I love the flowers of Spring.The meet and greet with the surgeon took place on Tuesday. He was on vacation last week and was doing what needed to be done to catch up. I met him about an hour after the appointment time and was not disappointed. The time he was in the meeting with me was for me to understand what he brought to the solution. When he finished what he needed to tell me I had a sheet of questions that he answered.
The valve will most likely be human. They are harvested and kept frozen in liquid nitrogen until needed.
The surgery will provide the ability to use the groin replacement method in the future should the valve need to be replaced. I don't think I will need a replacement because they last ~ 40 years and I am 55.
The time-line for healing is a couple days in ICU. About a week total in the hospital. 6- 8 weeks healing. 6 weeks no driving. Mid September to return to yoga. My breast bone will be cut during the surgery and will need time to mend.
Wednesday the office scheduler called with a surgery date and instructions for pre-admission testing. Surgery is scheduled for June 1, 2011. Arrival at 5:30 am. Surgery to begin at 8:30 am.
Phil will drop me off. Larry will go to work at 4:00am and come to the hospital after work. He may actually be there before the doctor is through with me. It does not benefit anyone for Larry to sit in a waiting room for 8 hours.
Wednesday there were all kinds of voice mails at home from pre-admission testing. I called back when I got home and clarified their information while they gave me direction for Thursday's testing.
Today the hospital called me at work and I spent half an hour going over pre-admission preparation, along with clarification of allergies and reactions. There was an envelope with this information when I got to the pre-admissions testing after work.
The pre-admissions testing was non-fasting. X-Ray. Urine. Blood draw. There is a test that can identify sugar spikes 3 months ago. There is a test for a bacteria that infects wounds, but is common in the sinuses of the general population. Should that be found I will have to undergo some nasty upper sinus topical antibiotic. Yep, that is how it is applied. Then I went to another location in the hospital for a carate artery unltrasound. My doctor is making sure anything that is in need of attention is done with this one surgery. So far the only thing on the agenda is the pulmonary heart valve.
Below is what my arm looked like 4 days after the heart catherization. The red dot on the top of the hand near the wrist is the entry location for the probe. It beats the old method that required bed rest and stitches. I don't forsee an oportunity for any more medical type photos beyond this one.
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