Julie 's Guestbook

Hi Julie, I just started getting newsletters from this blog and am interested in your story. I have severe mitral valve regurgitation and my cardiac surgeon recommends open heart surgery and valve replacement for various reasons. I ‘m getting a second opinion about both at this time.  Is a mini-thoracotomy a type of minimally invasive surgery? 

The closer you get, the bigger the stress. After all, its heart surgery, not hangnail surgery, so expected. I won’t bore you with how i tried to escape the operating room before i went to sleep. What a chicken. Typical guy. I took what ever pain meds they handed out. Who wants pain. Even though it is minimally invasive, its still open heart surgery. How they get there is what makes it different. There are a couple of tubes they insert into your lungs during surgery that come out soon after recovery. I found those to be the most painful of the entire process. I think many will agree on that. I would move a certain way and see stars. Once out, life got much better. I’m no expert but i think they help to clean out your lungs. Good luck.