Scott's Guestbook

Scott Kinghorn  Had an echo and follow up all good. Yay. Glad to hear you're doing great. Driving back from the Iowa Great Lakes the other day I thought it's almost been 6 months. Wow. Nice to have it behind us.

  You are in my prayers for your surgery tomorrow. God bless you and write as soon as you can 🙏❤️

Scott Kinghorn  Testing was... well kind of testing. Lol The CT broke while I was in it with a dose of dye so i went to another machine and got more dye. So that put me behind and the 1.5 hr echo. But all and all it went ok but it meant we couldn't hang out and kind of explore Mayo. Dr. Arghami and his staff are super nice and helpful. We mentioned your name and he chuckled about your 1st night in the ICU. Lol. I keep telling myself and Dr. Arghami just confirms it that I need to have this done to stop my heart from getting bigger. Still the day of waiting. I'll be very very happy come Thursday evening. Hope your 1st day at rehab went well. I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks for the prays.

Cheryl Mann  Well Scott, the machine breaking halfway through a test has got to be the best pre-op story I have read so far.... pretty much everyone has a little something that doesn’t quite go according to plan - so maybe you are all set to sail through everything without even a hiccup (which would be good - because those hurt a little...). I’m glad you like Dr. Arghami - he will get you all fixed up and you will be on your way home before you know it.

Scott Kinghorn  It's crazy how they can get everyone thru the tests so smoothly. The 12 lead rooms seemed like dressing rooms. Lol

  Dear Lydia and Scott, I will be lifting you both in prayer for your upcoming surgeries. May God bless you both and write as soon as you can.

Richard Munson  Not sure i have your sisters total confidence but i had minimally invasive in january, no robot and it turned out fine. I suspect the robot will even make the job less invasive and less painful. I looked for a hospital and surgeon that do mitral valves with their eyes closed. Being near boston made that easy. One thing i was told right from the start was that no matter how they enter your body, it is still heart surgery. Good luck, it will be fine.

Scott Kinghorn  I get that. These procedures have been done and getting better for the last 60+yrs. But unfourtunatly it doesn't make it any easier for those going thru it. I'm very greatful for everyone's hindsight but this is something we must do on our own. Believe me I'm taking all your advise and experience and trying to put my mind at ease. Thank you very much. I'm sorry for the bad selling

Scott Kinghorn  I get that. These procedures have been done and getting better for the last 60+yrs. But unfourtunatly it doesn't make it any easier for those going thru it. I'm very greatful for everyone's hindsight but this is something we must do on our own. Believe me I'm taking all your advise and experience and trying to put my mind at ease. Thank you very much. I'm sorry for the bad selling

Richard Munson  If you were not worried about heart surgery you would not be normal. When it was scheduled a couple of months before until the day i went in i went from nervous to basket case like most everyone. Easy to be cavalier once it is over but odds are, you will be fine. I still recall sitting in the waiting room the day of surgery asking myself why i was there.

Marie Myers  I agree with Richard’s assessment. I also went from nervous to basket case . Having worked in the operating room for 40+ years, I never dreamed I would have had open heart surgery. But here I am 4 years post AVR, aortic root and ascending aneurysm resection. Best advice I can give you is to get some consultations that really explain all your options, make your decision, and then just go with it. It is emotionally difficult, but it is doable.

Scott Kinghorn  I've got a ton of questions. Sorry. Were you able to meet the whole operating room people or just Dr Arghami? How many times had you met with Dr. Arghami? How many days were you in St. Marys? Do you know the type of surgery was done. Was it a sliding type repair with an annulas ring? The spelling is most likely wrong. Are you on pain meds now? How freaky is it to have someone that has fixed your heart? I mean drive to another city and have a Dr. you've never met. I'm trying to keep telling myself this must happen so my heart won't any larger. I'll ask you some more questions later. Thank you very much. Hope healing going well.

Cheryl Mann  Scott - I know where you are in your head right now because I was there less than a week ago. I know it feels chaotic - out of control - scary. That is normal. You have chosen to take excellent care of your health and are putting in extra effort (and Highway miles) to get the best care possible. Trust your choices. I met dr A in February for my consult and then saw both him and the second surgeon the morning of my surgery. They were both amazing! Pain control has not been a problem. I am taking tylenol and using an ice pack. :)
My email is camann316@yahoo.com - send me an email and we can arrange to speak by phone if you like. The waiting is the worst part and you are almost done. Hang in there.

Susan Lynn  Scott - I also had a minimally-invasive mini-thoracotomy to repair my mitral valve and chords. My surgeon did 'put a ring on it' (an Edwards Lifesciences annulplasty ring to be exact) and the entire process was nearly painless. As Cheryl mentioned, waiting is the worst part - every other part is easily tolerable. You'll do just fine! ❤

Scott Kinghorn  I'm doing ok. Just waiting for May 6th. Lol. Then hoping the pretesting finds no suprises. Or any during the surgery for that. Thank you for asking.

Scott Kinghorn  Nice hope every thing is going great with your recovery. Where did you have your procedure done? How was it to wake up after having your heart stopped?

Joseph Heinzmann  Yale Hospital
Dr. Arnar Geirsson
I had no wake up issues. The first wakeup I have zero memory. Nurse told me I made some requests but nothing bizarre. Second wakeup I remember and I was aware enough to listen to see if I could hear clicking because I was hoping for a repair, not a mechanical replacement. So what I would take from that is that I woke up with enough awareness to try to gain information about a pre-surgical thought that I had. The only weirdness is that I had a bad dream (not a nightmare, just a troubling dream) on the second night after surgery. Before that, I didn't dream and for me, that's not typical.

To be honest, I had it easier than I expected and consider the hospital experience pretty lucky.

Susan Lynn  Scott - i had minimally-invasive mitral valve repair. I didn't have any issues waking up, virtually no pain, and was out in 3 days. My surgeon was Dr. Scott Goldman at Lankenau Heart Pavillion just outside of Philadelphia. Waiting was the worst part - everything was very tolerable. Best of luck to you! ❤
https://youtu.be/KaI9dUTRlm8

Phyllis Petersen  I had minimally invasive robotic surgery with Dr. Gillinov at Cleveland Clinic in October 2016. Apparently, I don't remember my initial wakeup or big parts of that day, but progress was pretty rapid after that. Surgery was Thursday morning and released on Monday morning. Feel free to ask me any questions too. BTW, I was driving 4 weeks after surgery.

Scott Kinghorn  Super good luck. I haven't met my Dr yet. Not till 2 days before the surgery. I've talked with him twice but still have a million questions.

Scott Kinghorn  Super good luck. I haven't met my Dr yet. Not till 2 days before the surgery. I've talked with him twice but still have a million questions.

Scott Kinghorn  Super good luck. I haven't met my Dr yet. Not till 2 days before the surgery. I've talked with him twice but still have a million questions.

Scott Kinghorn  Super good luck. I haven't met my Dr yet. Not till 2 days before the surgery. I've talked with him twice but still have a million questions.