A good ol' fashion update
So it's been a minute. Life has been wild and it has been going FAST.
Long story short: I had open-heart surgery in September and I'm six weeks post-op!
Long story long: I had open-heart surgery in 1995 (just before my third birthday) and had seen a cardiologist until I was about 12. Then I guess I stopped and hadn't needed to go back. Fast forward to 2022, I started meeting with a cardiologist again because I needed clearance for anesthesia for the foot surgery that I had. At that time, we started routine echo(cardiogram)s, the first of which showed that I had some mild to moderate mitral valve regurgitation - the issue that I had my first surgery for. My cardiology told me that it was likely I'd need a valve repair at some point. He gave me the range of 5-20 years (what a nice, small range, huh? lol) We kept up to date and had echos every six months. In February of this year, my echos showed that the regurgitation went into the moderate range, no mild. Then in July, it went from moderate to severe.
Your girl had NO symptoms for what the echo was showing. According to the cardiologist, I should have been tired, short of breath, retaining water, and having palpitations. I had none of that. He was VERY surprised. With the results of that echo and my lack of symptoms, my cardiologist wanted to get a closer look at the valve to see what might be causing the regurgitation. I had a TEE (transesophageal echo) done on August 4th, which showed that my mitral valve had officially prolapsed. Now, when I went back for the TEE the cardiologist said that "if you see me after the TEE, then you'll know we found something major. If you don't see me, then it isn't something pressing." We (my mom and I) didn't see him. But, lo and behold, I get a call from his office a few hours later saying he wants to refer to me to a heart surgeon. I didn't have any information on WHY at that point. Was I just seeing him because I'd need surgery eventually? Was I seeing him because I needed surgery now? We didn't see the cardiologist, so I couldn't possibly need surgery NOW, right? Wrong 😂
With no information (results weren't ready-ready yet), I set up an appointment to see the surgeon on August 18th. It is on August 13th that I get the information that the valve prolapsed, but there wasn't any mention of needing the surgery right away/the recommendation for surgery. Fast forward to the August 18th appointment and the nurse walks in and immediately says "So, this is how heart surgery works!" And I'm there like... I didn't even know why the fuck I was here lmao I just thought it was a consult, a discussion, something. I was also told the surgeon would go over the detailed results of the TEE which he didn't so I was like ?? IDK WHAT'S HAPPENING. The surgeon comes in and explains the surgery. We set up CT and ultrasound scans for that same weekend. Then the surgeon says "Once we get the results of the scans back, I schedule about 2-3 weeks out." All of a sudden I went from a standard echo to having surgery in 2-3 weeks? The fuck? That same day, I get labs done. That weekend I get the scans. The scans will help determine if they can do minimally invasive surgery or if it will need to be a sternotomy.
About a week later, the surgeon calls and let's me know that I have too much scar tissue from my first surgery for the minimally invasive surgery. Open-heart surgery it is! His first opening...September 4th. Barely two weeks away from the phone call. I said no to that right away lol! Then we eventually landed on September 29th.
So, I officially had my second open-heart surgery at the end of September. They repaired my valve AND found a small hole that they patched up. I was in the hospital for 5 days, coming home on October 3rd. The first two weeks were AWFUL. Everything hurt, deep breaths sucked, and I couldn't even open my water bottle on my own because I didn't have the strength. Sleep was not fun - thank God for Vicodin and the wedge pillow that reddit suggested. My mom borrowed us her recliner so I could sit somewhat comfortably. I didn't know how much I needed it until I had it. I sneezed at least once a day during the third week and it SUCKED. I felt like I was back at week one. But week four and five brought more comfort and almost-back-to-normal functioning.
Yesterday marked six weeks post-op! I still can't do rapid movements with my arms or lift anything too heavy. I can comfortably walk about 40 minutes before being tired. I can sleep on both sides again (YAY). Things are looking up. I am back in the office physically after working remote for 3 weeks. It is SO nice to be out of the apartment. I loved all the times I got to snuggle the pets, but human interaction is nice lol Since a lot of my tumblr time is on my down time at work, I'm hopeful I'll be more active again soon!
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