TAVR

 Transcatheter aortic valve replacement.

Mike’s valve stenosis has gotten to the point that he needed valve replacement. We knew this time was coming, but we were hoping for more time. His cardiologist put us with a group of doctors in his office. They call themselves the “valve team”

Their sole responsibility is to help patients with valve replacement. Mike has had open heart surgery 6 1/2 years ago, so opening him up a second time was not ideal. They recommended to us the TAVR procedure. It’s a fairly new process where they do all the replacement thru the arteries in the arms and legs. 

He went though many tests and his “team” decided he was a good candidate for their procedure. It is a one day surgery and one night stay in the hospital. I was very nervous, more than his open heart. I read all I could. When they talked about lol that could go wrong stroke (5%) pacemaker (1%) I just wanted them to shut up. I don’t want to know…

Model of heart with the valve

The more they talked the sicker I got and The more Mike was on board to get it done. 

Turns out Mike was going to be a celebrity for the day. He was Sherman Hospital’s 200 TAVR procedure.

People around the hospital were excited - me, I was having panic attacks. Come on Karen, you been thru this before, get it together. 

The day started at 5. Surgery was scheduled for 7:30. If everything goes as planned it should be done by 9:30. They took him back into the Cath Lab and I went outside to calm down. I was never so happy to see Sharen walking across the parking lot toward me. I was literally walking in circles. Then I got a phone call from Bryan to say he was 10 minutes away. He’ll be right there. I was so happy. I needed them.

When I didn’t hear from his doctor by 10:00 I seriously was sick to my stomach. I don’t know why I was thinking the worse, that’s not usually me. I guess because this surgery was new. 

Around 10:30 he finally called told me Mike did really good and was in recovery. They had to pivot from the arm artery to the leg artery for the camera and that took some time.

Valve team

Cath Lab crew

After surgery care

Floor nurses

 I had to take the photos off the nurses phone, hence the fuzzy. Sherman is going to be showcasing Mike and his doctors. They already interviewed Mike. Who, of course, praised the hospital and the procedure. His open heart, he was in the hospital for 10 days and house bound for 2 months. 

It’s been 2 weeks. He had his 1 week checkup and it went really well and he is free to take longer walks and drive. The focus is on his arteries healing, one wrong move and he could bleed.

His heart is working like it should. No more dizziness, no more lightheadedness, no more shortness of breathe. It’s crazy how much better he feels. The problem now is getting him to go slower. I can handle that.