Successful surgery...again!

Whoo hoo! We did it again! Another successful surgery in the books!  It has been exactly one week and one day since my surgery and I have been home for three days.  So far, no more readmissions! (knock on wood).  I am feeling pretty great overall; every day passes with waves of feeling good and not feeling good but I do feel more energetic and more pain-free this time than last time around. So here's a blow-by-blow for those interested:

Getting ready to go in

We checked into the hospital on Tuesday, January 31st at 6.30am.  This time I was given a GPS tracker device to wear which enabled my family to follow my whereabouts throughout the day on a big screen TV.  Fancy!  I checked into pre-op, got my lines started, donned my puffy hat and snuggled into my cozy gown with a built-in heater.  After saying goodbye to my entourage of family, I was taken into the OR where they struggled to get my arterial line started.  This was to be a theme throughout this hospital stay...everyone had trouble accessing my tiny veins.  (I missed you, CHLA pediatric nurses!).  I reassured the team and told them I appreciated how frustating it must be to get into a tricky artery.  I remember the breathing mask going over my face and then I was out. 

Right after being de-intubated

I awoke about 5 or 6 hours later as they wheeled me into the ICU.  I remember hearing a nurse say, "I've never seen anyone so happy coming into the ICU after surgery!"  Apparently I was smiling and waving, even though I was still intubated.  Ha!  I learned from my family that Starnes had (unsurprisingly) done an incredible job and successfully replaced my mitral valve with a mechanical valve AND my aortic valve with a mechanical valve!  Two for one!  You might be thinking, wait a second, I thought she was just getting her pesky mitral valve replaced.  That WAS the plan until the week before the surgery when I spoke with Dr. Starnes and he suggested replacing the aortic valve.  Here's why: the bioprosthetic valve he put in the aortic position 18 months ago will most likely only last me about ten more years.   It would need to be replaced via another open-heart surgery.  Since we're going in now (earlier than previously anticipated) AND since I'm now going to be on blood thinners (Warfarin / Coumadin) for life, why not get the bonus longevity of another mechanical valve and save myself from another open-heart surgery for possibly 30 years!  I am SO game for that.  That Starnes is so clever!  (I made sure to tell what a good job he did when he visited the ICU--I think he was amused!).  Apparently when I was still intubated in the ICU my family told me that I had two new valves and my face lit-up as I mouthed the word "WOW" while holding up two fingers.  Gotta love pain meds.  :)  I also learned that I had lost a bit of blood so they gave me about a pint of blood...a first for me!  Yay!  Check that off my bucket list!

Sitting up Wednesday morning

By Tuesday evening I was extubated and by Wednesday morning I was sitting up, showing great color and had ALL three chest tubes removed!  Talk about an overachiever!  I was eating clear liquids by the afternoon and if there had been a bed available in the step-down unit I would have been transfered over Wednesday afternoon.  Since the hospital was pretty full; I stayed another night in the ICU with some of my favorite nurses: Stacey, Summer and Jing.  By post-op day 3 I was transferred down to the VIP room on the step-down floor and was walking laps around the unit with the OT and the PTs.  (THANKS for the room, BARB!).  My vitals continued to look good Thursday and Friday and once the plumbing got moving they decided to discharge me on Saturday afternoon.  Woo hoo!  There was one last exciting event as I was being discharged.  My last IV was removed and I applied pressure before the nurse dressed the arm.  As I started putting on my clothes I put my arm through my shirt and my forearm came out covered in blood!  Ryan immediately stretched out his long arm and cupped my forearm with his hand, applying pressure while my mom called the nurse.  Welcome to blood thinners!  This was a good reminder to me and Ryan of our need to be extra careful about cuts, bruises, injuries, etc.  Ryan passed with flying colors.  And now I can officially announce that I will never play hockey and will always drive the speed limit.

Resting at home

This time around, my energy, stamina and color in the hospital seemed to far outpace my last surgery.  It was both a blessing and a drag to have surgery again so soon.  I felt more mentally prepared going into this hospital stay than I every have before and I also felt more positive because I knew what to expect, what to be patient with, what to push myself on and when to go easy on myself. The fear and unknown was removed; that was a huge blessing that I think greatly contributed to my speedy recovery.  The drag however, was that none of this was new or novel, I knew too well what to expect and so it was instead tedious.  I am confident and hopeful that I will not have to do this again for 30 or 40 years and I am so happy.  As easy as I might make this look, I'm ready to take a break from surgeries for awhile.  Thanks, Dr. Starnes!

I will post again soon with details on recovering at home, my recent doctor visits, my new scar! and diet implications for Warfarin.

Thanks for all the love, support, prayers and good thoughts!