About Me (In My Own Words)
Heart Valve Replacement due to Mitral and Tricuspid leakage causing an enlarged heart. The tricuspid was non-functioning. The Doctor repaired the Tricuspid and replaced the Mitral with a mechanical valve. The Tricuspid repair started failing before the end of the surgery but the Doctor chose not to do anything to it. The Doctor realized that was a bad decision immediately after the surgery.
I was in the ICU for three days. Those were the worst three days of my life. The pain was minimal and controlled with Morphine. Morphine keeps me wide awake which was making me totally miserable. I became paranoid and was hallucinating I believed a Doctor that I had met previously (my father's doctor that I didn't like) was trying to kill me because I knew that he had murdered someone during the night. He would stand in my doorway with his arms crossed, wearing cowboy boots that he would continuously stomp and was constantly staring at me. I thought of him as Dr. Boots. (funny now, but not then) I thought that he had cameras all over the room and was watching me. I would have these pains like a spasm in my heart but thought that a nurse, which I thought of as the "Bad Nurse", was putting something in my port to make it spasm. When my heart Doctor came around he would ask if I was feeling any pain and I would tell him no. I thought that he could possibly be in on the murder. Of course now I know that I should have told him about the pain. I was afraid for my husband and believed that they had attacked him but let him go after threatening him to shut up. One night I made my nurse call my husband because I was afraid for him. He came to the hospital and I made him show me his hands and they were fine. I didn't tell anyone about Dr. Boots, not even my husband. I was terrified to tell anyone. I was living in a three day nightmare. I could go on and on about everything else but you're probably bored by now. haha
As soon as I left ICU and was put in a normal room I was almost back to normal. I didn't tell my husband or anyone about this for five or six days after leaving ICU.
I was a pump-head for a year and a half after surgery and believe that I still have some lingering problems which I hope will go away with time. That's another long story but I'll spare you the details. Look it up and you can get the information on it. The way I found it was just putting the strange things that were happening to me after surgery into a web search. I found so many people that were just like me and it felt good to read about them and I didn't feel so alone anymore. Even family and friends would just blow me off when I tried to explain the things happening to me and when I told them about being a pump-head. I was really traumatized by all of this.
My Doctors ignore the subject of being a pump-head when I want to talk about it. That really bothers me. They don't really believe that there is such a thing. I KNOW there is...
I don't believe that many people have this problem after surgery, I was just one of the "lucky" ones.
I am doing well, but still having a little trouble keeping my INR number level.
I feel like the pain was no problem. I was sent home with pain medication and several refills and told by the nurse that I would definitely be needing the refills. I rarely took them and used only half of the original bottle and never needed the refills.
My problems were mostly psychological, which was really a hard thing to deal with.
I mention my paranoia and pump-head only because I was never warned by anyone that these things could happen. Had I known I believe things would have been different. I suggest that any of you preparing for surgery investigate these things so that you will be prepared if this happens to you. Hopefully it won't.
More Info About Me & My Heart
More About Me
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I am from:
Westlake, Louisiana
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My surgery date is:
August 5, 2014
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I was diagnosed with:
Mitral Regurgitation
Tricuspid Regurgitation
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My surgery was:
Mitral Valve Replacement
Tricuspid Valve Repair
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My surgeon is:
Dr. Xavier Mousset
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My hospital is:
Christus St. Patricks
