Louanna's Journal

Thomas Brusstar  I just quit after 12 weeks, as scheduled. Cold turkey. I haven't had my INR tested since. I don't miss it!

Louanna Miller  Awesome. Thank you, Thomas. And Merry Christmas to you and your family. You’ve been a great suppport to me.

Dan Vechiola  Hi Louanna! I went once a week to have my INR check until it became consistant than it was every other week. I came off the warafin cold turkey after 3 months post op with a switch to a baby aspirin. I have been getting answers to my questions by sending messages to Taylor (Dr. Thomas' RN) using the My Chart app. Its a nice way to ask a quick question and get a quick answer.

LINDA ROBERTS  I am 8 weeks out and they told me not to use anything on my scar yet for I still have a couple of scabs and not to take any chance the incision could open. I am wanting to use something on my scar soon so will be interested in knowing what people suggest.

Louanna Miller  I am 5 weeks post mitral valve repair through the sternum and continue to require 1 Hydrocodone every 8 hours with an extra strength Tylenol taken in between each.

Duane Brown  I took dilaudid for 40 days after surgery. I had pain in throat whenever it wore off for first 6 weeks. However I had some type of pain start at 5 1/2 weeks that was 10/10 whenever pressure exerted on rob cage anywhere. Lasted for 2 weeks constantly and 2 mg dilaudid every 6 hours even with 1000 mg of ibuprofen didn't seem to help.

Marie Myers  I took Percocet for about 10 days after surgery. Mostly I took it at night to get some sleep. Tylenol was enough during the day for me.

Dan Vechiola  I will be 3 weeks post op on Thursday. I was taking 6 regular strength Tylenol (2 after each meal) and 2 Hydrocodone at night (1 at 10 p.m. and the other when I woke up around 2 a.m.) Last night I only seem to need 1 Hydrocodone before bed so today I am going to try to shift to 6 Extra Strength Tylenol (at 8 a.m., 3 p.m. and 10 p.m.) and no Hydrocodone and see how it goes.

Meredith Bray  Surgery Wednesday, last pain pill on Friday in preparation for drain tube removal. I was given a prescription for something, but never filled it. Strictly acetaminophen (Tylenol). The back pain was the worst pain, but my PT helped me find a way to get rid of it.
Meredith
Holiday, FL

Kathy Sansone  I took oxycodone doe the first 2 weeks and then weened off . Now I just take Tylenol at night but wondering if I really need it

LINDA ROBERTS  I just took tylenol for a few weeks. Oddly enough when I started becoming more active in my chest area-around week 6 or 7, I now feel more soreness. Nothing that warrants a pain pill but different than what I felt initially after surgery.

Dan Vechiola  Wow yes that did go by fast. Have a great trip to Chicago and I hope you have a great appointment with Dr. McCarthy!!

Louanna Miller  Thanks Dan! I saw his NP.

X-ray looks good and no need to remove the foid behind the left lung. I was glad. Vitals are good, Heart sounds great, EKG is good, stay on pain medication if needed, walk, rest and heal.

Phyllis Petersen  Glad to hear you're home now! I hope all the issues are behind you and you can really start moving ahead with your recovery. Just being in your own place can make a real difference.

Rhonda Williams  So glad to hear it was successful. You're going to be surprised how much better you feel just being out of the hospital. Congratulations!

Dan Vechiola  So great to hear from you and so glad your surgery was successful. Yes everybody's recovery is different so you can now put the surgery in the rear view mirror and focus on recovering each day. Congratulations on being home and take it one day at a time.

Sue Tom  So glad to hear that your surgery was successful. Sending you best wishes for a smooth recovery at home.

Louanna Miller  Thank you everyone. Now I feel like I can get the necessary rest for healing and recovery. I appreciate all of your words and wishes of encouragement.

Robert Bach  Louanna, glad your surgery was successful and you are home. I had mitral valve surgery with Dr. McCarthy on July 30, so it has been five weeks for me. I hope you are recovering well. Like others have said, we recover at our own pace. Best of luck to you.

Rita Savelis  Congrats! 10 days sounds like a short stay to me. I had 28 days! Best of luck as your recovery continues.

Dan Vechiola  Good luck Louanna! I also had an echo at Northwestern and met with them both on July 25th and am moving forward with both of them with my surgery scheduled for September 6, 2018. Tell them both (along with their fellow Dr. White should you see him) I said Hi ! Sounds like you have the same schedule I did. lol

Adam Pick  Louanna, You are in great hands with the Northwestern Medicine team. MANY, MANY, MANY patients from our community have had stellar results with Dr. McCarthy and his team. https://www.heart-valve-surgery.com/surgeons/dr-Patrick-McCarthy-Chicago-Illinois.php

Debbie Chatzky  I had surgery with Dr McCarthy on May 31st. It was a very complex mitral valve replacement and maze procedure. He preformed a successful surgery He is known as “the legend”
At the hospital.
Best wishes!

Michael Meyer  You are looking at some excellent physicians, Dr. McCarthy was on my list, but I decided to go to Cleveland Clinic.

