Pre surgery

[Pinkrobin]

Hi this is my first time here. I had a pre op assessment earlier this week for an aortic valve replacement (AVR.) Does anyone have any advice or tips in the run up to surgery which should happen in the next couple of months

[Shar28]

Hello, welcome to the forum. There are lots of people on here who have had AVRs and provided their experiences so it’s worth searching on AVR or OHS (for open heart surgery).

My husband had an AVR last year. One good tip he read was to practise standing up and sitting down from bed, chairs and toilet without using your hands/arms to push up with, because it hurts to begin with after surgery if you do. And he found a shower stool useful when he first came home from hospital.

Your hospital should give you an information pack which will be useful too.

All the best.

[Fredders]

Hi, one thing I would recommend prior to your op is to strengthen your leg muscles by practicing getting up and down from an armchair or settee without using your arms, and the same getting out of bed. You don’t want to use your arms cos it hurts like hell if you put pressure on your arms after your op - you’ll only do it once to realise what I mean!

Use your time to get things organised for what you need to take with you into hospital, clothing, earplugs, long charging cable for mobile etc. Also get things sorted for when you come home, a v-shaped pillow is very useful as it is uncomfortable to lie flat initially, but a folded duvet works just as well (I used a duvet for my first AVR).

If you look through the posts you’ll find lots of helpful posts with advice for pre and post op. The BHF booklets are also very good.

Try not to worry too much about it, difficult I know, but these ops are every day work for the surgeons, so you are in good hands.

Use this forum as support, there are lots of us who have had AVR ops or other open heart surgeries, so there is a wealth of experience to call upon - you are not alone. 😺

Wendy

[TMeditation]

After my preop assessment I truly felt I was on my way better health. My AVR took place 13 weeks ago and I am now well recovered and life is back to normal for me, and my family 😄. I wish I could offer a fool proof way of dealing with the run up to surgery but of course everyone is different. For me I concentrated on getting myself as fit as I could for surgery both physically and mentally. The physical part of getting fit gave me a lot of confidence but the mental part was just as important. I stayed busy and worked at remaining positive and the best way I could do this was by accepting what was happening to me. For a long time I fought the idea of surgery but, for me, acceptance of my situation gave me a good deal of peace of mind. Good luck and stay in touch with the forum so many of us have been through what you’re going through now.

[Nic25]

Hi Pinkrobin. Welcome to the forum and good luck with your countdown! I had an AVR in December and my advice woukd be:

- yes agree with all the advice here about practising standing up without using your arms

- try to keep as fit and active as you reasonably can, as that will help with recovery

- accept and don't beat yourself up about being a bit of an emotional wreck in the run-up. It is scary even though these days it is a very standard operation

- post-op a wedge cushion and rolled up towel are good for protecting your chest wound. Having said that we bought loads of cushiony stuff that in the event I didn't need because I came home much more able than I'd anticipated

- I found a horseshoe cushion was helpful initially for providing some extra support on the sofa

- for me the main post-op side-effect was a fog of exhaustion for about six weeks. But it does eventually lift so you just have to roll with it and accept it

- don't be "strong" about painkillers; if you need them, take them

- accept any help offered but you may not be up to much in the way of visitors (see exhaustion above)

- recognise it may also be quite a traumatic/worrying time for any partner or family

There's probably other stuff that I've forgotten! But in a way there's not a huge amount you can do except embrace the countdown and recognise that you're in expert hands of surgical teams that do this every day. For me the whole mental and emotional build-up, the terror basically, was almost worse than the op itself.

Good luck! Nic x

[OttoK]

Hi, I am an AVR person (nearly 3 months ago). Once you are on their computers then they should allocate a time for the operation OK. A good trick if you are worried about that is to phone up the consultant's secretary. To get an op you have to be "sever" so I guess you have one or more of the symptoms. Note that fatigue is also a symptom on top of the more obvious ones like pains in the chest. They may do other things in the same operation session to save going in again. Eg I had double bypass in addition. This is normal, but its makes for a big op and a longish recovery time. After the op it's around 2 months before you have a "good day" but it varies with the individual. A good way to think about the op is that going into it is fine and unscary, but coming out of it is like coming into a boot camp as they encourage you to sit on a chair, walk etc .... stuff you should carry on when you get home (see Shar28). They should give you some rehab eventually, which is boot-camp plus pep talk. Its hard but it gives you a sense of achievement and everyone says take it if you are offered it.

Cheers,

Otto

[Nic25]

Hey Pinkrobin, I hope you're doing OK. I was posting to someone else and realise these may be useful helpful to you if you haven't seen them already? They're from Guy's and St Thomas' (where I had my operation) and I found them really helpful in the run-up. Good luck! Nic x

guysandstthomas.nhs.uk/reso...

guysandstthomas.nhs.uk/reso...