Lily's Journal

Lily He  Thanks for all the friends here who prayed for me, gave me support, shared information with me when I search for a hospital and a doctor.
I miss you and wish you the best.

Catie B  Great report, Lily--wonderful news! I'm so glad all is well. I remember trying to find you to say hello, since I arrived in Cleveland a few days after your surgery. Best to you!

Lily He  Catie, thank you so much for your caring of me. Sorry I we did not find with each other at Cleveland.
Hope you do great now. God bless you.

Denise Kirchner  Hi Lily,
It’s so good to hear how well you are doing! Yes, with God’s grace and our family and friends supporting us we can get through anything. The advances in heart surgery technology is saving lives every day. I celebrated my 2 year anniversary on September 13 and will be posting on my status later
this week as I have my annual echocardiogram
tomorrow and see my cardiologist on Friday. I
have no doubt that
everything is stable with my heart. You take care of yourself and stay in touch. God bless you and your family! ❤️
P.S. Thank you for visiting me at Cleveland Clinic post surgery when you were there for your pre-op testing. I appreciated it so very much and will always remember your kindness! ❤️

Rob Sparling  CCF veterans, please think of me next week. I am heading to Cleveland on Sunday afternoon.

Heart cath on Monday, consult with Dr Pettersson on Tuesday and Weds is “The Day”. ❤️💪

Meredith Geneja  Beautiful post, Lily. Thank you. May God continue to bless you and your family in every possible way! I will be grateful to write something like this in 2 years:)

Denise Kirchner  Hi Lily!
Just wanted to wish you and your family a very blessed and merry Christmas! I hope all is well with you. I am doing great! ❤️

Denise Kirchner  Hi Lily: I am getting a bit concerned since you have not posted since waiting to go in for surgery. I hope all is going well with your recovery. 🙏🏻❤️🙏🏻

Richard Puckett  Enjoy your weekend! I did a lot of walking around the Cleveland Clinic the two day before my surgery. There is a nice park and art gallery a few blocks northeast of the clinic that were very nice. We are praying for you!

Amy Steele  Lily, may you have great peace while you wait the last two days for your surgery. You are in my prayers for a successful surgery and speedy recovery!

Catie B  Prayers for you, Lily. I hope everything goes super smoothly for you. Look forward to hearing, as you regain your strength.

Catie B  Wishing you all the best, Lily. What an awesome surgeon you'll have! Looking forward to hearing how you progress. I'm not far behind you.

Corey Sines  We love the Tudor Arms Doubletree by Hilton, it is in walking distance from the Heart Center, but also has a shuttle to CC. It has great service and the rooms are fantastic and has quite a charm and the price was very competitive.

Corey Sines  http://doubletree3.hilton.com/en/hotels/ohio/the-tudor-arms-hotel-cleveland-a-doubletree-by-hilton-CLEUCDT/index.html
Ask for the CC rate.

Nancy Lewis  Hi Lily. I'm right behind you on the operating table. Mine is Sept 22 and in Michigan. Hope you find a comforting place to stay for the pre-op tests and the day before surgery. Cleveland has many interesting sites and activities. We usually visit for a weekend out of Michigan. Don't overdo though, your number one job is taking care of you. Best of luck on your surgery day. Nancy

Emily Rowley  Hello Lilly, it is good to see you are able to have your surgeon done at CCF especially after the hassle you had with your Cardiologist not wanting to refer you there. I hope everything goes to plan, many prayers and wishes for you. 💕

Marie Leighton  Hello Lily, I will be there in about a month, myself. My prayers go with you for a successful outcome and an easy recovery. Glad you trusted your instincts to go to Cleveland. My cardiologist did not give me a hard time about it, but my hubbys did have some negativity. (They are in the same practice.) always trust yourself and know how very important you are. Love and best wishes!

Amy Dorsey  My cardiologist was the same. He laughed at me when I told him I was considering Cleveland Clinic. Go with your gut. I chose Cleveland Clinic because the hospitals near me did not have a surgeon which specialized in my specific need, and considering the surgery, I wanted the most experienced surgeon in this procedure working on me. My insurance did not require a referral. I just called Cleveland Clinic myself and organized everything and my insurance took care of it. Getting all of your records together and mailing them to Cleveland Clinic is not as hard as it seems. Once you call them, they will send you everything you need with very detailed instructions. I was amazed at how easy they made it. I don't regret going against my cardiologist's referral.

Lily He  Thank you very much, Amy. Your experience is encouraging me. Hope my process will be as easy as yours. By the way, when you ask your cardiologist office for your medical record, you ask it to give all the records to you, not CCF, right ? Then you mail the package to them. ?

