New and scared
Hi All: I got the news last Friday that the two stents put in my two major heart arteries have clogged up and I also have a leaky aortic valve which has to be replaced along with three arteries. What they call a triple bypass and an aortic valve replacement with a pig valve because I am 68 years old. My valve is so bad that the BP is an average of 130 over 40. and the pounding in my ear keeps me awake nights. The cardiac center at Emory in Atlanta is the one doing the surgery. They cannot tell me if my procedure will be the standard break open the sternum procedure or one of the newer less invasive procedures until tomorrow when I consult with Dr. William Cooper of Emory. I suspect the since it is a triple bypass with an aortic valve replacement that it will be the worst kind of ivasive surgery. I was told by the surgeons that since I did not have high blood pressure, do not have diabeties, and am in good shape because of being a farmer with sports like Racquet ball, Tennis and Scuba diving, I will be back at riding a tractor, hauuling hay, shearing alpacas, scuba diving and tennis in six months. But now after reading all the posts about unhealed sternums, I am ready to delay this procedure and do some more research into the latest improvements in surgical procedures. I had stents installed just before they invented the new medicated stents, and now I am about to have a bypass and valve replacement in the midst of new improvements in procedures. Maybe if I can hold on a little longer without extensive damage to my heart because of the bad valve, I could get a better, less invasive procedure done. Some wise man said that if he could just live long enough in the 21st century to take advantage of all the improvements in medicine, he just might live to be 150. I feel like that now. Maybe if I could last a few more months without the invasive surgery, they will improve the endoscopic and robotic surgery so that they do not have to break open the sternum. Scared to death Elwin Bagley www.windyhillalpacafarm.com