Posted by SuLynn on April 27, 2001 at 14:59:31:
In Reply to: Re: Maze Surgery posted by John Gross on April 27, 2001 at 14:58:13:
Hi John, To answere your question, no Randy did not have the leak before surgery. We are not sure if the surgery caused the leak, if something happened that we don't know about (and will never know) or if perhaps the valve was weak before surgery and the stress of surgery itself caused it to develope the leak. The doctors tell us they have no idea what caused it to do this. For now Randy is doing OK and hopefully will be able to be managed with the diuretics. The Afib is mostly gone but I am not sure we made a good trade!! We will just have to monitor the valve by continous echocardiograms and by Randy's symptoms and how well he continues to respond to the medicine. Didn't you get the very best care in the world at St. Luke's? I am a nurse and have worked in hospitals coast to coast, doing it for 13 years in critical care units, and we got the very best care I could have ever wished for. I was impressed. We were also very happy with our docs, both Duncan and Massumi. We will be going back to Houston again in a couple of months for followup. In the mean time Randy is just being monitored by our home cardiologist. So glad you are doing better as well. Do you ever still have afib episodes? How long has it been since your surgery? Randy has had three different episodes, one being just today, but we were told that this would happen for up to six months post op. It is nothing like before though. It is great to hear from others. Thanks SuLynn