Steven Dean  I have encountered that attitude before and it is very frustrating. It is your heart, not theirs, you have done the research and should be able to get the surgery at the place of your choosing. Like Amy, I found everything was really easy to set up with CC. They do this a lot so have it down very well. Give them a call.

David C  Luckily for me, the original cardiologist I was referred to here in Portland was a joke. Refused to see me and just sent me to a surgeon, who while perfectly nice, only does about 12 of these surgeries a year. At that point I took matters into my own hands. I only had to go and collect films and records. My wife made sure everything was bundled up and sent to Cleveland, Mayo and a surgeon a friend referred us to at Yale. It's actually pretty easy once you go through and gather everything.

After the surgery we immediately said that it is worth every ounce of the extra effort to get to Cleveland. My wife, and my parents who came and visited me in Cleveland were astonished at the level of knowledge care and expertise that is standard practice at the Cleveland Clinic. None of us has had a similar experience with a medical facility.

Additionally, I am friends with doctors, Cardiac Nurses, and a few physical therapists [who deal with cardio rehab] and all of them said to go to the very best surgeons. Recovery is so much faster when you do. I am almost 6 weeks out [thursday] and walking 5 miles on average, and did over 7 today.

Peggy Whitecotton  I did the same thing, found my own surgeon and his office told me what info to send. Called up my cardiologist office, told them I wanted copies of my last 2 echos, plus CD copies and offices notes of last 2 visits, and not to send them I would pick them up myself and carried them to the surgeon.. My cardiologist did send him a very nice letter and told him to feel free to call him for any information he might need...Hey, I see you are from Starkville, MS. I'm from Amory MS. My cardiologist wanted me to go to Birmingham or Tupelo, I said no way... I went to St. Louis, my surgeon was trained at the Mayo Clinic and now he is the head surgeon for the SSM Heart institute. He was the first one to do robotic surgery in the state as well as TAVR.. I was happy with him.

Amy Dorsey  Yes...you ask your cardiologist and any of your doctors that have records they need for copies. I had to go to various places because I needed copies of TEE reports and my heart catheterization which were done at two different hospitals. It made for a lot of running around, but they are required to hand over your records. Sometimes you might have to sign a paper allowing them to do so. Once I had all of the copies, I made an additional set for myself to keep at home. The others I sent straight to Cleveland Clinic.

Lily He  Thank you guys so much. I will do my best to have the medical records done asap. Experience really give s me a big reason to get to the best surgeon.

Peggy Whitecotton  Lily... You live about 40 miles from me. Who is your cardiologist? I know mine used to see patients in Starkville once a week...

Peggy Whitecotton  Lily He.. No, I don't know him, my doc was Dr Michael Boland until he retired. I now see Dr Chang in Columbus.... I also continue to see the cardiologist in St. Louis every 6 months that is part of the heart team where I had my surgery, I don't have too but I feel more comfortable about seeing them....

Lily He  Dr. Clifton Lewis at Birmingham, AL is not far away from here. He is very good to do robotic heart surgery. But I don't know whether he is good at aorta repair. I will see him on Aug.23. Hope I can make a decision after my visit. If you guys have some information, please let me know. Thanks.

Darlene Smith  Personally, I'd go with the surgeon who is expert at your type of surgery, and not a surgeon who does other types of cardiac/OHS. And while Cleveland has an outstanding reputation, go there for a consult and see how comfortable you are there. I suspect your husband will be fine and will provide you with the support you need.

Lily He  Thank you, Darlene. Your successful story encourages me. I agaree I need to find a doctor that can fix my heart best.

Bridget Sawmiller  Go with the doctor who has the best experience, that is why we went with Dr Pettersson at the Cleveland Clinic, no regrets. Also, your husband will do fine, mine was down there for that time too and we just spent alot of great quality time together. Being nervous is what all of us went through and it is overwhelming, but you will do great and will have your heart fixed with many more amazing years ahead of you.

  Not sure how far you are from TX, but the Heart Hospital in Plano (near Dallas) is excellent with one of the largest number of valve replacements in the country. Best wishes to you.

Richard Puckett  Like everybody has said, go with the best doctor and hospital, if you can. I was at the Cleveland Clinic eight weeks ago. Even though my daughter and her husband was there for a couple of days, it was primarily my wife and I. We did fine.

Mary Wagner  I just had surgery for my aneurysm in March at the Inova Heart Center in Fairfax, VA. I had an AVR valve put in 26 years ago. The surgeon was thinking about replacing it but thankfully - the valve looked really good even after that long. He fixed the huge aneurysm and I am doing well - 3 months later! My surgeon has a great reputation and was the doctor that did Vice- President Cheney's heart replacement. Find a surgeon that does a lot of these. Good luck to you!

Lily He  Dear heart friends, thank you so much for alll your suggestions and encouragement. I feel much relieved now. Will update my status soon. Yall have a wonderful weekend.