Susan Lynn  Louanna - Please be sure to consider a mini-thoractomy. I had a mv and chord repair and it was a very easy procedure and recovery.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaI9dUTRlm8

Darlene Smith  For an intricate repair, make sure you see a mitral valve expert at a center of excellence. You want your surgeon to be at least 95% sure he can repair the valve.

Louanna Miller  Thank you both. The first surgeon is very confident he can do a durable repair with full functioning. I am seeing another surgeon who is an expert in the repair of them robotically.

Susan Lynn  Louanna - be sure to ask the robotic surgeon about the length of the surgery. I understand that it requires a longer amount of time on bypass - hours longer, that is Ironically, the person who talked me out of robotic surgery was a robotic surgeon. He was very honest with me about downside and the possible complications that can result from extending surgical time. He also pointed out that in a year it won't matter how you had it done. (Meaning - everyone is healed similarly by then.) Good luck!

John Lant  Just remember you are always better off with your own living tissue Mytral Valve over a Mytral Valve Replacement. So if you can find a Surgeon who can repair your Mytral Valve you will know exactly what to do.

Louanna Miller  Thank you, John Lant. That is exactly what I am hoping to have done. Repair is the way I want to go.

Valerie Herndon-Vitarella  I have had both. First I had the robotic with a 2 inch rt thoracotomy and multiple port incisions. A little more than a year and I found out the annuloplasty ring used in the repair was pulling apart from the valve. I then had a full sternotomy to re-repair (because of scar tissue they do not go back robotically the 2nd time). On the re-repair he patched where the ring pulled away and replaced some chordae. Surgery on Monday & discharged Friday morning for both OHS. Pain was not bad with either approach, but different; I only took Tylenol since 2 days post op. I drove in 1 week for robotic & 4 weeks for sternotomy. There are way more restrictions after sternotomy, but I went back to work exactly 6 weeks from both. I would say, pick an experienced surgeon that has great outcomes and that you trust and do it either way the surgeon feels most confident of getting the best repair.

Susan Lynn  Louanna - it was about 5 months for me, but most of that time was consumed waiting for cardiology appointments and preliminary tests. Once I found my surgeon, I was in surgery in two weeks. There was no point in waiting when this condition only gets progressively worse. Plus, waiting is the worst part! Best of luck to you!

Adam Pick  Hi Louanna, First off... Welcome to our community! You are one of our newest members! I hope the educational information and caring people in this community will help you along your journey to a healthy heart!!! Secondly, I did not have any time to wait or plan for surgery. My left ventricle was already starting to expand and my aortic valve was very stenotic and regurgitant. That said, I was not experiencing many symptoms. I am hopeful your visits with the surgeons will give you a path to getting more energy back into your life!!!! Adam Pick (patient & website founder guy)

Michael Meyer  Louanna:

You should not wait depending on the problem. I can tell you there is a statistically measurable increase in the mortality rate for those who have medium to severe mitral valve regurgitation after 3 months. Not sure about other valve conditions, but you ask them, waiting is not typically an advantage.

I do recommend getting a second opinion.

Kelly Stoll  Welcome. I waited about a year but my symptoms were more progressed then my valve. Either way, my cardiologist suggested a 1 to 2 year timeline and was great about bringing me in for checkups, etc. until we decided it was time.
It can be a nig process, but feeling better is worth the wait.

Marianne Charters  I started getting dizzy at work and my p.a. Reffered me to a cardiologist. Saw him in April. Surgery(mitral valve repair) was May 30th. After test they said if we had waited another month or two I would’ve been in heart failure. I’m 60, good shape,no cardiac disease or blockages and minimal symptoms. But 6 weeks out I am realizing how tired I WAS before. So happy I had this done

Rose Madura  I was told in mid April 2017. Had surgery May 31, 2017. Mine was aortic valve replacement, aortic aneurysm, and arch repair.

Louanna Miller  Thank you all for sharing your experiences and knowledge. My MVP regurgitation is severe. I plan to have the surgery as soon as the surgeons recommends.

Marianne Charters  Your story is so similar to mine. Even the broken cord comment. Ask about left atrial appendage ligation

Adam Pick  Louanna - Here's some more information about timing mitral valve surgery. I filmed this with Dr. Marc Gillinov, the chairman of the Cleveland Clinic cardiac department. I hope it helps! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gREahMg06NQ

Thomas Brusstar  Louanna, welcome. I’ve had a known mitral valve issue for like 34 years, since I was 20. I had a transthoracic echo May 24 I think, routine follow up to my last echo of January 2017. They recognized a ruptured chord and a “flail” leaflet on my posterior leaflet. (In retrospect, that probably happened summer of 2017, when I had lots of chest congestion and shortness of breath, which the clinic treated as pneumonia.) It took a few weeks to see the cardiologist of choice at N’western, but he got me in to see Dr. McCarthy later that morning. We set his next available then, namely July 17. At this point I’m eager to get it over with. My heart is starting to get enlarged a bit, and there is pulmonary hypertension from all the backflow at my mitral valve. Good luck figuring this out!