaflet repairs a week and have done hundreds, which is rare. Most surgeons don\'t even come close to those numbers. Called my insurance today also to let them know what\'s going on. Thank God for insurance, my out-of-pocket will be a fraction of the total cost. I hope to get my last few questions answered in the next week and then schedule the big day. Hoping I can get something in Mid-November. Looks like Ill be out of commission for about a month. -Scott

So i have my first surgeon consultation on Tuesday. It hasn\'t been easy. Starting the whole research process was the hardest. Taking the first step was tough, i needed to meet a friend at a Dunkin Donuts just to help me get motivated. Once we got going with it though, I got some momentum and after a couple of Saturday\'s work, I had my long list. Now I have my short list of 5 and I\'m looking forward to start the consultation process, ask a tonn of questions and hear their opinions. Between the 5 surgeons I\'m contacting and having consultations with, I think I should get a good idea of my options. I\'m driving to BRRH (Boca Hospital) to get 6 CD copies of my TEE test. After they couldn\'t figure out how to mail a simple CD to a surgeon at University of Miami last week and made me completely waste a morning, meeting with the surgeon with nothing to show him, wasting his time and my $50 co-pay, Im getting my own copies and bringing/sending them myself. That happened once and never again. I then meet with a surgeon in Orlando the next monday and one at Cleveland Clinic Weston on Tuesday. Looking forward to hearing what they say. Hopefully I can now narrow down the UNIVERSE of possible treatments and recovery possibilities that have been floating around in my head for the last four Heart-surgery-thought filled weeks. I pray that the Surgeon of my spiritual heart, will help me choose the surgeon of my physical. Scott

It\'s been a few weeks since the initial shock of the bad news and I\'ve compiled a list of about 25 heart surgeons all over the country. I\'ve narrowed my list of surgeons down to about 5. I\'m mainly focusing on those that specialize in and do a lot of Mitral Valve repair/replacement surgeries, specifically minimally invasive. I\'ve even found a few surgeons do them using the Da Vinci Robot procedure, something which sounds really appealing to me. Praise God for the internet resources put in place by Adam Pick. Praise Him also for the knowledge and technology He\'s allowed us to have of this incredible organ He\'s created and designed. If there\'s one positive out of this whole experience so far, it\'s my awe at the amazing creation of His, that is my heart. What an incredibly designed organ. I am dumbfounded at it\'s genius. In addition to that, I\'m learning how my relationship with God can give me peace and comfort through such a painfully difficult experience. Psalm 16:11 has been wonderful to my ears. His spirit living inside me has several times reminded me that it\'s not just \"me\" inside this body, but \"we.\" His presence inside me gives me a strength I cannot express in words. I look inside me and there He is, not afraid of what\'s ahead, and this courage and peace then transfers to me. Kinda like being around someone who is super calm during a stressful experience, it somehow transfers over to you. Prayer requests at this point: 1. That God would guide me to the right surgeon for me, 2. For comfort and trust in Him, the Lord, the True Surgeon of my physical...and spiritual heart.