wen's Journal

Steve Farthing  Sounds like she is doing great - 8,000 steps/day! Would probably be asleep 5-10 minutes for the cardioversion. (They also use electric shocks to restart the heart at the conclusion of heart surgery.)

wen li  Steve, thanks. You are right. She had experienced the shock at end of surgery. She wonders if cardioversion is better to do sooner than later.

wen li  Update for my mom: she had electric cardioversion (electric shock) last friday. Resting rate dropped to 55 from 110s right after the procedure. For the past few days, her resting has been 57-62 and slow walking heart rate has been 110s. She is wondering how long will it take for her heart rate to become normal.

Steve Farthing  One thing to consider is that the older you are, the older you are likely to live. So your mom at age 75 has a much better chance to live to 100 than someone who is 50 years old. Since she has been diagnosed with a treatable heart condition, it would be a mistake associate those symptoms with just 'getting old'. The docs at Mount Sinai would not offer surgery to her unless they felt the chances were extremely good for a reduction in her symptoms and an increase in her probable life span. Good health to both of you.

pam williams  Wen I have been following your posts and I know your mum's surgery is imminent I am 72 and had avr here in the UK 3 months ago ,she is not old and surgery is definitely worth while like me she will feel so much more energetic I am so glad I had my surgery send my love to her x

Kim Jones  I wish I could help. I am 40 and had ohs 2 weeks ago. One thing for me is that I have to sleep in a recliner and need someone to put the feet up and down for me. They make electric recliners that help get people in an upright stance. No reaching overhead, make sure things are easy to get from fridge, no lifting over 5 lbs. The first week was the toughest for me. I was in the hospital for 5 days. They will give you details when they release her. She will need to exercise so again probably not the best to do alone at first. I hope she heals quickly and pray for a good operation.

Sue Sanchez Grela  Kim is it safe to say if we are in the hospital for 5 - 7 days, the most difficult time will be while under the care of the medical staff? If so, that's fine with me.

wen li  Thank you for the tips, Kim. Are you able to walk around and do you sleep well? Thank you for sharing as you just had surgery.

Phyllis Petersen  Are they doing a sternotomy or a thoracotomy? I had side entry (minimally-invasive), robotic mitral valve repair? I could do most things for myself, but needed help with heavy items and was thankful anytime I had help with food prep. There was some pain and I needed an afternoon nap each day, plus had to be careful not to overdo it, but otherwise fine. I spent the first week and a half at my cousin's house, then flew home where I live alone. Although I was cleared to drive, I didn't really want to until about 3 weeks after because of the soreness.

Diane Capece  I had mitral and tricuspid repair in August at Mt. Sinai. I am 64 and pretty healthy otherwise. I didn't need someone with me 24 hours even though my family was always there. I just took it slow and steady and by the 5th week post op I felt like my old self. Taking a shower was exhausting at first but that improved every day. I did have a foam wedge on my bed so that I slept more upright and that worked great. She will get good care and I am sure she will be fine.

Darlene Smith  I had my mitral valve repair at Mount Sinai. Your mom should not need 24 hour care. She might be walking slow when she first goes home, but probably will just need you to reach for things for her, and maybe help her get in and out of bed. A recliner is really great for the first couple weeks since its hard to sleep flat or on your side. It hurts too much. She will be tired and probably won't want to cook and she should definitely rest. But I was steady on my feet and didn't have any dizziness. I was just super tired. My husband didn't stay at the hospital during my surgery. I told him it was silly for him to stay and so the surgeon called him when it was over. Who is her doctor?

Daniel Kung  Hi Liwen:

Here are some my experiences at Mt. Sinai and my suggestions. Please keep in mind you and your mom's experiences will be different:

 I was pushed into OR room at 7:30 AM and my wife was called around 3 PM. I was able to talk to my wife and sons around 7 PM.
 When you 1st see your mom after the surgery at CICU, with all the tubes/IVs in her and alarms going off, you might wonder about her conditions. But, please keep in mind that she will be in very good hands. There will be a lot of nurses and doctors helping her to get her stabilized. These people really know what they are doing. She will be stabilized and the breathing tube will come out shortly. You will be able to speak to her while she is still in CICU. For myself, frankly, I don’t remember anything before my breathing tube came out. My wife told me later, with all the nurses and doctors surrounding me, she couldn’t help but somewhat concerned what was going on.
 If a bed is available, your mom, more than likely will be moved to the step down unit (7 West) next day. This means she will not have nurse near her at all time. If possible, you or other family member(s) may want to stay with her to help out. My wife and sons were able to stay from 9AM ~ 9 PM when I was in 7W.
 While in step down unit, when your mom’s appetite has come back and if she does not like the hospital food, it is “possible” for you to bring your own food in. I myself loved the sushi from the cafeteria. :-)
 You may want to try to schedule with the physical training nurse ASAP to help your mom to learn how to use the incentive spirometer and show your mom how to walk around the floor with the tubes and IVs.
 Because of all the anesthetics and narcotics I received during surgery, how to get the bowel movement going again was a major challenge for me. Nurses will provide the necessary laxative for your mom. Before your mom can be discharged, I believe, your mom will need to confirm she can “go”.
 For narcotics or pain medicine, most of the nights when I was in step down unit I had to take one Percocet for my pain for my incision. But, there were couple nights I needed two pills to deal with the pain caused by chest tube to drain the fluid in my lung. Your mom may or may not need Percocet. But if she does, she or you need to ask for it. And, if she needs to increase the dosage of Percocet, the nurse practitioner will need to OK it. It can take a bit of time to find the nurse practitioner especially during late night.
 When your mom is discharged, my suggestion is to have someone staying home with her at least for the 1st couple weeks.

I hope my experiences/suggestions above will help. Oh, one other thing if I may suggest is to find a relatively flat and safe walking route in your neighborhood now so your mom can walk around when she is home.

Kim Jones  Wen, I sleep well. At first I would wake at home to use the bathroom as much as I did in the hospital during my night rest due to diuretics, and then of course if you are beyond pain med time she will need meds and may be in some pain. That is why I am awake now at 4am, just took pain meds, it takes a bit to kick in.
Getting up can be a challenge, no using arms,she will get used to it, it is vital she hug her pillow when getting up.
I have no trouble walking. I am walking 1/2 .mile 3 times a day, again I am younger and was walking 2 miles a day before. Yesterday was my 2 week post op and I pushed the walk, almost fainted and was glad my dad was there to catch me.
Sue, most pain is from those dang chest tubes in your torso. Nothing hurt me coming out, it was a relief. Not sure if you are getting cracked like I did but it really is not as bad as you think, just stay on top of meds and do walks as well as breathing exercises. You will need help with showers for a bit. I cut my hair short right before so I wouldn't have to deal with it. Recovery for me is fast. I have family here 24/7 because of my 8 and 3 year old. It's nice to have help.
My insurance pays for home health care, so I do get nurses. Physical therapist and occupational therapist 2 days/week. It's nice to have them come around, and I am lucky to have a 46 year invested retired RN for a mom.
I know it's overwhelming and scary but there should be some resources and knowledge at your disposal. You all will find what works for you when you get home, try and follow the rules which are hard at first because it is human nature to do for ourselves.
Many hugs and warm thoughts and cheers for success! Kim

wen li  Thank you all again. A few people mentioned the recliner and foam wedge. Where did you get them? My mom's bed is pretty low, I hope a few pillows will under her would be sufficient. Just found out I need to take her to have one tooth with cavity extracted before 3/2, the surgery date.

Daniel Kung  After I came home from Mt. Sinai, I slept on a leather recliner which was a bit small and slippery. After couple days, I switched to using a foam wedge that I bought from Amazon. But about a month later, I found out I actually like to pile bunch of pillows into a triangle and slept on it. I have been sleeping that way for about a month now. I think your mom will find as the incision heals less back support is needed. She may want different types of back support. By the way, please feel free to send me an email if you and/or your mom want to call me directly.

Phyllis Petersen  Sounds like typical symptoms for mitral regurg. I don't know the numbers you're giving (I didn't see these in my report). Did they say she had any stenosis or calcification? (I had neither) My cardiologist went straight from the echo to doing a TEE to get a fuller picture. I'm 62, so a bit younger. That might change things.

