I would like to dedicate this blog post to my Aunt Trish and her BSF ladies!
Dear Friends,
Sorry for the long delay in writing on the blog. We met with my surgeon a week ago and he said I am on track in my recovery and everything looks good! I will still have some restrictions through the Christmas holidays, then after that I can slowly resume my normal activities. With the positive news from Dr. K, I have decided to head back to Dallas this week. I will be making the drive back from STL to Dallas on Thursday, so please pray for safe travels. I am looking forward to getting back into a routine and think that it will help me continue to make a full recovery. My sternum still gets sore on occasion and still is the cause for most of the restrictions I will have until Christmas. I also still get tired very easily, so I have learned to pay close attention to what my body is telling me and rest when needed. Overall, I am feeling good and enjoy my 30 minute mall walks. Yes, I have become a mall walker, but it's too cold to walk outside! I know I still have a long road to full recovery, but I am on my way!
Thanks for your continued prayers and encouragement!
Love,
Kristin
Rise and shine
My bed has wheels!!!
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
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The basics of my surgery:
This August, I was at a check up and my doctor heard a heart murmur and told me to go see a Cardiologist. Over the last 4 weeks, I have been doing multiple procedures to find out exactly what was wrong with my heart and how it could be fixed. After a few procedures, I met with a surgeon in Dallas and it was recommended that I have open heart surgery. I decided that if i needed this procedure, I would rather be in St. Louis with my family to have it done.
Two weeks ago I went for a second opinion in St. Louis. All the doctors that I have met with have confirmed that I need to move forward with open heart surgery. There are no other less-invasive options for the type of surgery I have to do. I will have the surgery done in St. Louis at Missouri Baptist Hospital on October 18th.
The doctor will be performing 2 procedures during the surgery to fix two problems. I technically have an Ascending Aortic Aneurism, which as led to an enlarged aorta. My aorta is 5.1 centimeters, which is double the size of the average aorta. To fix the aorta they will replace the enlarged part with a dacron polyester tube. This will stay in my heart for the rest of my life. Over time the tissue will grow over the new aorta. The second part of the procedure is to fix my valves. My valves are what cause the heart murmur and essentially the cause of the enlarged aorta. Until they open up my heart, they can't determine exactly how they will fix the valves. The first option is to surgically fix them using my current tissue. If that is not an option, they will replace the valves with an animal valve. The surgery will take approximiately 4 hours, then I'll be in recovery at the hospital for about 5 days before I am able to go home and rest for about 6 weeks.
To answer a few questions:
Did I know about this? No, I did not know until a little over a month ago that anything was wrong. I knew when I was young that I had a heart murmur, but over the years Cardiologists have told me nothing was wrong.
Do I feel okay? Yes, I still feel like my normal self. There were no indications that I had anything wrong, other than the doctor first hearing my murmur.
Will I be able to resume normal activity post surgery? Yes, after a few weeks of recovery I should be able to resume my normal activities. It may just take a while to feel comfortable playing sports for a while.
Thanks for everyone for your thoughts and prayers. It means a lot to my family to have so many people supporting us, we can't thank you enough!
If anyone is around St. Louis, feel free to stop by! Visitors are welcome!
We'll all be in Dallas on the 17th/18th so I may give you a call and see what you're up to. Glad you're feeling better :) Love you!
ReplyDeleteI'm soooo glad you're doing well. Dallas will be glad to have you back!!!
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