Heart mitral valve surgery

[GOONR]

.....Anyway, open heart surgery is not a cakewalk...

Ain't that the truth! My daughter had open heart surgery when she was 4 weeks old then again at 6 months. Me and the missus know way more about heart function than I care to mention.

[Mom]

Ain't that the truth! My daughter had open heart surgery when she was 4 weeks old then again at 6 months. Me and the missus know way more about heart function than I care to mention.

We used to call them button kids as the surgeons would sew a button on the bottom of their wounds as a finish to the internal stitches.

[GOONR]

This is pretty much the end of my tale. Shrek came to visit me which was damned decent of him because he lives in Central Otago. I was sent to Invercargill then discharged home for daily doses administered by a District Nuse. After 6 weeks the line was taken out and life has returned to normal. I'm on Warfarin for a couple of months and still get pain in my chest if I try anything physical but that isn't surprising. It takes the sternum about a year to completely heal and the baling wire stays inside.

I hope this story will be of reassurance to anyone facing heart surgery. The medical care was simply excellent and pollyanna as it sounds, I feel really fortunate to have been looked after so well.

What a ride, really hope that you mend up well. Take it easy fella.

Every time you see a new doctor now they will want to listen to your heart cause it sounds weird now!!

[GOONR]

I trained as a nurse at Greenlane Hospital when I left school. That once was the leading Heart hospital. Sir Brian Barret Boyes operated there and I can remember ward rounds with him

Fancy a babysitting job?

[SPman]

Got me worried now. I had a whole lot of tests 2 yrs ago and they said I had a minor leak in one of the valves - like Winston, I could see it on the scanner.......
then they sent me home and I have heard zip since.
Should I worry?

[Mom]

Heyup.
Roll on Friday and the TOE (and another three-day weekend! )

Fear is healthy, but drugs are good too I hear

Chances are you really will be much better once you have your valve repaired. I will come and make you laugh the day after you get back to a ward if you like

[Bass]

So much of what Winston has written touches a chord with me.
My Dad died in the Dunedin cardiac unit. He had never properly recovered from his first heart attack and was going into the unit for some investigatory work. He had his second attack climbing the stairs up to the unit and that was the finish.
It being a teaching hospital and making your own fun also rings a bell.
My Dad was P & T overseer northern district Southland for years which meant that he travelled a lot in the area. He would pick up hitch hikers if they were making some effort on their own behalf and so, one afternoon he gave a couple of nurses from Dunedin a lift through to Te Anau.
They told him a story about one old bloke that they had recently had on their ward.
I don't know what he was hospitalised for but I surmise it was some sort of colonic surgery because the post operative treatment included a "flush out" every day or two. It seems he was getting a bit pissed off with this and one afternoon he asked one of the nurses for a bit of rubber hose.
She asked "what sort of hose?"
He responded that he just wanted some of the stuff they used all round the ward.
She asked how much he wanted and he indicated about 100 mm.
She thought it extremely odd, but he was an old fellow and would say no more about it and so she went and cut him his bit of rubber hose.
The following day, the ward sister went in to flush him out again and came out almost paralysed with laughter.
Aparently, she had rolled him over in bed and was feeding the hose in when he had suddenly arched his back, said "oh, oh, too far" and popped this bit of hose out of his mouth.

[Winston001]

Got me worried now. I had a whole lot of tests 2 yrs ago and they said I had a minor leak in one of the valves - like Winston, I could see it on the scanner.......then they sent me home and I have heard zip since.

Should I worry?

No but keep it at the back of your mind and ask your doctor to listen to your heart the next time you see them.

A small amount of heart valve leakage is not uncommon and is sometimes congenital. Been there from a very young age. Problems arise when the leakage gets worse and it tends to show up in our 50s.

[sels1]

Winston - ( just found this thread) Best wishes mate, sorry to hear of your troubles and hope it all works out in the end. Thanks for sharing your tale.

My Dad had this problem too, discovered after he collapsed one day while he and I were walking up the hill to Athetic Park to watch Wgtn beat Scotland. (I watched it the hosp. waiting room, it was on TV1 in those days!) He was in his 60s then and ended up having a plastic valve fitted. He ticked like a clock thereafter. However he lead an active and healthy life and passed away last year at 91 (from gall bladder operation compications, the heart was going fine)

[Edbear]

Sums up most of my days.
And I ain't crook like you!

Ain't old age a bummer....

So nice to hear it from that perspective Winston, not very often is an op put so clear and understandably.

Wot he sed!

Fear is healthy, but drugs are good too I hear

Chances are you really will be much better once you have your valve repaired. I will come and make you laugh the day after you get back to a ward if you like

With friends like you...

No but keep it at the back of your mind and ask your doctor to listen to your heart the next time you see them.

A small amount of heart valve leakage is not uncommon and is sometimes congenital. Been there from a very young age. Problems arise when the leakage gets worse and it tends to show up in our 50s.

Hmmm... I'm 52 this month, may be time for a check up of my murmer. My youngest daughter has a congenital heart condition and the Specialist said ti would probably not be serious until she was a lot older, but meantime if she gets pregnant she will be monitored through it and have to have the baby in a hospital.