I'm pretty new here and this is only my second post and it’s a long one , so please bear with me. I've done a couple more now which follow on from this, so I hope you find them helpful. I had my op in mid-June in Blackpool Victoria Hospital (BVH). What I have put below covers things up until my actual operation itself. So you can skip to my next couple of posts if none of this is of interest!
Having first being diagnosed with aortic stenosis in 2002, I had known for some time that I would eventually need to have something done, but it was only in very recent times as the problem became more severe that I started to show any symptoms. I admit to being very, very scared about the prospect of surgery and having survived an unexpected (to me at least) cardiac arrest in 2004, felt I had already pushed my luck far enough, so made it clear that I wanted to wait until absolutely necessary before having any surgical intervention.
Curious thing has been that throughout the worsening of my condition, I didn’t really have any concept of what was ‘normal’. When with similar aged colleagues (I’m now 61) I would ask them how they felt when climbing stairs or walking up hills when we were doing it together, but never really got a definitive gauge to measure myself against. At 6’ 1” and 15½ stone I’m still a bit of a fat b... I probably drink more than I should, haven’t smoked for going on 20 years, exercise regularly, but am no athlete, so whilst in my mind’s eye I remain as fit as I was when 25 yrs old, the reality is somewhat different.
Anyway, at my annual cardio review last October, it became clear things had moved on a stage, and 3 echograms later (apparently my heart was proving good for various people’s portfolio’s) I was told that the stenosis was now severe and in the event of any changes in my symptoms, I was to report directly to the unit in Blackpool, rather than go via my GP.
On Christmas Eve (great timing), I realised that something was amiss when walking back from a Crib Service with my son and his family. I just couldn’t get my breath and when a similar thing happened at home on a Boxing Day walk, just instinctively knew things were different.
I contacted BVH and saw a registrar on 9th January. She said they would fast track me for an angiogram and surgery as everyone seemed clear on the basic options. At that time she told us she expected me to have had surgery done by the end of March. I had the angiogram on 4th Feb and my appointment with the surgeon on 6th March. The angiogram was painful for my cardiology consultant as well as me, as it took 3 goes to find a decent point of entry and he ended up having to do it via my left arm which was not the preferred route but at least the results showed that my stents (inserted in 2004) were holding up well and my healthy lifestyle () as well as copious amounts of statins were stopping me from furring up too much. He said it was borderline for bypass so would let the surgical team decide. In the end, they decided against doing.
As an aside; although the staff I saw all told me that all the surgeons were excellent etc. I tried to find out everything I could about the various surgeons operating at BVH, after all, my life was quite literally going to be in their hands. That proved to be reasonably easy for those on the permanent staff but not for those listed as ‘locums’, to gather info on them took some time and effort. I was conscious that my cardiologist had made a recommendation about who to go with, but in the event, based on what I had read and what their various waiting lists were looking like, I chose another surgeon.
At my appointment with the surgeon, in addition to the more traditional options, he also told me about the Edwards Inspiris Resilia valve but explained there was only limited clinical evidence for its longevity in humans as it was new on the market and would require him making a business case for funding to the hospital. I went away to consider my options, which pointed towards a mechanical valve or the Inspiris Resilia one. For me, given my lifestyle and aspirations, I felt this was a clear winner, despite the lack of long term clinical evidence. So the next day I rang to let him know, and provided some information to support the business case he would have to make. It was then a case of waiting for the system to consider my cause. The waiting to know if I was going to get approval for the valve and the uncertainty around that was really difficult, not just for me, but for my wife who was now watching me like a hawk and interpreting anything out of the ordinary as a sign of my imminent demise. I was due to retire at the end of April and so work was busy with handover planning which helped keep me focused, but again, the not knowing a date for the surgery didn’t really help anyone. In the event as my youngest son was getting married in late May and I had said I did not want to miss that occasion (), this impacted upon my surgery date, meaning it was eventually scheduled for mid-June.
As the day neared, I finalised all the things that made me feel better, but I had learned were not topics for discussion at home. I set out my ‘death letter’ wishes for my funeral, made sure my wife was registered for on-line banking etc and knew who to talk to and where things were with respect to my business affairs, to make it more straight forward for her to manage things in the unlikely event of my not coming home, essentially preparing as much as I could without being prescriptive or mawkish. Curiously, all of that made me feel much calmer and more at ease, knowing that if the worst came to pass, I had left my affairs in reasonable order. The ‘big day’ was looming large!
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