Steve Farthing  You have the choice of consulting a surgeon now regarding the latest echo findings that you cited plus the numbness and tiredness. She may be a candidate for one of the minimally invasive methods of mitral valve repair. You might have to research surgeons in your locality regarding that option but it could be worth the time.

Phyllis Petersen  There are several people on here who have had their surgeries at Mt. Sinai. I've also known people who have had good results at Columbia Presbyterian. You're in the best city in the world (I'm originally from New York too) for finding good doctors, but it may take a little research to find the right one for your mother's condition.

Daniel Kung  Hi Liwen:
Welcome to the Community! I am 68 years old and I am originally from Taiwan. I think I appreciate your situation and hoping I can be of some help to you.

I had my OHS on 12/7/16 to fix my ascending aortic artery aneurysm. My valves are OK so they weren’t touched. My surgery was done at Mt. Sinai by Dr. Allen Stewart. I agree with Phyllis, since you live in NYC, you/your mom do have choices which is a very good thing. The two surgeons at Mt. Sinai I’d suggest you look into further for your mom are Dr. David Adams and Dr. Paul Stelzer. Type in their names in the search box and you will see patients’ comments about Dr. Adams and Stelzer. But, it is very important for yourself to do your own research to decide which surgeon your mom should go with. Every heart patient’s condition is different.

As far as Mt. Sinai Hospital’s Heart Surgery Unit goes, I believe it is a very good, efficient and professional Heart Surgery Center. Most patients get discharged about 5 days after surgery. Many nurses there are from Philippines and a few of them do understand and speak Mandarin which should help your mom. I think you can try to request nurses understand Mandarin to look after your mom.

For now, I believe you took the best first step by joining this community. Do your research and helps are coming your way. :-)

wen li  Happy 2017, everyone! Thank you for the replies. They are all very helpful. My mom was referred to see Dr. David Adams. Thankfully, we live close by to Mt. Sinai. I think I will get her to see Dr. Paul Stelzer too (also mentioned by a nurse) . Daniel, hope you recover soon. Can I ask you how long did it take for you to do surgery from the first time a doctor mentioned the procedure to you? Again, wishing everyone a healthy 2017!

Daniel Kung  The main reason for me to have the surgery was how fast my aortic artery aneurysm was growing. It went from 4.0 cm in 4/16 to 5.0 cm in 9/16. I just did not want it to rupture which for sure would kill me.
I first saw Dr. Allan on 9/14/16 and he gave me couple months to decide when to have the surgery. Originally, I wanted to do it in late January of 2017 so I could retire, move to PA and took care other things on my to do list. But, I soon found out waiting around for the unavoidable surgery and wonder what could happen was, frankly, a torture. It actually was harder than the surgery itself. So, I moved my surgery date up to 12/7/16. While recovery has not been easy in my case, I am getting better and stronger each day. BTW, in my case, the 5” incision really was not that painful. I only needed Percocet while in the Hospital to deal with the pain caused by the tube in my lung. Once I get home, I only took Tylenol couple times for pain.

wen li  My mom was debating whether to do the mistrial valve repair surgery. She is going to be 75, healthy, but gets tired walking uphill or walking fast. She doesn't do strenuous activities, she does Tai ji in the morning, teaches a few kids, cooks and spends most of her time at home. And she is happy about her lifestyle. The mortality risk of the surgery is 0.98%. She said she could just do nothing, and in the end, she will for sure have a heart failure. Can anyone share the experience before deciding on surgery? I guess she is afraid if she is one of the 0.98 per cent, considering she is "healthy" now.

Phyllis Petersen  Any large center with a large choice of procedures, which Mt. Sinai definitely is, will prefer to do repair rather than replacement of the mitral valve unless there are other considerations with the valve that make repair not doable. Her symptoms are pretty normal with severe regurg, so it's hard to say much until she has further testing. Have they recommended at TEE, which will give them a lot more information?

wen li  Doctor recommended valve repair surgery. She had stress Echo test. She responded to exercise well, and has reserve capacity, which makes her a good candidate for valve repair.

wen li  A technical question: messages posted here can be viewed by all site visitors or only the people who have communicated with me?