For at least the last four years, I’ve had mitral valve regurgitation, which has gotten significantly worse over the last 18 months. In that time, I’ve had two bouts of atrial fibrillation, as well as shortness of breath & swollen feet & ankles consistent with mild heart failure.
We’ve tried to treat it with medication, but that hasn’t worked very well. So the next step is surgery. At first, we were considering a mitral valve repair. However, in the pre-operative testing, we discovered that the mitral valve itself isn’t damaged. What’s happening is that my left ventricle is enlarged (obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy), and this enlargment has pushed the mitral valve’s two leaflets out of alignment, so that they don’t form a proper seal to prevent the ventricluar contraction from sending blood back into the atrium & lungs. The enlargement also narrows the left ventricular outflow tract, restricting the blood flow out of the ventricle and out into the rest of the body, creating back pressure on the mitral valve and compounding its leakage.
So instead of a mitral valve repair, we’ll be doing a septal myectomy to remove some of the enlarged ventricular tissue that obstructs the flow of blood out of the ventricle and causes the misalignment in the mitral valve. We’ll also reposition the chords that attach to the mitral valve’s leaflets, since they’ve been stretched out by the misalignment.
The surgery will be done robotically, using the daVinci surgical robot. It’s a minimally invasive procedure – they go in through the right side, between the ribs, and across the chest to access the heart. It’s scheduled for May 14; I’ll be in hospital for 4-5 days, then off work for at least another two weeks.
I’d say I’m getting off pretty light with just surgery – Mom’s side of the family has a long, grim history of early-onset heart disease. Grandpa died at 50 of a heart attack, and my younger brother died at 45. I figure that with those odds, I’m lucky to have made it almost to 50.
Wow, that’s both not good news and good to hear you’re on top of it and getting the care you need!
I’ll be keeping you in my thoughts, and (Buddhist) prayers. And I’ll go to the temple and light some incense on the 14th, I promise! (Unless you object to such!) Either way I’m sending you waves of healing vibes, starting today!
Best of luck to you, hoping you have no complications and a great out come!
(When feeling up to it, and not before,:mad:, send us and an update and let us know how it went. 'Cause we worry, don’t ya know!)
I’ve been working in cardiac surgery for over 9 years and have never heard of that procedure. But the less invasive, the better. And I’ve seen a 3D movie of a robot doing a procedure. How cool is that?
I had bypass surgery almost two years ago.
The thing that surprised me the most is how little discomfort I experienced. Sure, I was pretty damn sore, but I never once characterized my pain as anything more than mid-way up the chart. And, I had the whole open-chest operation.
Hopefully, everything will go smoothly, and you will make a quick and thorough recovery. I have to say that I’m in much better shape after the surgery than I was as much as a decade ago… I think you will be surprised how much more energy you have once your heart is working better!
Good luck!! Glad it’s a minimally-invasive thing, that’ll make the recovery easier. A colleague (early 40s) recently had valve replacement surgery and the full incision (if she wears a low-ish cut top we can see the top inch or so of the scar). One thing I learned: she had to rent a special armchair that would help lift her (the kind of thing someone with severe arthritis might use) because she wasn’t allowed to use her arms to help push herself to standing, for a few weeks.
Tell someone close you that you need one of these :). I ordered one for my co-worker and snuck it onto her desk just before she returned to work.
Best wishes. It sounds like your team is really on it. I had mitral valve repair in 08 with open heart. It would seem to me to avoid having the sternum cut through would avoid a lot of pain and discomfort.
Good luck with the procedure! You’re lucky there’s a less-invasive way of fixing the problem. Keep us posted with your progress.
I’m having my aortic valve replaced this summer, and it’s a totally invasive procedure (the valve is in the center of the heart). There’s a much less-invasive procedure in clinical trials, but it’s not perfected, and I’m not old enough or sick enough to participate anyway. I’ll be in the hospital 7-10 days, and the recovery will take 12-18 months. The extended times are due to my diabetes. Strangely, I don’t feel any fear or anxiety about all of this, just impatience to get it over with.
I feel blessed to live in a time and place where this problem can be fixed. And very grateful that we have Medicare; I’d never be able to afford it on my own.
You and I will both be better and stronger after all of this is over. Always keep that in mind.
Best of luck to you, 3waygeek.
I underwent a quadruple bypass last October and while I’m still recovering, I feel better than I’ve felt in about a decade. I’ll keep you in my thoughts and prayers.
