Hey Linn.......Karen says she has nothing but empathy for you. I really am a lousy hospital patient at times and since YOU are stuck with both 3 tons of paperwork AND a lousy patient, she feels YOUR pain and says you need all the R&R you can get. Like Bill said, Rita, with a whole new one, is pretty fine to have around these many years later. And overall, I think Karen is pretty happy that I'm still around as well.

THE TEETH

When I had the quad by-pass in '97 my teeth were okay at least for that as they also were for the ablation 6 months later. When I developed the aortic aneurysm I had loads of assorted complications, one of which was a fit of chills that literally put hairline cracks in many teeth, most of which had fillings. Hating dentists, I avoided them over the next few years as bits and chunks of my rear teeth chipped away. So when the valve surgery came up, I was in the same boat as Tom.......but I tell ya' what, the "Complete Oral Rehabilitation" they did beat the crap out of 25 dentist visits!!! A few days of yucky but overall, much better than the dentist route.

I'm sure they have explained the reason behind the dental work, but it gets down to the fact that heart valves are very susceptible to infections and the artificial ones even moreso. Oral infections go straight to the valve, hence the need for repair.

HEY TOM

Yeah, I know all about being a curmudgeon my friend, but at this point, you're riding the elephant downhill and nothing you have to say will change things a bit.....so kick back and enjoy the ride as much as you can. Hospitals have some fine ass drugs!!! They will probably ask you your level of pain on a 1-10 scale.....Stay toward the light side so you have plenty of room to get more pain meds if you need them! LOL......I used to count time til the next thing came.

Although they did my valve at Ohio State which now does almost all heart surgery including valves and bypasses with a robot and no longer crack your chest(the robot was GREAT!!!....once was enough for the chest smashing), my bypass was the standard "slash the breastbone with an ax" design. Really they use a powersaw but it feels like they used an ax!! I gotta' tell ya' that I'm sure you'll do fine (the power of the 'Cat is working overtime for you), but this just ain't a pleasant thing. The BEST thing is that the WORST part is over in about 4 days or so, but you'll have some surgical pain for quite awhile.....nothin' you can't live with though.

You'll probably wake up on a vent so be ready for it. It breathes for you but the sensation you have is that you are "drowning" or just can't breathe. Try not to fight it and it's better. It works, just doesn't feel that way at first. You'll also have tons of "plumbing" but most of that will come off in the first 12 hours and you'll be left with just a couple of chest tubes and a whizz bag plus the everpresent IV. You can have a lot of fun with the whizz bag later when you're out walking the halls. Go up to other patients and compare and then brag because you have either more or less. Or turn to Linn, lift the bag, and ask incredulously, "What do you mean this isn't lemonade? Are you serious? Ohmygawd!!!!!!!"

I've told before of the "cough routine" but one more time......It will hurt to cough and they'll show you how with a pillow to your chest. Feels like everything is ripping out. Now you want to avoid this but the damn medicos insist you cough to keep things clear!!! Kinda'like a bad joke ain't it? But try to avoid the sneeze.....they never mention the sneeze.......About one second before I sneezed for the first time after surgery, my brain said, "Aw geeziz, the coughs like to kill me and this has got to be worse!!!!"................and it was. Later a nurse came round and scraped up the quivering blob on the floor that had once been me and shoveled me back in bed.

Enough of all this! Hope you're getting a laugh or two and you're kicked back with your feet on the elephant's ears. We're all out here with prayers and good thoughts and all the healing power we can muster. Write to me later and tell me about it, okay?

Spaw
Faux Cardiologist and Thoracic Cutter
MD from Igotit University