{"id":2684,"date":"2022-10-07T23:31:44","date_gmt":"2022-10-07T23:31:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/?page_id=2684"},"modified":"2024-05-01T15:40:01","modified_gmt":"2024-05-01T15:40:01","slug":"patient-recovery-expectations","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/patient-recovery-expectations\/","title":{"rendered":"Patient Expectations After Heart Surgery: Leila&#8217;s Story"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Understanding specific expectations for the recovery from heart surgery can be a &#8220;black box&#8221; for patients, their family members and friends.\u00a0 There are so many questions.\u00a0 There are many concerns.\u00a0 In addition, confusion can be amplified as patients heal at different rates.<\/p>\n<p>In the past, we have surveyed patients about their recovery experiences. However, I wanted to interview a recent patient to learn more about current patient expectations after heart surgery.\u00a0 For this reason, I interviewed Leila Saeid, a mitral valve repair patient, mom, wife and dentist from Southern California.\u00a0 Leila&#8217;s surgeon, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/surgeons\/dr-Joanna-Chikwe-Los+Angeles-California.php\">Dr. Joanna Chikwe<\/a>, Chair of Cardiac Surgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, joined us for this special conversation.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/bZ3cTenT9sY?rel=0\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Key Learnings from Leila&#8217;s Recovery Expecations After Heart Surgery<\/h2>\n<p>Here are insights from this conversation with Leila and Dr. Chikwe:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Leila Saeid is a mother, wife and dentist in Southern California.\u00a0 Leila was diagnosed with a heart murmur due to mitral regurgitation in 2000.\u00a0 Leila was asymptomatic and monitored the leaking valve with regular echocardiograms for the next 20 years.\u00a0 Leading up to her surgery, Leila was very anxious. &#8220;I was a terrible patient,&#8221; Leila shared.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-2693 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/..\/Images\/dr-leila-saeid-dentist-family.jpg\" alt=\"Dr. Leila Saeid - Dentist with Family\" width=\"400\" height=\"584\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>According to Dr. Chikwe, approximately 50% of patients are asymptomatic. Unfortunately, asymptomatic patients may not get treatment at a time that could be beneficial to their health (prior to the onset of cardiac damage). &#8220;Cardiologists were traditional taught that you wait until symptoms until you send somebody to fix the valve,&#8221; states Dr. Chikwe. &#8220;We now know that\u2019s not the best way to handle this for the vast majority of people with severe mitral valve regurgitation and a floppy mitral valve.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>After Leila&#8217;s heart valve disease progressed from moderate to severe mitral regurgitation, Dr. Chikwe performed a robotic mitral valve repair surgery to provide Leila a durable outcome that often returns patients to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/life-expectancy\/\">normal life expectancy<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>For Leila, Dr. Chikwe leveraged a minimally-invasive robotic approach that did not break her sternum or ribs. The incision was the size of a credit card.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/sNBglVf8oio?rel=0\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Length of Hospital Stay: Leila entered the hospital on December 18 and was discharged on December 22, a five day stay at Cedars-Sinai.<\/li>\n<li>Pain Medications: Leila did not take any pain medication or over-the-counter medication (e.g. Tylenol) after she left the hospital on Day 5. &#8220;I went medicine free after Day 5,&#8221; states Leila.<\/li>\n<li>Walking: Leila began taking 10 minute walks with her husband seven days after surgery.<\/li>\n<li>Driving: Leila began driving 5 days after surgery because her daughter had an accident and needed medical attention. &#8220;Driving was not a big deal,&#8221; states Leila. &#8220;Getting in the car and getting out was a little uncomfortable granted that that was Day 5 after my surgery.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>Going Back to Work: Leila went back to working full-time at her dental practice 14 days after surgery. &#8220;I went back to work two weeks later,&#8221; states Leila. &#8220;I was a little uncomfortable on Day 1 just because I do a lot of slouching, bending over, but other than that, I went back to work full schedule on Day 14 after the surgery.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>If possible, Dr. Chikwe advises patients to go back to work part-time. &#8220;I advise people, if you can, don\u2019t go back for a full day. Go back for shorter days, because by the middle of the day, your tolerance for putting up with people, long conversations is just not going to be there.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>Sex After Heart Surgery: Dr. Chikwe suggests that patients can have sex as soon as they choose to. &#8220;I usually say as soon as you\u2019d like as long as you\u2019re not doing any heavy weightlifting,&#8221; states Dr. Chikwe.<\/li>\n<li>Cardiac Rehabilitation: While Leila did not attend cardiac rehabilitation classes, Dr. Chikwe believes such classes can be incredibly valuable for patients.<\/li>\n<li>Advice for Patients: Leila&#8217;s advice for patients is to research the surgery and your medical teams\u00a0 Also, Leila believes it is better to have the surgery sooner-than-later.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Many Thanks to Leila, Dr. Chikwe, Mama Rosa and Cedars-Sinai!<\/h2>\n<p>Many thanks to Leila and Dr. Chikwe for sharing their experiences and clinical research specific to the recovery from heart surgery.\u00a0 A special thanks goes out to the Cedars-Sinai team that takes such great care of heart valve patients!!!\u00a0 Yes, Mama Rosa that means you and the entire nursing team that helped Leila recover so quickly after her mitral valve repair!<\/p>\n<p>Keep on tickin&#8217; Leila!<br \/>\nAdam<\/p>\n<p>P.S. For the deaf and hard of hearing members of our community, I have provided a written transcript of Leila&#8217;s video below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"cms.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"class_list":["post-2684","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","category-patient-stories"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2684"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2684\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4370,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2684\/revisions\/4370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}