After Aortic Valve Replacement, Mavis Shares Four Heart Surgery Lessons
By Adam Pick on March 27, 2009
Here’s an interesting email I just received from Mavis. Nine weeks after heart valve replacement, Mavis has created four, key “heart valve surgery lessons” to share with our community. Here is what she writes:
Hello Adam,
My aortic valve replacement is 9 weeks behind me! My follow up visit to the cardiologist and surgeon have reassured me that my tissue valve will probably last longer than I will (I am 67), that my chest is healing normally, that I’m not going to die, and life will eventually be better than before.
Mavis – Nine Weeks After Heart Valve Replacement
There were a couple of things that, prior to my surgery, would have fallen into the category of “things I really don’t want to know” but with hindsight, I wish now I had. I hope they will be useful for your readers who are anticipating open heart surgery.
Things I wish I had known:
Lesson #1 – Take it very easy on yourself!
You will need help for virtually everything at first! You will need help for those first few showers (get a shower stool) and don’t bother doing your hair. Who cares! Have comfortable clothing that is easy to put on and take off. Heaven forbid you should sit around in your comfortable pajamas and robe. Don’t do anything your body tells you not to do! Listen to yourself and don’t be bullied. Stay in bed and read. Rest when ever you need to. Let someone else make your meals. This is no time to be a hero.
When I got home, I was not at all ready to jump out of bed every morning, shower, wash hair, dress, trot to the kitchen for breakfast and do the 20-minute brisk walk the physio has insisted on. I was told I must walk three times a day, stay active and take “just a little rest” during the day. Maybe a 40-year old could do that, but at 67, the first few weeks were truly brutal. Of course, I did everything I was told…being of that generation that does not question authority, but believe me, there were times I seriously thought I was going to die in the process.
Lesson #2 – Eat well and keep your body fueled. It has been assaulted – it’s not your fault that you feel weak.
I was sure I would start to feel better in a week or two but I found I was continuing to feel weak, useless and pathetic. This feeling did not go away for a very, very long time in spite of what my doctors were reassuring me was a normal healing process. I found it extremely distressing, having been a very active, independent person all my life. My surgeon, at my 6 week check explained – and this falls into the “too much information category” – that your body becomes “cannibalistic” in order to heal itself. Your wounds take what ever they need from your bodies’ resources leaving you without much left over. This is not the time to try and maintain the weight loss you incurred prior to and during your hospitalization.
Lesson #3 –Â Don’t suffer in silence. The anxiety makes the discomfort much worse.
My incision was healing very well but I had excruciating pain in my back that kept we awake at night sitting on the edge of the bed wondering what was going on. After a week, I went to my family doctor who gave me a muscle relaxant for the muscle spasms, which apparently are very common. I wish I had known and prepared for that. The medication worked pretty well and understanding what was happening reduced my anxiety. Even at 9 weeks, I still have considerable pain in my chest and around the area of the incision. How come? The surgeon explained, and this is certainly something else I thought I didn’t want to know prior to surgery. If you are small (I am 5’2 and 120 lbs) or very obese, in order to get a clear shot at your heart, the rib cage has to be lifted up and pushed open to get access. This can and does cause dislocation of the ribs where they articulate with the spine and breast bone as well as, sometimes, cracking or even breaking of the ribs. Knowing this would have made the discomfort manageable and would have reduced the fear that I was injuring myself every time I activated a hot spot.
Lesson #4Â –Â Get ALL the information you need to feel comfortable about your choices.
I chose to have a tissue valve so that I would not have to take anti-coagulants for the rest of my life (Coumadin). It was the right choice at my age, but following my surgery I became almost obsessed with the idea that if this valve was only going to last 10 years, and my resting heart rate was about 90, that meant I had about 1/3 less time before I had to go through all this again. I could see no possible reason to go out for the fast walks that had been ordered and reduce that time even more and, I can tell you without hesitation, that I don’t want to ever go through this again. My cardiologist and surgeon both assured me my valve would probably still be working just fine when I die of something else 20 years from now. The 10-year thing is just a statistic based on averages. I choose to believe this and I firmly envision myself at the top end of the bell curve. And anyway, in 10 years from now a new valve could probably be shot up your arm!
I hope everyone who has this procedure done has as wonderful a team of doctors, nurses and helpers as I did. My medical team at the Royal Jubilee Hospital in Victoria were absolute angels and I am so fortunate to live in British Columbia where this specialized care is available and totally without cost. Oh Canada!
