Posted by Terry on March 01, 2003 at 09:40:35:
In Reply to: March 24 posted by Jimmy C --Memphis on March 01, 2003 at 08:45:36:
Jimmy,
I was in your shoes a couple of years ago. My sister had her maze scheduled and I was just going along to be evaluated with plans of having the maze or ablation later. But then I found out that my mitral valve needed repair, and then there was no putting it off! I sort of felt like you that eventually there would be a way of curing the a-fib without having open-heart surgery, but I knew that would probably never happen for mitral valve repairs. I'm so glad I went ahead and had the maze and the mitral valve repair while there. Dr. McCarthy was very good about working me into the schedule. You'll find the folks at the CC are great. The preliminary tests aren't really bad. The heart cath wasn't bad at all - they used a "plug" to close the artery and I only had to lay still for a short time. It used to be much worse. Dr. McCarthy will do his very best to repair your mitral valve rather than replace it with a mechanical or pig valve, but you will have to make your decision before surgery about what type of replacement valve you want in case he can't repair yours. Thankfully, he was able to repair mine using a cosgrove ring. Dr. Hammer is also great - he will take the time to talk to you and answer any questions you might have.
Good luck!
Terry
By the way, I'm on the other end of our great state - in east Tennessee, close to Knoxville.