Is open-heart surgery worth considering for multiple cardiac issues?

[GENIERE]

Open-heart surgery.

I don’t recommend it for everyone…but if you have, as I had, several almost totally occluded cardiac arteries and a poorly functioning aortic valve, it’s worth considering.

I had the surgery on Jan. 2, 2006 wherein 3 arteries were bypassed and my aortic valve was replaced with a valve from a cow or a `bovine’ valve as the surgeon calls it. The bovine valve comes with a lifetime warranty. I think having a warranty is good but I have some confusion as to how I report a failure. At the surgeon’s discretion, I could have had a pig’s valve (porcine) or a mechanical valve (ping-pong ball in a bird cage).

I’m one of the lucky people who have had this surgery as I have never had a heart attack and my heart pumps very strongly. The surgery took less than three hours without any complications at all. I was kept under anesthesia for an entire day and was walking several hours after reviving. I left the hospital on Jan. 7th.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Wow, that's an amazingly serious procedure! Glad you're up and posting.

What were the symptoms that lead you to the doctor in the first place?

 

[Moonbear]

Wow! Glad you're back up and around (or at least up and posting). How's the recovery going? I hope you're up and about and fully recovered as quickly as possible.

 

[GENIERE]

Thanks guys

I had mild symptoms, it seemed a Boa constrictor was squeezing my chest after I did moderate exercise. I never go to the doctor and I hid my symptoms from my family but was caught grimacing by my eldest son after carrying a heavy Christmas present into his home. The next day my kids forced me, kicking and screaming, into the emergency room.

I was a heavy smoker so I thought I had emphysema …oddly it turns out that my lungs aren’t too bad.

 

[Math Is Hard]

Yay! Geniere, I am so glad to hear about your remarkable recovery. Does this make you a cow-borg? Don't forget to fill out and send in that warranty card!

 

[zoobyshoe]

I had mild symptoms, it seemed a Boa constrictor was squeezing my chest after I did moderate exercise.

Yeah, that sounds bad. Glad you got it taken care of. I think that's the same thing David Letterman had a couple years back.

 

[Moonbear]

Yay! Geniere, I am so glad to hear about your remarkable recovery. Does this make you a cow-borg? Don't forget to fill out and send in that warranty card!

 

[Chronos]

Sympathies, GENIERE. Have you quit smoking?

 

[Astronuc]

I had mild symptoms, it seemed a Boa constrictor was squeezing my chest after I did moderate exercise. I never go to the doctor and I hid my symptoms from my family but was caught grimacing by my eldest son after carrying a heavy Christmas present into his home. The next day my kids forced me, kicking and screaming, into the emergency room.

I was a heavy smoker so I thought I had emphysema …oddly it turns out that my lungs aren’t too bad.

WOW! You are very fortunate your son noticed!

Welcome back and congratulations on your recovery! I wondered to where you had disappeared.

Take it easy , keep getting stronger, and live much longer!

 

[hypatia]

I'm happy to hear, that your kicking and screaming did no good! And glad to hear you've got a second chance at living to a ripe old age.

 

[loseyourname]

I'm hoping by the time I get to that stage of life, they'll have mechanical hearts that are self-fixing. Maybe that's a bad idea, though. Then I'll just keep living and living even though the rest of my body is wrinkled and broken and I'll hardly be able to do anything.