Sincerely,
Mavis McClintock
Duncan, British Columbia, Canada
Written by Adam Pick
- Patient & Website Founder
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Nendie says on March 27th, 2009 at 2:58 pm |
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thanks Mavis. Mum is having valve replacement in three weeks and is 66 and 5’0!, I find your advice really comforting and helpful best wishes for the rest of your recovery |
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Marion "DoBee" Robinson says on March 27th, 2009 at 5:38 pm |
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Mavis, Thank you for the thorough and ‘timely’ lessons learned! I will have mitral valve surgery on April 2, so I am taking all of what you’ve shared ‘to heart’! I’ll make sure to inquire about muscle relaxers before leaving the hospital. God’s Best to You! |
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Ann Crouch says on March 27th, 2009 at 5:52 pm |
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Wonderful to hear your thoughts and feelings. I say “ditto”. I am nine weeks out from a double valve replacement, also with tissue valves. Saw my cardiologist this week and he gave me a glowing report. There were several weeks that I felt anything but glowing. I knew that I had reached a humiliating point when I let my precious mother-in-law help me with my shower and see me stripped naked. I am thankful for all my caregivers, but am most grateful for feeling more like myself. |
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nancy mallinger says on March 27th, 2009 at 8:44 pm |
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You are so right, Mavis! I had aortic valve replacement 4 months ago and am still having severe pain in my chest wall and ribs. I also had excrutiating pain post op in my back and neck. Nobody told me that this was common, so my anxiety level was very high. I also let me husband and adult son bully me into not taking much pain or sleep meds, and I regret being so passive. It would have made the whole experience easier had I known that a lot of my post op problems were normal. |
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Leslie says on March 28th, 2009 at 1:25 am |
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Hi Mavis |
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mercyturan says on March 28th, 2009 at 9:33 am |
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Dear Mavis, As the mother and caretaker of a 37 year old (now 38) who underwent a similar procedure (JohnTuran, Ross Procedure March 5,2008); I have to thank you profusely for a well done review of the lessons learned! I am 65 y/o and appreciate how you have taken your time to do someone else a favor–pretty much the way Adam has done with his book and blog, though he is much younger than you. I feel younger patients have a different view and they just want to “get over this and go on with life” and forget how much they were helped by those who came before them in this journey. God bless you, you look great, and yes, there’s already something in the works kind of like “shooting a new valve up your arm”. Look it up, Adam has an article about it. So, enjoy life, give thanks and carry on. Oh,! thanks for mentioning that you are from Canada and are thankful that this procedure was available to you and under your healthcare system. I am sick and tired of people telling me “it doesn’t work”, when I see it to the contrary. Thank you. Mercy Turan, Summerfield, Fl |
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Annette Sophocles says on March 28th, 2009 at 10:39 am |
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Hi Mavis, |
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Alex Lang says on March 29th, 2009 at 1:22 pm |
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Hi Mavis, |
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Kenneth Kahn says on March 29th, 2009 at 3:16 pm |
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Dear Adam: In response to Mavis’ paean to Canadian health care, I’d like you to watch (if you haven’t already seen it) the video posted by a Canadian couple. http://WWW.freemarketcure.Com/brainsurgery.php I’d like to add that my procedure (4/25/2008) was performed by one of the 3 top surgeons in Las Vegas, was performed ONE WEEK after my angiogram, was covered by Medicare and so far has cost about $600 out of pocket. I could have had it done by the V.A. but would have had to wait 6 months for the angiogram, then who knows how long for the surgery. |
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Maureen Spielman says on March 30th, 2009 at 1:39 pm |
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Hi Mavis, |
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Micki Novak says on May 9th, 2009 at 1:59 pm |
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Hi Mavis!! |
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Marion says on June 9th, 2009 at 5:02 pm |
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Hi Mavis, I read your story with interest and I hope you are still making good progress. I live in Victoria, am 66 years old and have to have surgery soon at the Jubilee for an Aortic replacement and repair to a bicuspid valve. My question is what you thought of your treatment at the Jubillee and who was your surgeon. My cardiologist said that all the surgeons at the Jubilee are excellent but I guess he is bias. I have to see Dr. Ofeish on Tuesday as he is the choice for me. I am aprehensive of course but am not panicking at this stage. But I would love to hear your comments please. Thanks Marion |
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Sharlene von BERG says on January 24th, 2010 at 10:20 am |
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Hi Mavis I am 9 weeks post mitral valve repair and Maze Procedure. i currently live in the Middle East but opted to go back to Durban,South Africa to have the surgery….I have just read your posting and felt very encouraged by it…thank you. I have also just received Adams book which in my mind is FANTASTIC and certainly helped me tremendously. Unfortunately I found the surgery to have been a very difficult time of my life and really felt that I didnt get much in the way of preparing oneself for the surgery and then the expectations thereafter. really feel that the hospital staff and doctors didnt tell me enough of the dos and donts after discharge….a little distressing when we have had to pay so much money for the surgery. I flew back home to the Middle East on 23 Dec-5 weeks after the surgery-9 hour fight as I was desperate to get home to be with my husband,my son who came home from college in the USA and celebrate Christmas. I can honestly say that I have started to feel only half human again in the last week or so.I am also so excited to have come upon your posting and to read how others are doing. Take care. |
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