So, what did the surgeon say?
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As I mentioned a little earlier, I spent the greater part of today getting transported to and from the heart surgeon’s office. What happened while I was there was both a relief and a disappointment at the same time.
When I got there, in spite of the fact that I called a week and a half ago to set this appointment for today because they had it scheduled the same day as a different doctor’s appointment in a different city, they had no idea I was even going to be there today!
They were really good about it and managed to get me in to see the doctor without having to wait all afternoon to do it. It was actually only about a 30 minute wait. I’ve had to wait 3 hours to see a doctor who knew I was coming, so that was really cool of them.
When I got in to see the doctor, he very cheerfully told me that the TEE test I had last week showed that my artificial heart valves are doing “just great” and that the (natural) valve that’s leaking should be controllable with medication. So, the long and the short of it is that I don’t need to have another open heart surgery. COOL! I didn’t want my sternum broken again!
Here’s what bugs me, and has been the source of at least one near-argument today: Two years ago this doctor told me very plainly that he was going to use tissue valves instead of mechanical valves because they wouldn’t require blood thinners like the mechanical ones would. He said that he didn’t want me on blood thinners for an extended period of time because of the arthritis medications that I take. Six months on blood thinners turned into two years, and TODAY he said that, while he’s not going to jump up and down screaming to enforce it, he’d really like me to stay on the blood thinners forever. If I am going to have to stay on blood thinners forever, why didn’t he use the mechanical valves that actually REQUIRE that and have a life expectancy of WAY more than 15 years or so?
I’m also, frankly, somewhat doubtful as to how taking a pill is going to make my tricuspid valve close better. It’s not. All the medication is going to do is slow down my heart rate and lower my blood pressure in an effort to give that valve time to catch up between heartbeats. That sounds good on the surface, but…
That tells me that I’m going to have to go the rest of my life being careful not to raise my heart rate or blood pressure. In other words, don’t mow the yard or move any furniture or do anything that might be the least bit strenuous. I will more or less be treated, at the age of 43, like a feeble old man who can’t afford to do a damn thing because the whole world is affraid that anything exciting (read INTERESTING, WORTHWHILE, or FUN) might be a death sentence. Let’s not forget the fact that this is going to make it virtually impossible to get any excercise, so my weight will continue to balloon until I eventually end up weighing 700 pounds!
That’s not a life.
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