My father, aged 85, just had an aortic valve replacement (open heart surgery). His aortic valve had also calcified over the years and so was about to stop functioning. This surgery was coming down the road for about 10 years. Sometimes, especially if you don’t go to the doctor on a regular basis, will not be known until the patient has a major problem, like a heart attack. Other times, it’s discovered by the patient’s cardiologist during routine exams.
So my Dad had his surgery in August of 2009. He was scheduled for the aortic valve replacement surgery and they always assume that the patient may also need to have some by-passes as well, so they make sure that the patient has some useable veins in the legs (beforehand). If the patient needs to have any by-passes, which they will probably determine this by a test done a few days prior, or the day before the valve replacement surgery. In my Dad’s case, they only determined that he needed the by-passes when they got him opened up and could see inside. But they always assume that you might need by-passes and they make sure you have veins ready for that purpose. In my Dad’s case, they ended up making an incision in his left leg (from thigh to ankle) and then they removed one long piece of vein, which they then used to construct 3 by-passes (where he had clogged veins going to the heart).
If you are having scheduled surgery (as opposed to having this procedure done in an emergency situation) they will ask the patient whether he would prefer a mechanical heart valve (which lasts longer, but necessitates taking a blood thinner for the rest of your life, which causes it’s own complications) or an animal valve (usually pig and sometimes cow). Some patients, because of religious beliefs may not choose an animal valve. The animal valves last a long time, but not as long as the mechanical valves, but usually do not necessitate a life time of taking the powerful blood thinner called Coumadin. That is why my Dad opted for the animal valve (pig). We said a thankful little prayer for the animal that gave its life to save my Dad’s life. My Dad was on Coumadin for awhile, but then he had some major problems with bleeding, so they took him off of that and put him back on Aspirin (a less powerful blood thinner) just recently.
The typical surgery takes from 2 to 6 hours, depending upon whether there is any complications or whether the patient needs to have by-passes. My Dad was in there for about 4 and a half hours, then the patient will be in recovery for anywhere from 2 hours to overnight. Luckily, my Dad was conscious, barely, after 2 hours and we were able to go into the ICU (Intensive Care Unit) to see him. I don’t think he knew who we were, because he was still heavily sedated.
While you are sitting in the waiting room at the hospital, it is likely that you will be in a special waiting room that is devoted just to critical care heart patients. They isolate you like this so that you don’t have to listen to people laughing and talking and carrying on, like you would in the regular waiting room. There were 4 other families in this waiting room with us, and by the end of the 9 day stay, we were all like one big huge real family. It’s because you are all going through almost exactly the same thing, it was much better than being in a waiting room with the general population.
During your stay in the waiting room, while the surgery is taking place, they will usually send someone out at the half way point of the surgery to let you know how they are progressing. Then they will send someone out when they start to close the patient up, and then again when the patient has been sent to recovery and then one more time when you are allowed to go visit the patient in the ICU.
While you are in the waiting room, make sure to bring a bag with you with a book and magazines, a soft pillow, a bottle of water, a thermos of coffee and some snacks like nuts and energy/breakfast bars. I even brought a small cooler with sandwiches. At some point, you may want to go down to the cafeteria to eat, but in the meantime, make sure you have something to eat and drink if you feel like you can’t leave the waiting room. The seats can get hard so make sure you have a soft pillow and a light blanket and a sweater. It gets cold and that will make you feel more anxious.
Before the surgery, designate a family member or a friend to be the contact. Don’t let friends and relatives call or visit the hospital until the patient is out of the ICU and decides that he wants (or doesn’t want calls or visitors). The designated person ONLY will give everybody (friends, relatives, neighbors and co-workers) his cell or home phone number or e-mail address and everybody will be instructed not to call the hospital or come to the hospital until they are given the go ahead. While you are in the waiting room, you won’t want to be bothered with the phone calls and explanations. Let the designated person do all of that. A friend of ours put together a blog for me, that could be accessed by anyone we chose, and I updated it every single night after I got home from the hospital. That way, everybody stayed informed and I didn’t have to make any phone calls or repeat any information. And the loved ones could leave messages for me and for the patient, to be read after he came home.
If you need any more info or just moral support, please don’t hesitate to PM me. Six months after my Dad had his surgery, my brother who is 30 years younger was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect (which had no relation to my Dad’s problem at all) so he just had open heart surgery for a completely different kind of open heart surgery at the same hospital with the same surgeon in July of this year. So now my Mom and I have gone through this same thing twice in less than a year. Both patients are doing just fine.
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