My drama queen thread

Rotty

Rotty

Rotty

Don
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
41,973
Location
Notts
Left it for some time before making this public

In Feb I was diagnosed with a bicuspid aortic heart valve, something I was unaware of but will have had since birth

without surgery the outcome was pretty obvious, apparently my valve should have opened 27mm and mine opened 4mm

Covid caused some delays but in June I was admitted to Papworth hospital which is the top heart place in the country

I have had the valve replaced with bits of pig :eek: (if you are squeamish don't google how this is done) as a 54 year old that's lived life to the max I also had blocked arteries etc, normally these would have been stented but a bypass is a better fix and as my surgeon said "while we have the bonnet up we will do a triple bypass" , also I had some blood clots in my heart, these were removed and the chamber they form in was closed off

I was supposed to be in ICU for a day but my heart rate was stuck at 140, was like being in Gym 24hrs a day (not that I would know) sweating, out of breath etc, I also had ice packs down my sides

3 days and no improvement they used an electric shock to regain normal rhythm and that got me out of ICU

From then on it's all been pretty good, after 5 weeks i can now walk about 3 miles, I have a couple of issues but nothing too serious

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Thekwango said:
Jesus dude that’s a big ‘ole op to be going through. Congratulations (if that’s the correct way of putting it) and all the very best wishes for the future.

out of curiosity, the big scar on the leg, what do they do down there if you don’t mind me asking?
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when they do all the bypass stuff you have arteries in your chest they use for some of it but not enough so they take veins from your leg for the rest
 
Thekwango said:
Wow. That’s pretty impressive and scary! And there’s no negative impact to the legs from these veins being removed?
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the surgeon explained as "we have closed one lane of the M25 but all the others will widen to cope" :p

we all know how a bypass works but the fact they can replace parts of your heart as a routine thing still seems scary to me
 
Yrkoon said:
just wow, had no idea, that is such a horrible ordeal to go through and i am glad that you are on the mend, give you and you'r family my best wishes and hope you continue to improve :)
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thanks

ridiculous thing is my wife was admitted to hospital 48 hrs before me and had appendix removed day before :p

the valve will only last about 15 yrs so will need doing again, my surgeon (I picked one of the very best if not the best in the country) is confident that by that time it can be done like a stent is these days, hope so as I can't go through that *** again
 
Yrkoon said:
dang that is super tough, give your wife my best wishes for a speedy recovery as well :)
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thanks

she's all good and has been back at work for 2 weeks :)

her hospital was great, they sent her home 12 hrs after op, no discharge papers or anything, just to make sure we had a couple of hrs before I went (no visitors for me due to covid), she did formalities later in day
 
jsmoke said:
Amazing what can be done. How do they know an electric shock won't have the effect of stopping your heart or speeding it up instead of fixing the rhythm?
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The intention is to stop it, it then naturally restarts with a good rhythm
 
LOAM said:
How strange, my old man had a quad bypass about 7 years ago and you guessed it, my mum's appendix ruptured and needed to be be removed 2 days before.
Good luck with the recovery, it effected my dad in several ways and he had severe down periods mentally. I guess it's after something major you realise your own mortality.
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What a mad coincidence


Have read of depression etc being an effect after for some, I generally always have a positive outlook so hopefully it won't hit me lime that
 
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BDEE said:
@Rotty Congrats on the surgery - Interested in how you start to feel after recovery from the surgery - Like if you notice any difference to your general health / feeling of health with the problems fixed. I guess all your life you would not have known any different - Keep us updated!
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Couple of minor issues that will hopefully go away soon but generally I feel great, just having a coue of beers then I treating a few folks to a curry later to say thanks for all their help over last few weeks :)
 
Pez said:
You could be right actually, it is more common in Paeds cases. The Ross uses the PV to replace the AV, and a donor valve backfills the PV... Maybe @Rotty can tell us?

Whatever happened, glad you’re on the mend :)
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what do I know?

what's a PV?

mine was aortic valve replaced with 27mm Hancock 2 porcine one
 
Acme said:
Incredible stuff, how do you feel now vs. before? It sounds like your heart should be about twice as useful as before the surgery!

I do find this stuff amazing. Does it make you feel weird looking at pictures of it all online and knowing it was done to your heart? I just had a good old dig through some imagery and it made me feel weird.

Chicks dig scars remember. Tell them you fought a shark. :D
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Certainly can walk much further than before, would normally have been going to a cardiac rehab gym but not re opened yet, hopefully it won't be too long
 
Yadda said:
I've seen a previous episode of that series about surgeons, the one about lung transplants. The surgeon was talking about the practical issues around attaching one "airpipe" to another by the butt ends (err, not that butt end) as though he was talking about repairing an old Hoover. They're a different breed. :)

How are you now, @Rotty? I hope your recovery is going well.

Edit: Wrong Don!
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going great thanks, good as new :)
 
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