Timothy's Journal

So shortly after I posted my last entry I started getting escalating pain in the right side of my chest and shoulder. It quickly became extremely unbearable, even with pain meds, easily the most pain I had ever experienced. The crash team descended as I started sweating profusely. I thought I was having a heart attack and was quite scared. The pain was treated successfully with IV diluadid and x-rays and an ekg were taken. The team came to the conclusion that Amit had gotten into my chest cavity via my chest tube wound. A CT scan was neg for clots. All clear on that one. Today I had my electrical study done to check my rhythm. Initially everything went well but with further testing it was decided that I would need a pacemaker. Wow, not the week I was excpecting at all!!! Well at least I get to go home tomorrow.

Well this one wasn't fun. I got up for an early morning walk around the hospital floor and did 5 laps. It felt good but may not have been a good idea. In the later morning the pain was intense, 8-9, around incision and right chest area. It took a few hours to get it controlled. So last night I was very aggressive with the pain meds and slept great. I was going easy on the meds worrying about dependency. Anyway, I am scheduled for the angio test for my rhythm issue tomorrow and can not wait to get out of here.

Had an incident of bradycardia on Tuesday which required pacing. Recovered from that and am now at a consistent rhythm. Problem is that I have sustained a leftbundle branch block where one path that fires the ventricle is not working. They are going to wait to see if it kicks back in. If it doesn't, I will have to have a pacemaker placed. Not feeling great about this situation right now as everything is otherwise flowing smoothly. Third day post op and making three laps around the recovery floor.

So here I am sitting waiting for the urgent care center to open up. Have a sore throat and want to rule out strep. No other symptoms and no temp. Concerned this will postpone my surgery. Not happy.

Well, 6 days out and trying to enjoy the last days of what will be the old normal. I have a busy week with my daughter's 11th birthday, her fiddlefest and an out of town wedding to wrap up the week. I think that should be enough to keep my mind occupied. I keep envisioning walking into the hospital and prepping for surgery and wondering if I will hold up. My thought is that the more I run this through my mind the more prepared I will be. On an odd note, I had my first surgery related dream last night where I found that my scar went from my neck down to my belt line and I was wondering what the hell the did while they were in there. Anyway, the mental prep begins.

Things are moving along. The last two days I was in Cleveland having my pre op tests done and meeting with Dr Gosta Pettersson. The testing confirmed my need for surgery as my aortic valve was severely calcified and the valve area was down to .91. I spoke with Dr Pettersson and we discussed my options. He was a little reluctant to recommend a mechanical valve at first due to the requirement of lifelong Coumadin therapy. Once I explained to him that I was fully aware of the consequences of the mechanical valve, he put that choice on the top his list. So at this point I still have not decided between mech or bio. He also threw a third choice at me. The Ozaki procedure. This entails using your own pericardial tissue to fashion new valve leaflets on the fly. After discussing the options with my wife and realizing that I don't want to make ohs a habit, I am most likely going to go the mechanical route. So that all being said, I am going to take the next week or so before surgery to get my mind in the right place to push me through surgery and focus on recovery. I will keep reading all the absolutely positive post that I have found on this site and hopefully keep adding to my journal.

I have been recently diagnosed with severe aortic stenosis as a result of a bicuspid valve. News to me. Initial diagnosis had me scheduled for a six month monitoring regimen until an esophageal echo confirmed the need for surgery. I sought out the best medical care I could find. This lead me to the Cleveland Clinic.. I am now scheduled for surgery on February 20th with Dr Gosta Patterson. Ever since I was diagnosed, I began my research on my condition and the procedures involved in "curing" my problem. This led me to a couple sites that helped me to better understand the procedure as well as the very strong emotional impact. It is strange how I am anxious to get it over with so I can recover but at the same time I am scared #%*€less of the surgery. I continue to do my research and learning everything I can about my surgery (YouTube is amazing).