Comments on: Scenes from a heart surgery

By: Jack

Jack — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 00:09:00 +0000

WOW. When it comes to stories about “What I Did on my ‘Summer’ Vacation” (sorry) – you win, hands down! Congratulations on your successful procedure; I’ve followed your work on the MaddowBlog with pleasure, and I’m so glad to learn you’re doing well.

;-)

By: falnfenix

falnfenix — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 14:29:00 +0000

i just had surgery a week and a half ago, and the surgeon took photos to show why he removed what he removed. it’s not only normal, it’s almost expected.

By: Wiki-Truths

Wiki-Truths — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 22:41:00 +0000

Just ask your doc before the surgery – they all have iphones now. I have a pic of my gallbladder on a tray on the O.R. if you guys want to see.

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 20:41:00 +0000

Surgery pictures are not unusual. You can even watch whole surgeries on TV.

By: Kent Haas

Kent Haas — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 19:53:00 +0000

I had a Titanium mytrol valve installed in 2003..I was 46..my scar is hardly noticable but I think I really lucked out..I had the best surgeon in Scottsdale. This was covered 100% by the then generous medicaid program in Az then..pre teabaggers and Jan Brewer..I should send here a picture..my scar is really not an issue..it looks like that at first.

By: Sebastian Wiers

Sebastian Wiers — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 19:21:00 +0000

I had the exact same surgery because of Marfan syndrome.

By: Alexander Woitalla

Alexander Woitalla — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 17:33:00 +0000

I´m one of the lucky 1% as well… :) I wonder why her aortic valve wasn´t replaced as it was done at my operation. Although it´s quite a bloody treatment the recovery was just a charm. I didn´t expect to leave the hospital after less then a week, but I did. Just unbelievable.

By: mikemcl

mikemcl — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 15:57:00 +0000

Will there be another story later in the year where her friends and family are dancing on street corners to pay for the hospital bills?

By: CSBD

CSBD — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 15:39:00 +0000

You don’t even need a heart any more.

With two of these (or more):
http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2012-02/no-pulse-how-doctors-reinvented-human-heart?page=all
http://dramaticmedicine.com/2012/03/05/the-archimedes-heart-screw/

Its off label to install them in place of a heart, but you can have several installed to assist your heart.

If you heart stops beating… you wont notice… if you go to a new doctors office, they might freak out since you don’t have a pulse any more.

The hospital I work in routinely puts one in as a heart assist. They would like to install them as heart replacements. They are much easier on people than all of the anti rejection drugs.

By: dmatos

dmatos — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 14:54:00 +0000

FTFA – she had her aortic root replaced with a dacron graft (ie, the bottom section of her aorta, from the valve to the arch, was replaced with a synthetic aorta). The bicuspid aortic valve contributed to an aortic aneurysm, but was in and of itself healthy. The valve was not replaced.

By: 20ftJesus

20ftJesus — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 14:15:00 +0000

What type of replacement valve did they use, porcine or homograph?

By: CHoldredge

CHoldredge — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 14:08:00 +0000

That’s very impressive. I had a very similar surgery for the same problem a couple of years ago, but I certainly didn’t manage to talk the doctors into sending me home with souviner photos!

I wish I’d had the writing talent and the openness to even consider a weblog like that one. It seems like the perfect way to handle “Don’t want people to see me scared. Don’t want people to see me squicked. But boy, lookit, everyone, how COOL this stuff all is!” The grace and skill she shows writing this, at a time when she’s still probably not allowed to walk all the way ’round the block, is just amazing.

By: Paul Renault

Paul Renault — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 13:35:00 +0000

I had a customer, whose wife had a mechanical (ball-bearing-type, I guess) heart valve. You could hear it click-click-click… She didn’t hear it any more.

I suspect that she was worthless at playing poker. Or any game where you might have to bluff.

By: esquire

esquire — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 13:15:00 +0000

Nice story – she certainly seems upbeat about her situation.

I wonder who took the pictures and why the hospital allowed it. Not to be cynical, but I would think that most hospitals would see this as a liability risk…